Peter’s Pick ‘Em (Week 10) - Virginia Tech opens as 3-point favorite over BC

By now, BC faithful has a lot less faith in it. What started out as a promising start to the season with four straight wins despite being put into the situation of relying on a backup quarterback has turned into many even siding with the unfortunate reality that even a bowl birth might be out of reach. Last week’s contest against Syracuse cemented into the ground that the BC coaching staff has no idea what to do with this offense. While I was excited to see Morehead step out there and get some reps, the consistent swapping in of Grosel in certain flows of the game was reminiscent of the John Fadule and Jeff Smith days six years prior. In other words, a complete dumpster fire. This lack of consistency in offense and game-plan proves that this team is flying by the seat of its pants and trying to get a grasp on offensive production is becoming more and more clear. That of course being there is none.

Since the start of ACC play, Boston College now averages 10 points per game. Yes, you read that correctly. The amount of foiled opportunities in the red zone this season are laughable. Syracuse was all the more frustrating where we were in the red-zone I don’t even know how many time but simply could not capitalize. It was truly the first time this season where I generally felt anger and frustration towards this program. Granted, my therapist has taught me to not let things I cannot control get the best of me but man this team has really struck a nerve with their inability to do anything positive. I guess the silver lining is that I saw this coming going into the matchup and safely took Syracuse -6.5 knowing that the defense could only hold BC in the game for so long and that BC’s offense would continue to sputter and die.

Looking forward, it is a short week for the Eagles as they welcome the Virginia Tech Hokies into town for a Friday tilt under the lights of Alumni. It is the seasonal Red Bandana game for the Eagles where emotions are usually the highest and the crowd is rocking at it’s volume’s apex. However, with that being said, Vegas still thinks that these secondary factors have little to no effect on the game being played on the turf. Virginia Tech is opening up as a -3 favorite with the Over/Under at 48.5.

There was an ongoing consensus within the BCI community that this is a pretty easy one. Hammer the hell out of Virginia Tech -3 on this one. Don’t hesitate, just do it. After seeing BC last week, there is nothing that can be rectified, in my opinion, in such a short week for this offense to excel. Grosel has proven to not be the ACC answer at Quarterback and while Morehead did look like he had a pretty solid arm and is a great prospect, the lack of experience is still there against ACC competition. If BC ekes out a win, this will be solely on the defense stepping up like they did against Syracuse. The defense did an excellent job in the first half against ‘Cuse and gave BC ample opportunities to deliver retaliating blows but we squandered every opportunity presented to us. Unless that script is flipped on the offensive side and we can actually score when our Defense holds firm, I envision the Hokies jumping all over us early and not looking back.

Aside from Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech has proven to be a solid team all season. They opened up the season with an upset at home against UNC, brought Notre Dame down to the wire and got their second ACC win last week against Georgia Tech on the road. Hokies QB, Braxton Burmeister, has been solid at the help throwing for 1,500 yards on the season and a TD to INT ration of 9/3. Alan Tisdale on the defensive side of the ball is a hound for tackles as he has 65 on the season and the defensive line duo of Amare Barno and Tyjuan Garbutt are scary in getting to the quarterback as they have combined for 7 sacks on the season.

In summary, Vegas might be doing as a solid on this one in getting us to lean in putting our money on the Hokies. I wouldn’t be surprised if the line creeps up as the week goes on so get your bets in before Vegas realizes that they are doing Virginia Tech a disservice with a line this low!

Final Prediction: Virginia Tech 31 vs. Boston College 10 | VT -3 | Under 48.5