Betting Odds & Prediction: Boston College Football vs. Georgia Tech

Boston College Football emerges from its bye week exactly halfway through its 2023 football schedule sitting at 3-3 and with bowl eligibility certainly still attainable. The Eagles are riding high after back-to-back wins over Virginia and Army, even if both games were much too close for comfort.

On Saturday, the Eagles will take on Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Like BC, GT also sits at 3-3, is coming off a bye week, and has been wildly inconsistent. Of course, last week they infamously upset Miami after the latter ran the ball instead of kneeling out the clock, allowing GT to recover a fumble and march down the field to score a game-winning touchdown with seconds on the clock. The week before that, however, GT lost 38-27 to a 3-4 Bowling Green team at home. Sounds like Boston College! This one should be fun.

Make no mistake about it, Georgia Tech can put points on the board. Transfer QB1 Haynes King has tossed for over 1,600 yards and has 16 TDs to his name, although he has shown a propensity for turning the ball over with 6 picks. BC’s secondary will likely be at a disadvantage against GT’s explosive passing game, which could allow GT to put a lot of points on the board. The Yellow Jackets have not had as much success running the ball, although counting out Jamal Haynes (409 yards) would be foolish. Nevertheless, given BC’s struggles in the secondary, I fully expect GT to gameplan around attacking through the passing game.

Luckily for BC, the Yellow Jacket defense has been far from sturdy. In fact, the defense struggled so much that head coach Brent Key just demoted Andrew Thacker to safeties coach, while Kevin Sherrer was elevated to defensive coordinator. The defense responded by only allowing 20 points to Miami’s high-octane offense in Sherrer’s first game in charge. However, a coordinator change mid-season will not simply transform the entire unit. The defense allows over 200 rushing yards per game, so I am expecting a huge day out of Castellanos, Garwo and Robichaux. If BC can establish the run game early and force GT to stack the box to stop BC’s battering ram of a rushing attack, that will open up the play-action and passing shots downfield.

I think this will be a high-scoring game, and with both teams coming out of a bye week I think it will be pretty close. Georgia Tech should have lost against Miami, but their last-minute escape is boosting oddsmakers’ view of the team. With BC at +5 right now, I think they will cover. I think the offense matches up well with GT’s leaky defense, and I think BC knows it needs to steal a win on the road if it wants to go bowling. While I am not sure BC will come away with a win, I think BC keeps to close.

Picks: BC +5, O 58