Even if the game is being played on a different continent, any time the Boston College Eagles take the field, it’s a race to see who can get to 20 points first. Boston College was one of the best under teams in history last season and once again looks like a team that will play a lot of close low-scoring games. In College Football Week 3, the Eagles will take on the one team outside of Clemson that scored more than 20 points on them in 2015, the Virginia Tech Hokies.
This contest in Week 3 of the college football season will go down Saturday, September 17, 2016, at 3:30 p.m. ET at Lane Stadium. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
College Football Odds at BookMaker.eu
Virginia Tech -5.5
Boston College +5.5
Over/Under 41
Odds Analysis
Virginia Tech opened as a 7-point favorite in this game, but the line has since dropped to 5.5. Money on Boston College has come in early for two reasons. The first is Boston College’s aforementioned penchant for playing close, low-scoring games and the second is a total that is an extremely low 41.
Matchup to Watch
Boston College had one of the best rush defenses at the collegiate level last season, allowing just 2.4 yards per carry. That defense was great at getting off blocks and swarmed to the football and kept the Eagles in a lot of games that it otherwise wouldn’t be due to their putrid offense.
Through two games that defense looks to be just as solid, despite losing some talent along the line. BC is second in the nation in rush defense, allowing just 1.25 yards per carry, and completely bottled up the ground games of Georgia Tech and UMass thus far.
Virginia Tech is running on almost 60 percent of its plays and if Boston College can make the Hokies one-dimensional, that will give the Eagles a chance to pull off the upset. Although Jerod Evans has looked good in spots, he is still a JUCO player getting used to big-time college football and the moment seemed like it was too big for him after a strong start against Tennessee.
Last Meeting
When these teams met last season, the Eagles completely shut down the Hokies rushing game, but Michael Brewer had one of his better games of the season and was able to put 20 points on the board in the first half. Against Boston College a lead like that is virtually insurmountable and the Hokies cruised to a win.
It’s a new era in Blacksburg though and while long-time coach Frank Beamer preferred to keep the ball on the ground, new coach Justin Fuente is not opposed to moving the ball through the air. Fuente has made sure to put Evans in a lot of good situations and has slowly eased him into his offense and although that didn’t work out against Tennessee, Evans confidence wasn’t destroyed while trying to do too much either.
Free ATS Pick
This game should stay true to form and be ugly and unwatchable. Although BC brought back nine starters and a new quarterback to fix things, the Eagles are still struggling to get anything done on offense. To make matters worse, new OC Scott Loeffler held the same position with the Hokies for three seasons, so Bud Foster knows exactly what he’s going to try to do.
However, Virginia Tech is still putting the pieces together and might find it difficult to move the ball against Boston College. Evans has looked good up until this point, but the Eagles should be able to lock down the running game and if that happens, it’s unclear whether or not he can pull out a cover.
Grab Boston College and the points. This one should stay within a score either way and although the Hokies should win, the Eagles will keep it close enough.
College Football Odds: Hokies 20, Eagles 17
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