PREVIEW: Boston College vs Virginia Tech
By Quinn Kelly
The Eagles are making a trip down to Blacksburg this weekend for an important match-up against the Hokies. Both teams enter the game with 1-1 records, seeking their first ACC win. BC is trying to put the heartbreak of the loss to Georgia Tech behind them and get their first conference win since 2014; a win that incidentally came at Virginia Tech.
As I said in part 3 of my season preview, I believed Georgia Tech was the most important game of the season. With our loss in Ireland, this weekend’s game has now become the most important of the season. For this season to be the turnaround the program needs and a definitive statement on the state of this team, the Eagles need to go into the Clemson game 4-1. There are a series of tough games after that week, with BC slated to face three current top-10 teams (#2 FSU, #3/5 Clemson, #10 Louisville) in a five-game span. BC will be huge underdogs in those games and can’t be expected to overcome, but this weekend is the perfect setup for an attainable, upset win.
The Hokies come into the game favored to win, with the line sitting at -6. This is a pretty fair line and about where you’d expect it. All this tells you is that the Eagles are going to have to do something a little extra to score the W. Let’s dive in to what the Eagles can expect from the Hokies and what they’ll have to do to fly home having broken the conference-play drought.
Virginia Tech comes in touting stats that would suggest they are a very potent offense. Through the first two games they are averaging 429 yards per game. They’re coming off a huge contest in the Battle for Bristol in which they put up 400 yards on Tennessee. While that’s great, they still only managed to score 24 points. This is mainly because of the 5 turnovers they had. Virginia Tech has the most turnovers in all of FBS with 9, and with 5 forced turnovers of their own, are still tied for the fourth worst turnover margin in the FBS. This is a very good sign for the Eagles. At their worst, this defense is a bend don’t break team. They’ll give up some yards, as we saw in the GT game, but they don’t allow a lot of points. This should mesh perfectly with a team that struggles in the red zone and has had trouble finishing drives. The Eagles also have an exceedingly fast defense that has a knack for big hits and big plays, so you can bet on a couple turnovers coming our way tomorrow.
When you dive further you also see that both defenses that VT has faced are pretty lackluster. Obviously, Liberty being an FCS opponent means they are not bringing a very competitive defense. But, Tennessee isn’t a defense up to SEC standards. The Vols not only gave up 400 to VT, but were also just shy of giving up 300 yards to Appalachian State in their tune up game. That’s not a BC caliber defense. The Hokies are going to see a more fearsome D in the Eagles than they have seen this season. So, don’t expect the Hokies to come close to their 429 yards per game average. Frankly, I’d be shocked if they ventured too high over 300 yards.
Let’s talk a little bit more about this defense. After cowering in the spotlight of a last minute drive against Georgia Tech, the Eagles defense came out and made a definitive statement against a lesser UMass squad. In the game the Eagles only gave up 122 yards and 7 points. In the Minutemen’s lone scoring drive, they gained 73 yards; 58 of which came on a blown coverage by the defense. That means that on that singular drive, UMass gained 59.8% of their total yards, and on that single play, 47.5%. It is absolutely incredible to think that nearly half the offense you saw on the day from UMass was concentrated in one play. But, that’s just how good the Eagles defense was for the other 15 drives that the Minutemen saw end in either punt or turnover. While UMass is obviously not a very good offense, as was highlighted in our last game preview, BC still limited them to fewer yards and points than Florida, an SEC team whose defense is about on par with Tennessee’s. Basically, the great defense we saw last year is back, and they’re ready to stifle this Hokie offense.
Now, if we flip it, we can take a look at the defense that Patrick Towles and Co. will be tangling with. The Virginia Tech defense is coming off a very weak performance against Tennessee. In their game, VT allowed 330 yards of total offense. While this in itself isn’t too terrible, pairing it with the fact that they allowed 42 points on just 330 yards is. This is largely in part due to costly turnovers by the offense, as the Vols had three scoring drives of less than ten yards. While the defense doesn’t shoulder too much of the blame for that, there were still four other lengthy scoring drives that gave Tennessee a big win.
Though BC’s offense is not Tennessee’s, you can be sure that they are going to be able to move the ball in some capacity against the Hokies. They’re going to hopefully be able to get Jon Hilliman going against a team that gave up 239 rush yards last week, and they’re going to score points.
The Eagles finally broke the winning drought last week, and now are armed with the experience necessary to break the ACC-win drought. Boston College hasn’t picked up an ACC win since 2014; a win that coincidentally came against these very Hokies in Blacksburg. Another win in Blacksburg would be a great way to bookend the drought and turn a page for the Eagles. This is also a team that traditionally plays well at Virginia Tech’s house. The Eagles are 4-6 all time in Blacksburg, a stadium widely regarded as one of the toughest places to play in the country. Further, the Eagles have never lost to an unranked Virginia Tech team on the road, as their 6 losses at Lane Stadium have come against Hokie teams ranked 23rd, 2nd, 6th, 3rd, and 5th. The team the Eagles will face Saturday is not near the caliber of those teams, so history may have its day in Blacksburg to the tune of a Boston College victory.