Virginia Tech at Boston College: Opening Line & The Basics
By Joe Micik
The Boston College Eagles football team returns home this week after their most disappointing game of the season to date, having to get right back on top of things as they prepare to face the Virginia Tech Hokies. Their rivals from Blacksburg also lost this past weekend, and each will be looking to earn a key ACC win.
Here is your initial look at Saturday’s game:
Virginia Tech at Boston College: The Line
• Opening Favorite: Virginia Tech -6
• Current Favorite: Virginia Tech -4.5
Virginia Tech at Boston College: Us
• Head Coach Steve Addazio (1st; 3-4)
• Last game: defeated by North Carolina, 34-10
• This season: 3-4 (1-3 ACC)
• 5-straight losses to Hokies, including 2008 ACC Championship Game
• Last win vs. VT: Oct. 18, 2008 (at Boston College)
• Consecutive losses
• 3-1 at home this season
Virginia Tech at Boston College: Them
• Head Coach Frank Beamer (27th; 222-106-2)
• Last game: defeated by Duke, 13-10
• This season: 6-2 (3-1)
• 2-0 on road this year (1-0 vs. ACC)
Virginia Tech at Boston College: The Game
• 22nd all-time meeting between Eagles and Hokies
• BC 6-15 all-time against Virginia Tech
• BC 3-7 all-time against Virginia Tech at home
• Eagles and Hokies have met in every season but one from 1993 onward
• Last meeting: November 17, 2012 at BC: VT 30, BC 23 (OT)
• Saturday, November 2, 2013, 12:00pm ET
• TV: ABC or ESPN2
• Alumni Stadium, Chestnut Hill, MA
• Long-range Forecast: Rain, 61
• STG New Difficulty Rank: 4th of 12
Virginia Tech at Boston College: Initial Evaluation
When has Boston College ever had it easy against the Hokies? Certainly not in the last several years, having lost five consecutive games to this team and looking non-competitive in most of them. It is fair to say that Frank Beamer has the Eagles’ number, but Saturday is a new day.
Given the debacle in Chapel Hill last Saturday, the 4.5-point spread might look a little generous to the Eagles, but keep in mind that the Hokie offense has a tendency not to score. They won’t be huge favorites in a lot of games because they won’t score enough points to cover. Virginia Tech has only scored more than 30 points once this year, and that was against Western Carolina. Their 29-point outburst against Marshall required three overtimes, and they managed 27 against North Carolina. Aside from that, they’ve scored in the teens five out of eight games.
The Hokies win games on the backs of their defense — it only allowed 13 points against Duke this past weekend, but unfortunately for them, that was a few too many. Can the Eagles’ defense keep up with their Virginia Tech counterparts?