Boston College Football is 0-1 on the season, and I’m 0-1 on my picks. I’ll strive to be better this week as Rutgers arrives in Chestnut Hill to take on the Eagles. Of course, this will be an emotional game for both programs, with the Friday night kickoff coinciding with the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Boston College will suit up in its Red Bandana uniforms as the program and school honors Welles, while Rutgers will be in special uniforms of its own designed to commemorate the 37 alumni that lost their lives on that day. The matchup should make for a special environment for all involved.
On the field, both teams are looking to bounce back after, shall we say, less-than-ideal Week 1 showings. UMass snapped their 16-game winless streak by drubbing the Scarlet Knights, with former Eagles Dylan Lonergan tossing three picks and then getting benched. AJ Surace will helm Rutgers’ offense on Friday night. Meanwhile, pretty much everything that could go wrong for the Eagles did as Cincinnati cruised to a comfortable victory. Simply put, there’s not a lot of positives for either side heading into this one.
What did we learn last week? Well, BC wants to run the ball and they don’t fully trust McKenzie’s arm. That vision was frustrated by terrible discipline and shaky line play. I’m not expecting many points out of this BC offense. I think they’ll cut down on the penalties, but I’m not sure the O-line will be able to just wear on opponents enough to let O’Brien run the offense he wants. The receivers also just were not open enough. Without a doubt, the biggest positive was McKenzie’s legs. He’s got some escape artist to his pocket management, but the offense as a whole was pretty inefficient and I don’t see a ton of reasons to think that will meaningfully change this week. That means BC is not scoring a lot. The defense actually looked solid for stretches of time against Cincinnati, but there were still too many lapses and coverage busts to cover for the offense.
Rutgers, meanwhile, is starting over at QB. We’ll start with what we know: KJ Duff is a dawg. I don’t think BC’s secondary has the manpower to meaningfully take him out of the game. I’m expecting some explosives out of him, but I feel decent about BC’s defensive line against Rutger’s offensive line. I think it’ll be a close game, with each side finding the end zone 2-3 times. The home-field advantage seals a field-goal win for the Eagles.
Picks: Rutgers +3.5, O 54.5
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