Peter’s Pick ‘Em (Week 5) - Boston College vs. #25 Clemson Gambling Odds

Another great weekend for the Eagles in football! I don’t want to belabor the point all too much as well know by now how amazing of it game it was, but I will offer my two-cents. All-in-all, it was a fantastic slug-match that was reminiscent of a heavyweight clash between two boxers with each boxer countering each right-hand hook with an uppercut to the jaw. Grosel played a fantastic game against a formidable opponent, the O-Line proved to the rest of the country why they are one of the best around, and My-Oh-My is Patrick Garwo making a statement for himself! To cap it all off, seeing the student body rush on to the field after Brandon Sebastian’s game winning Touch Down was the cherry on top. After not seeing their team play in person for 18-months due to COVID, it was great to see the students fired up with Hafley after a great win.

As you can imagine, from a Gambler’s perspective this game provided me with some extra heartburn just about every half-hour. Fortunately, everything ended up going my way as BC covered the spread with the win as I predicted they would. As for the rest of my previous week’s predictions, I am going to save myself the embarrassment and just cut to the chase. It was a bad week, no, atrocious week for me. Liberty with the loss on Friday to ‘Cuse set an early precedent for the weekend ahead as just about all my other bets went belly-side up. Wisco got dismantled, MSU missed the spread by 0.5 points, and UConn actually gave Wyoming a game...who would have guessed that?! Anyways, this week is a new week and I am already chomping at the bit to get back on to my winning ways.

Now, when looking at the BC-Clemson game, there is a ton to unpack here on the best way to approach this matchup. As expected, BC does enter this game as the underdog at +16 and the O/U at 46.5. To be honest, when I first looked at that spread I kind of felt a little disrespect is going towards the Eagles here. They had an amazing win against an SEC opponent in OT and put up 41 points against them. That is a pretty damn good feat especially given that fact that they had to transition from playing creampuffs like Colgate and UMass to a P5 School in the blink of an eye WITH a backup QB.

Naturally, the cynic in me is thinking that this makes sense in that it is Clemson after all, they are playing in Death Valley, BC’s defense still has some tightening up to do and there is more talent on the other side on the Tiger’s side of the ball. While most of these opinions may seem valid, the rational side of me would be remiss in emphasizing that Clemson has proven they are a beatable team just this past weekend. I watched that game from start to finish and NC State had their number just about all game. Hell, NC State missed multiple field goals (including one to win in regulation) and they still pulled out the win.

Let me cut to chase here on this prediction or else I am going to find myself going on endless rant on how much I hate Clemson. I absolutely LOVE the points here for BC. Since Week 1, DJ Uiagalelei and this Clemson offense have simply not clicked. Taking their garbage blowout win against South Carolina state out of the equation, this offense has averaged just 16.5 points a game. Absolutely abysmal from a team coming off of a few championship runs a few years back. Not to mention that Clemson lost some really good players last week against the Wolfpack who will not suit up against the Eagles. Sophomore DT Bryan Breese, Last Year’s ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year, tore his ACL and is out for the season. Also, the Tiger’s starting Running Back, Will Shipley, is confirmed OUT next weekend with a knee injury.

This is an extremely opportune moment for the Eagles to pull of a big upset on the road. Now, I do understand that it will not be easy as Clemson will try to go for a statement win after an embarrassing loss last week that put them out of the CFP picture. At the end of the day, I will be riding with my Eagles and hammering the spread on this one. With Missouri now in the backseat, BC should be on cruise control here and firing on all cylinders. I believe it will be a tough back and forth battle, but at the end of the day Clemson wins in walk-off field goal fashion.

Final Prediction: Clemson 24 - BC 21 | BC +16 | Under 46.5

Bonus: Other Opening Lines from around the FBS

• Virginia vs Miami FL (-4) - Pick: Virginia +4
• Cincinnati (-2) vs. ND - Pick: ND +2
• Texas (-6) vs. TCU - Pick: Texas -6
• Auburn vs. LSU - Pick: Auburn +4
• Michigan vs. Wisconsin (-1) - Pick: Over 43.5