Boston College may have “limped into” its bye week, as coach Frank Spaziani said after the dismantling of Central Michigan on Saturday, but it headed to the infirmary with a smile on its face.

With a week off to mend their wounds before returning to ACC play on Nov. 14 at Virginia, the Eagles stand at 6-3, bowl eligible and in much better position than most would have dreamed.

But after Saturday’s game, there wasn’t a whole lot of celebrating from a team not expected to get over the six-win benchmark. BC has been to bowls before, 10 straight actually, and it acted like it’s been before.

“People ask me, ‘Are you happy at 6-3?’ Well, no. We think we should be at 9-0,” said Spaziani. “That’s how we play, how we practice, it’s our goal to win one game at a time every week. We’re just not satisfied, and we can’t be. You can never be. You just have to keep going forward and build. We’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go.”

At the start of the final month of the regular season, the Eagles’ hopes of defending their ACC Atlantic Division title are still quite alive, but they need some help. Their most direct route to Tampa would be to sweep their final three games and have Clemson lose one of its final three conference games (Florida State, at North Carolina State, Virginia).

It could happen, but it will not be easy. The Eagles have yet to win on the road, and all three remaining opponents have had perplexing seasons.

Here’s a quick thumbnail sketch of the last three foes:

Nov. 14 - at Virginia (3-5, 2-2 ACC)

BC is in its fifth year in the ACC and this will be its first trip to Charlottesville. Like everyone left on the schedule, the Cavaliers have a good win and a bad loss on their ledger, beating North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Oct. 3, but falling to William & Mary at home in the season opener Sept. 5.

The Cavs are ranked last in the conference in scoring offense and fifth in scoring defense. Quarterback Jameel Sewell is ranked eighth in the ACC with 168.4 passing yards per game.

Nov. 21 - vs. North Carolina (5-3, 1-3)

Though this one’s at home, the game should be the toughest of the bunch. UNC has had BC’s number since it joined the league, beating the Eagles twice in Chapel Hill - including their worst loss of 2008 - while BC has never beaten coach Butch Davis, who rebuilt Miami in the 1990s.

Expected to be players in the Coastal Division, the Tar Heels looked shaky early and wound up losing to the Cavs at home. But after blowing a big lead and losing to Florida State, the Heels came back and notched a signature win at Virginia Tech last Thursday.

UNC has the conference’s top-ranked defense, while junior quarterback T.J. Yates, averaging 144.87 passing yards a game, has been a bit disappointing.

Nov. 28 - at Maryland (2-6, 1-3)

This one should be a win for the Eagles, but they lost the last time they went to College Park with a better, more experienced team. The Terrapins would be easily dismissed - they needed overtime to beat James Madison and lost to Middle Tennessee State - if not for their inexplicable 24-21 win against Clemson on Oct. 3.