The last time Boston College came to Winston-Salem, AJ Dillon ran for 185 yards and Anthony Brown threw for 304 yards and five touchdowns, all while a hurricane was bearing down on North Carolina.

That was 2018. BC and Wake Forest have played twice since, both times in Chestnut Hill, Mass., with the Deacons winning in 2019 and last season.

BC comes to Wake Forest this year scuffling at 2-4, having last played in a 31-3 loss to Clemson on Oct. 8.

To get to know more about the Eagles, we’ve enlisted the help of Andy Backstrom, publisher of EagleAction on the Rivals network.

Here is our five-part Q&A:

1. I like to start these with a simple vibe check. Obviously 2-4 (1-3 ACC) isn’t where BC wants to be – is there hope that this can get turned around?

Answer: Internally, there is hope. After all, this is a battle-tested bunch. Phil Jurkovec has been through just about everything a college quarterback can experience: limited playing time, lull in development, transfer, breakout success, season-threatening injury, draft hype, unmet expectations. Jeff Hafley’s first year as head coach was during the pandemic and, each of the last two years, his teams have been riddled with injuries.

The point is, for this group of Eagles, from top to bottom, adversity isn’t new. A lot of the players from last year’s team that lost four straight and rallied for bowl eligibility are still on the roster.

But there’s significant outside noise. The thought was, with Jurkovec and stud wide receiver Zay Flowers back for one final ride — plus an experienced defense that flirted with top-level play in 2021 — BC could do what Wake did last year, or at least come close and record an eight-plus-win season for the first time since 2009.

The Eagles are going to need to go at least 5-1 down the stretch for a chance at that milestone. Despite extreme O-Line turnover, lofty expectations were contingent on BC being serviceable up front, considering its pedigree in the trenches. Immediately, though, the Eagles’ O-Line inexperience and, shortly thereafter, injuries threw a wrench in those optimistic hypotheticals (we’ll get to that below).

At the moment, there is little hope among fans that the Eagles can achieve balance on that side of the ball and, in turn, adequately protect Jurkovec this season.

All it takes is one marquee win to get people back on board, however. Even beating Louisville in Week 5 recharged the fan base. A win over Wake would do wonders for a program searching for its first win over an AP-ranked opponent since 2014.

2. BC losing four of five offensive starters entering the season was an important story line entering the season, and then the gut punch was losing Christian Mahogany in the summer. How pronounced have the Eagles’ struggles up front been?

Answer: As alluded to above, it’s the biggest storyline of the season. If you can’t win at the line of scrimmage, you can’t win much. All but two of BC’s Week 1 offensive line starters have missed a game this season. And another — center Drew Kendall — is at risk of being sidelined for Saturday’s game at Wake.

Right tackle Kevin Cline is out for the year with an ACL tear. Left guard Finn Dirstine has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury, and Hafley isn’t sure when he’ll get him back. Left tackle Ozzy Trapilo was out two games earlier this season with a knee injury.

The Clemson game marked the first time this year that BC had started the same five up front in consecutive games, and that group included a pair of guards who began the 2021 campaign playing defensive line.

Hafley believes the O-Line is improving. There was evidence of that improvement against Louisville, when BC netted 144 yards on the ground. The Eagles even managed a semblance of a run game in the first half against Clemson, which ranks first in the ACC in rush defense. But the O-Line took a step back in the second half of that loss to the Tigers, particularly in pass pro.

BC has given up 22 sacks through six games. The Eagles are allowing 3.67 sacks per game, tied for the eighth most in the country. And they are second-to-last in the nation in rushing offense (69.5 yards per game).

3. How much does BC’s offense rely on getting the ball to Zay Flowers, and what are the creative ways BC will try to get him touches?

Answer: Make no mistake about it, Zay Flowers is the heartbeat of this Eagles offense. First-year OC John McNulty promised that he’d get the ball to the dynamic wideout a lot, and he’s delivered. Whereas former OC Frank Cignetti Jr. (now with Pitt) primarily used Flowers as a Z receiver on the outside last season, McNulty moves Flowers all over the place.

