Game Predictions – UConn
For every Football, Hockey, Basketball, and Baseball game this year, the board members of WZBC Sports will be offering their picks on whether the Eagles will win or lose. Here are our picks for UConn.
TJ Hartnett: Bowl eligibility here we come! Or at least I suspect so. UConn is struggling this year with a tough 3-7 record. Without their starting QB and a rainy day scheduled for tomorrow night, I can’t imagine (any) success in the air for the Huskies against one of the best no fly zones in the country. Expect some big hits up front forcing some picks from the likes of Denis and Yiadom if they even test them at all. For BC, it’ll be the Dillon show. Give the ball to Dillon, use play action with the TE’s, and utilize Thadd Smith wherever you can. Those three options alone should overpower UConn even if they know its coming. Whether its Wade, Smith, or Perry (please not yet), the QB needs to command this team to victory. If they don’t, I expect Sunday will feel 100x’s worse than the hangover. But I can’t see that happening. BC 34, UConn 7
Steve McAlee: UConn is not a good team – they have given up an avaergae of 48 points in their seven losses – so even with Darius Wade at the helm, the Eagles should officially secure bowl eligibility at Fenway Saturday night. However, without Brown and with the offensive momentum that was stunted against NC State, expect a loss at Syracuse next week and a low-tier bowl game. BC 35 – UConn 16
Landon Komishane: Even though Anthony Brown is out for the season, BC is clearly the better team when they match up against UConn. The offense needs to get its groove back ahead of their game aginst Syracuse and their potential bowl game. This game is a great opportunity to do just that. I’d like to see Darius Wade go back to pass more. If they don’t treat him as a game manager, they can see what he is really made of. BC should beat UConn easily at Fenway and clinch bowl eligibility. BC 35, UConn 7
Matt Seelig: Darius Wade will be starting for the Eagles, so don’t expect the amazing offensive performance we got used to in October. Luckily for BC, UConn is no offensive powerhouse. There is obviously no good time to have your starting quarterback injured, but if there’s any silver lining, it’s that it probably won’t cost us this game. BC continues to have defensive success, so expect that to last the three mile trip to Fenway. This probably won’t be a pretty game (think along the lines of our Quick Lane Bowl performance), but we should be able to pull off a win through attrition. Final score: 24 BC – 17 UConn
Kyle Maslan: Darius Wade gets his first start since he broke his leg against FSU back in 2015. In two relief appearences Wade has looked good in one (lousiville) and awful in the other (NC State). The good news for Wade and the entire Boston College team is that UConn is the worst team that they will play at any point this season. If the prediction of rain holds up it will be a messy game on the grass field at Fenway Park. Look for BC to rely heavily on AJ Dillon, Jon Hilliam, Thadd Smith and Travis Levy for offensive production in the run game. The BC defense held strong last year and look for a similar performance again this time around. BC wins this game easily to secure bowl eligibility for the second straight season. BC rolls by a score of 35-7.
Ben Neuwirth: This will be a very interesting game as on its face, BC should come away with a blowout victory, facing a inferior UConn squad. However starting Qb Anthony Brown is out for the year, forcing Coach Addazio to turn to Darius Wade. Wade hasn’t been very impressive so far in his BC career and fans might see a return to the slogging offense of years past. That said, Aj Dillon is still here and the defense is still legit, so the Eagles should still be favored in this contest. Syracuse will be a tougher test next week so its critical that BC puts some hurt on the Huskies if they want to feel confident heading into the last game of the season. BC 35 UConn 14
Sam Parsons: The Eagles’ offense will likely see a decline in productivity the rest of the way due to QB Anthony Brown’s season-ending injury. However, for this week at least, it shouldn’t bee too much of an issue. UConn is an inferior team, having only played against two Power 5 schools and getting walloped by both of them (UVA and Missouri). The only thing that will hurt the Eagles, besides Harold Landry potentially being absent for another week, is predictability; everyone knows that Brown’s injury will force this offense to rely on AJ Dillon even more than it already has. Still, when you have such superior talent, it doesn’t matter, and it won’t on Saturday. BC 30, UConn 13
Andrew Linnehan: Last week’s season-ending injury to Anthony Brown put an end to BC’s win streak and a giant damper on the Eagles’ progressing season. Darrius Wade is the man now and we’d be lying to say we’re ecstatic about that. Wade looked less than impressive last weekend against NC State, showing glimpses of inaccurate throws and poor pocket awareness. Fortunately for BC, this isn’t a game where they will need to demand too much out of their quarterback. We can expect AJ Dillon to be the workhorse of the offense on Saturday, sure to have another 30 rush night. BC’s defense looked sharp last week against a pro-caliber quarterback in Ryan Finley, even with the absense of Harold Landry and Kamrin Moore laving the game before halftime. Aside from Dillon probably racking up 200 more rushing yards, this shouldn’t be too aesthetically pleasing of a game. A weak UConn offense is going to struggle against BC’s impressive defense in front of their home crown (technically, but not really). BC is going to walk away with this one with their first shutout of the season. BC 30 UConn 0