Boston College at NC State: BC Offense vs. NC State Defense

Michael Ivins-US PRESSWIRE

As the 2012 season comes to a close (for one of these teams, being the Boston College Eagles), optimism about the state of an offensive renewal for those same Eagles has come and gone. Any similar hope about NC State’s defense has likewise been obliterated, especially after last week. What’s in store for Saturday’s contest?

A better question, perhaps, is this: Does it matter? The Wolfpack are bowl-eligible already and the difference between two and three BC wins only has meaning to the players on the field who have a personal stake in victory. Aside from the “Spaz vs. TOB” angle, there’s going to be very little intrigue regarding this game. About the only thing that Eagles fans will notice — and will see fit to celebrate, most likely — is that it will be Frank Spaziani’s final game.

NC State is a mediocre defensive team, but their unit’s performance against Clemson last weekend went something like this:

Meanwhile, Boston College’s offense has steadily declined in productivity, and the entire season has gone like this:

There’s no reason the Eagles can’t at least score some points if Chase Rettig is accurate and Spaziani decides not to forsake Rolandan Finch in his grand finale, but NC State is part of this equation, too. In the last three weeks, they’ve gone from allowing 33 points to Virginia to 6 versus Wake Forest to 62 against Clemson. If this were part of a logical pattern, then the Wolfpack would give up a low number of points, but what about college football is logical?

Based on overall statistics, NC State would have a slight advantage in this matchup. The thing is, they’ve had three of their last four games where they’ve allowed at least 33 points. Counterpoint, they’re playing the Eagles, who are averaging only 299 yards of offense over the last six games.