Virginia Tech at Boston College

Written by Steve Janus

The Boston College Eagles will look to improve to 3-0 on the season when they host the Virginia Tech Hokies this Saturday. The Hokies got a monster second half performance against East Carolina for their first win of the season last week, as they scored 28 points in the final two periods of play to come away with a 49-27 win at home. Boston College got an early break in the schedule last week, after a couple of nice wins at home against Weber State and Kent State. Despite the fact that Virginia Tech is just 1-2 on the season, the current college football odds have the Hokies favored by 4-points over the Eagles on the road.

Virginia Tech: The Hokies actually trailed East Carolina 27-21 with just over four minutes left in the third quarter, and looked like they were headed to a very disappointing 0-3 start to the season, but the offense put together three nice touchdown drives and Rahard Carmichael added a 68-yard interception return for a touchdown to secure the win.

Despite the win, the Hokies suffered a big loss to their running game, as starter Ryan Williams injured his hamstring in the second quarter and did not return. Williams finished the game with just eight yards on six carries, but did have a nice 2 yard touchdown run. With Williams out the Hokies turned to backups Darren Evans and David Wilson to carry the load, and the two responded with big time performances. Evans finished the game with 91 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries, and Wilson had a solid 89 yards and two touchdowns on 12 attempts. Williams could be back for the game this weekend, as he is currently listed day-to-day on the injury report.

Quarterback Tyrod Taylor completed just 50% of his passes (8/16) for 199 yards, but had two nice touchdown tosses, including a 69-yard touchdown toss to wide out Jarrett Boykin, who finished the game with three catches for 118 yards. Even though the Hokies allowed just three points in the second half to East Carolina, the defense remains a concern for this team, as they are giving up just over 26-points a game.

Boston College: This will be the first test of the season for the Eagles, as they have had two pretty easy games to start the year. The go to guy for the Eagles has been running back Montel Harris, who backed up his 115 yard performance in week 1 against Weber State with a solid 80 yards and a touchdown against Kent State.

Sophomore quarterback Dave Shinskie has yet to really have a breakout game for the Eagles. In the first game of the season Shinskie threw for 185 yards and two touchdowns, but also had two interceptions. In the most recent game against Kent State Shinskie really struggled off the bat, but ended up pulling it together to finish with 214 yards and two touchdowns. It will be interesting to see how he plays against a struggling Virginia Tech defense this weekend.

Looking at the Odds: While I was not surprised to see Virginia Tech favored in this game, I didn’t think they would be favored by as much as they are. I believe you have to take Boston College and the 4-points they get at home in this game, as they are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games following a bye week, and are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 home games. Plus, the Hokies are just 5-11 ATS in their last 16 games in September.

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