Virginia Tech at Boston College: Opening Line & The Basics

Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

Over the last couple years, Virginia Tech has kicked Boston College around more than once.

When the two teams met in one of their most high-profile games ever at Lane Stadium in 2007, the Eagles and Hokies were two elite teams. Now, in 2012, they meet at Alumni Stadium having had miserable seasons. The Eagles are 2-8 and Virginia Tech is 4-6, but thanks to the poor quality of the ACC Coastal this season, the Hokies can still make a bowl game or more. That ship has long since sailed for Boston College, who can exceed’s last season’s loss total with a defeat in either of their remaining two games.

Despite the fact that both teams have combined for 14 losses so far this year, the bookies do not give a whit about this BC football team. That Virginia Tech is having their worst season in 20 years and is still a 9-point road favorite over BC says a lot about the Eagles. Looking short-term, there are reasons why the line is what it is: Virginia Tech was recently competitive against Florida State, whereas BC lately has struggled virtually across the board, and the Eagles’ offense has averaged just 12.8 points over the last five games.

This is not an unwinnable game given Virginia Tech’s record, but a win assumes that Boston College plays effective enough football to win on senior day. To this point, the Eagles have had so many shortcomings that they’ve not only been losing, but it has felt like they weren’t even in the games. It is by no means a guaranteed loss, but when you’ve only won two games out of ten, it would be illogical to assume that they won’t struggle somehow in this game as well.

The Eagles, if they want to win in front of their home fans in their final Alumni Stadium game of the season, will have to find ways to mitigate their propensity towards making mistakes, but then again, it’s not all the players. The coaching scheme, particularly on defense, is more of a joke than a Dana Carvey stand-up routine these days, and though Doug Martin has made some nice individual play-calls, the bottom-line results are not there anymore.

There is no doubt that this team is playing hard and is emotionally invested in these games. The problem is that major issues have beset the Eagles from day one, and since the “big comeback” hasn’t happened yet, it’s not going to. All Boston College fans can hope is that they can figure out a way to give the seniors one last home win.