Brian: Let's forget all the drama surrounding the Boston College football program for a moment and talk actual football. BC hosts Duke tomorrow in a matchup of winless teams. Both programs are pretty banged up in this one.
Let's start with the matchup that scares me the most this Saturday: Duke QB Sean Renfree vs. a young and inexperienced Eagles secondary. Will the Eagles defense be able to stop Renfree, Vernon and Varner on Saturday, or is Duke going to throw the ball all over the field? Your thoughts?
Jeff: Stop? I highly doubt it. But BC should be able to do enough on defense to win the game. Renfree has not be what many of us thought he would through the first two games and while he is still a good quarterback, he is not someone that should strike tremendous fear in us. Last week's matchup against Godfrey was worse than Renfree due to his great mobility.
Brian: The other matchup to keep an eye on is the Boston College rushing attack against a Duke defense not typically known for excelling against the run. The Blue Devils D allowed a gaudy 6.8 yards a carry in a 44-14 loss to Stanford last week. Do Andre Williams, Tahj Kimble and the Eagles offensive line finally get things going on Saturday, average managing just 57 yards on the ground against UCF and 104 against Northwestern? Your thoughts?
Jeff: Last season the Eagles only rushed for 126 yards against Duke. Montel Harris went over 100 while Andre Williams had 4 carries for 17 yards. These stats are nothing spectacular so I wouldn't necessarily expect Williams to have a monster game tomorrow. For whatever reason, Rettig had one of his best games of the season last year against Duke so I would look to him more to have a breakout type game than the rushing attack. Last year's game could've been a lot less close than it was had Montel Harris not fumbled twice in the red zone. Hopefully we don't see anything like that out of Williams tomorrow.
Brian: Final score? Who do you like in this one? How's this go down?
Jeff: I doubt I will ever expect BC to lose to Duke in football. I certainly expect BC to win tomorrow and I hope this will be a big bounce back game. I fear it will be a nail-biter. Under Spaz especially, BC has been terrible on the road while playing decent at home. If this trend continues, BC will forget about getting destroyed by UCF last week and will take it out on Duke, just like how in 2009 they got manhandled at Virginia Tech and then throttled NC State at home the following week. Right now our team is unpredictable along with many other things and I hope that continues tomorrow with an easy BC victory. My best guess right now is that it will. Boston College 28, Duke 13.
Big Finish
Brian: Ifeanyi Momah is toying with the idea of getting back onto the field before the season's over instead of applying for a medical redshirt. Good move?
Jeff: I would say yes. Right now there's no indication that next year we'd be serious contenders for anything bigger than an ACC tie-in bowl game and he's probably ready to move on from school.
Jeff: When I say Kevin Rogers what's the first word that pops into your head?
Brian: I don't know. I'm just very confused.
Brian: There are just four seniors on this week's 44-man two-deep roster. Any way of spinning this as a positive?
Jeff: I read the classes of everyone on the two deep off to my wife so we could hear it out loud how ridiculous it is.
Jeff: With Duke's injuries at running back, any chance they amass more yards than they did last season (4)?
Brian: Gonna have to go with the over there.
Brian: On a weekend where 0-2 Duke and 0-2 Boston College face off, the rest of the ACC has a chance to make some noise this weekend. Will they?
Jeff: No, as you can see by my pick 5 I see one of Clemson/Miami/FSU winning if that.
Jeff: Tight end Chris Pantale is calling tomorrow's game a "must win." You agree?
Brian: A must-win if the Eagles have any hopes of turning this thing around.
Brian: Last one. HD predicts a BC overtime loss on the Heights this weekend. Shocking, right?
Jeff: She went overtime too, crazy. Picking Duke in football is not a good long term plan.
Pick 5
Last week, Jeff went 3-2 -- I hate you, Pac-12 officials -- while Brian got the ATL "touch of death," going just 1-4 (with the one win a tie in the Georgia-South Carolina game). Jeff picks first, and note the lack of stones in not going with BC here. Let us all remind Jeff of this when BC wins by 20.
Jeff:
West Virginia (pk) at Maryland
Auburn (+3.5) at Clemson
Syracuse at USC (-16.5)
Central Florida (-6) at Florida International
Navy (+17.5) at South Carolina
Brian:
Duke at Boston College (-7)
Penn State (-7) at Temple
Oklahoma (-3.5) at Florida State
Utah at BYU (-4)
Stanford at Arizona (+10)