The Eagles have an extra week to prepare for Virginia Tech. Recent history suggests that the Eagles have made the most of their extra week of preparation.
Here is a rundown of the Boston College's results following a bye week since 2005 (during the 2008 season, there were two open dates):
2005: at Virginia Tech 30, Boston College 10
2006: at Boston College 22, Virginia Tech 3
2007: Boston College 14, at Virginia Tech 10
2008: at Boston College 34, Central Florida 7
2008: at Boston College 28, Virginia Tech 23
2009: Boston College 14, at Virginia 10
Incredibly, BC has been fortunate to have an extra week of preparation for the Hokies in each of the first four regular season ACC meetings between the two teams, and four of the last five years. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised though considering Virginia Tech's propensity for playing Thursday night games (with the 2005, 06 and 07 BC-Virginia Tech games played on a Thursday).
BC is now 5-1 following a bye week as a member of the ACC with the only loss coming in 2005.
On Monday, you said you'd rather have the Eagles play the Hokies this week given everything that has gone wrong for Beamer's bunch. Is there anything to the Eagles 3-1 record against Virginia Tech when facing the Hokies after an open date? Or is this just coincidence?
Jeff: Teams should play better after bye weeks so it is good to see that this theory holds true for the Eagles the last several seasons. Unfortunately, I can think of several of those games like last season's Virginia game, the UCF game and the Matt Ryan game in Blacksburg where the Eagles had no offense going in the first half. Hopefully the Eagles can get off to a decent start next week against Virginia Tech.
I would still rather play Virginia Tech this week. I think all it would take for BC to win would be some turnovers or big plays in the first half. Virginia Tech would be a mess in their locker room at halftime with the strong possibility of their team heading to 0-3 on the season after they had such high hopes before the season began. East Carolina at home this week is a much better chance for the Hokies to get a win than the Eagles on the road would be for them. The first win of the season is usually the toughest.