After their second bye week, Boston College returns to Alumni Stadium looking to snap a three-game losing streak. Their opponent will be northeast rival Syracuse, who’s sitting at 6-2 and 3-2 in league play. Let’s break it down:
Syracuse saw a lot of change over its offseason, finally firing Dino Babers and bringing in Georgia defensive backs coach Fran Brown to lead the program. An ace recruiter, he promised to upgrade the talent on the roster and bring renewed life to a team that hadn’t won more than seven games since 2018. Of course, the headline addition was former Ohio St. QB Kyle McCord. He’s been a major success for them, spearheading a passing attack that averages 349 yards per game (good for 4th in the country). He’s passed for 21 touchdowns, but he does have a penchant for turnovers: he’s got 12 interceptions, including a disastrous five-interception game against Pitt. McCord’s favorite weapons are a three-headed monster of WRs Trevor Pena (54 receptions, 592 yards) and Jackson Meeks (48 receptions, 548 yards) and TE Oronde Gadsden (37 receptions, 484 yards). BC’s secondary is going to be tested all night. Brown, McCord and Co. want to sling the rock all over the field; DC Tim Lewis will likely continue to deploy a Zone-heavy offense to try to confuse McCord, create turnovers, and prevent splash plays. Keeping this game close and shortening the clock will be critical for the Eagles. How the defensive line does keeping RB LeQuint Allen (130 carries, 648 yards) under wraps will also be critical. Against Virginia Tech, BC’s defense just could not handle having to defend both the pass and the run. Syracuse presents a similar threat (although McCord isn’t nearly the rushing threat that Drones is).
Defensively, there’s a lot of familiar faces here. DB Justin Barron is back, as is do-it-all LB Marlowe Wax. The Orange three players with at least 3 sacks (DL Fadil Diggs, Wax, and DL KingJoseph Edwards) while standout DB Duce Chestnut is back and playing well after returning to Syracuse from LSU. Simply put, BC’s offense needs to find something that works here. Syracuse is 6-2, but four of their wins came by one score (and the other two were against overmatched Ohio and Holy Cross). Their defense is solid, but not elite. I want to see BC actually commit to the running game — the Orange give up 135.9 yards per game on the ground. BC’s offense has been getting in its own way. After two bye weeks, BC needs to simplify and stick with what works.
The spread here is a tricky one — Boston College somehow comes in as a -1.5 favorite. It feels like a trap — at 6-2, I feel like most people assumed Syracuse would be the easy favorite. Maybe I’m overly optimistic in this Eagles team, but given Syracuse’s recent stumble in form (the bad loss to Pitt and then barely beating Virginia Tech down its starting QB and RB) and BC’s time off, I’ll hesitantly take the Eagles.
Picks: BC -2.5, U 53.5