Boston College at Central Florida: Bottom line and pick

All the momentum is supposedly on UCF’s side, having just run roughshod over a hapless FCS team, while BC flopped and flailed against an AQ team at home. Boston College will be Central Florida’s first big test this year, while Central Florida will be the Eagles’ second. So, who wins this game?

I suspect that we will see some improvement in certain areas of this Eagles team. A little better might not cut it, however.  Donnie Fletcher is listed as doubtful, so the secondary might not look so great once again, and Montel Harris is again out. Kaleb Ramsey is out for the D-Line, and so are Appiah and Wujciak, with Harris Williams as questionable. Further, after hearing the offensive line was going to reshuffle back to last year’s alignment of Spinney at center and Richman at guard, the latest depth chart has stuffed Gallik back at center and moved everybody else over again. This would amount to BC showing the same offensive line that got steamrolled by Northwestern last weekend, and is of serious concern.

It’s also obvious that UCF will come down off of their 62-point high. How much is the matter up for dispute, but there is less than a 0.1% chance of them repeating the same sort of dominance they exerted last Saturday against cupcake opposition.

Prior to this season starting, I figured Boston College would go 1-1 in the first two games: win the home opener against Northwestern, then lose the road opener against UCF. I have to ask myself now if I feel like BC will still find their way to 1-1, having gotten a wake-up call via the loss to the Wildcats, or if they will hold on course and soil themselves in their first road test of the year, just as they did last week.

Some factors working in the Eagles’ favor are that they have faced a test already this year and may be better prepared for this game as a result (that’s more opinion than fact, however), and that the Knights have never beaten an AQ team at home. With their program improving, it is going to happen eventually.

As far as a pick, unfortunately, I have decided to stick with my gut. I hate to pick against my school, but based on what I saw last week, I’m not sure the Eagles are all with it. Not that UCF doesn’t have their deficiencies, but BC’s were of particular concern against Northwestern. The defensive line is depleted, the offensive line is a great enigma, and the secondary looks ordinary. I expect a narrow win for Central Florida, something on the order of 17-13. I waffled on this one a few times, and I’d say I’m about 52%-48% leaning towards UCF at this point. Regardless, go Eagles, and I will be happy to be wrong (and I’m sure a few of you will be happy to inform me of it).