Ahead of BC’s matchup with Clemson, longtime Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney even joked that tracking where Flowers is, is like playing a game of “Where’s Waldo?”

Flowers is in the slot 36.3% of the time this season, per Pro Football Focus, an uptick of 10.4 percentage points from 2021. McNulty will put Flowers in the backfield. He’ll use Flowers on jet sweeps, pop passes, flanker screens and even double passes. And then, of course, Flowers runs every pattern in the intermediate and deep route tree.

Flowers is going to be a great player on Sundays, and he shows why every week, regardless of how successful BC’s offense is. He’s twitchy and balletic in space and, similar to a DeVonta Smith or Brandin Cooks, he can make all the catches, despite only being 5-foot-10, 172 pounds.

That said, it’s possible BC uses Flowers — who is first or tied for first in the ACC in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns — too much. He dwarfs all other Eagles receivers in volume. Flowers’ 42 receptions are 25 more than any other BC player, and his 63 targets are 39 more than any other Eagle, per PFF.

4. BC’s defense seems to be middle-of-the-road in most categories for the ACC – what’s worked and where is there room for improvement?

Answer: Where BC ranks defensively in the ACC isn’t truly indicative of how the Eagles have performed on that side of the ball this season. An offense that has scored 10, 14 and 3 points in its three ACC losses, and a special teams unit — 89th in SP+ right now — that has routinely put the defense in bad positions are partly accountable for what appears to be a step back defensively for BC in 2022.

That said, while this Eagles D isn’t average, it isn’t great, either. To be great, you need to be consistent. BC’s had games where its defense has experienced major gaffes, like against Rutgers when it allowed a 96-yard game-winning touchdown drive that featured 11 Scarlet Knights runs. Or at Florida State when the Eagles missed 17 tackles and conceded 10 plays of 20-plus yards from scrimmage (eight passing, two rushing).

Meanwhile, the Eagles have also strung together impressive outings, like against Clemson when they allowed just one first-half touchdown while holding DJ Uiagalelei to 80 passing yards in the opening two quarters. Or the week before versus Louisville when they limited Malik Cunningham to a mere 238 total yards.

Overall, BC has taken its run defense up a notch from last year. The Eagles are giving up 17.58 fewer rushing yards per game this season. But their pass D has dropped from first to seventh in the ACC (now allowing 219 pass yards per game).

The Eagles still want to generate more pressure, however, their 2.00 sacks per contest is an improvement from last year. And creating more takeaways is a big emphasis — BC has only six through six games, and the Eagles have scored zero points off those forced turnovers this season.

5. How would you evaluate Jeff Hafley’s tenure so far? It seems like he had a surprisingly good start in the COVID season, and last season’s 6-6 mark could be chalked up to Phil Jurkovec’s injury. But this season looks to be in a spiral, and a second half schedule that includes trips to Wake Forest, N.C. State and Notre Dame, plus a home game against Syracuse, doesn’t line up as easy.

Answer: Hafley hit the ground running 2020, no doubt. And the odds were stacked against him as a first-time head coach during a pandemic that seemingly flipped the world upside down. Last season really is a big “what if.” With a healthy Jurkovec and an offensive line that saw four guys at least get an NFL camp invite this year, BC probably would have ended its eight-win-season drought in 2021.

Then Jurkovec, Flowers and others would have likely left for the NFL, too, and this year would have been seen as a retooling season.

But because of Jurkovec and Flowers’ return, this season appeared to be a chance for the Eagles to do what injuries prevented them from accomplishing last year. Everyone, myself included, underestimated just how steep the drop-off would be at offensive line. Factor in more bad injury luck and a first-year offensive staff that hasn’t gotten to fully maximize its scheme, due to those personnel limitations, and you have a season that could end with no bowl eligibility — something that hasn’t happened at BC since 2015.

But Hafley has recruited at a high level since arriving in Chestnut Hill. He’s turned in back-to-back top- 40 classes, and, in some ways, his 2023 class is his best yet. Players from those classes have already made a mark, including true freshmen this season, so there is optimism that, once the O-Line is sorted out, this thing could turn around.

It just might not be this season. And that requires patience.