Louisville
vs.
BC
ACC
College Football Pick
11/5/16
Louisville is still holding out hope that a playoff spot will be available to them as long as they keep winning. But that possibility will probably only occur if the Cardinals continue to win big because their Schedule isn’t doing them any favors. With this Game on the road against one of the worst teams in the ACC, Louisville has to run up the score.
However, it may not be as easy as it looks. It was only a year ago that this Boston College defense held LAmar Jackson in check and almost walked away with a road win. While the Cardinals ended up winning, a 17-14 Game wasn’t what they had planned. Of course, Louisville is much better offensively this year and the Eagles arguably have a lesser defense.
Most of that has been shown throughout the season. In a similar situation at home against Clemson, Boston College was completely overmatched in a 56-10 loss. That was also the case against Virginia Tech in a 49-0 result earlier in the season. It’s evident the Eagles aren’t as good defensively and to make matters worse, their starting quarterback Patrick Towles, is dealing with a hamstring injury. Part of Towles’s Game is his ability to gain yards on the ground, but if he can’t do that or a backup has to start, that only makes things worse.
Nothing has gone right for Boston College this season, whether that’s Towles not being much of an upgrade at quarterback or a running Game that’s averaging 3.9 yards per carry or a defense that has taken a step back, the list is never-ending. And while this Game was close last season, it’s hard to see the Eagles staying around in this one, even at home.
It’s unlikely they’ll be able to get much on the ground, whether that’s Jon Hilliman or Davon Jones, it doesn’t matter. And it doesn’t matter much what the status of Towles is as he’s completing less than 50% of his passes this year. He’s surprisingly been slightly worse than his days in Kentucky.
The defensive side will be just as troublesome for BC. For starters, Jackson is the frontrunner for the Heisman. The Eagles were already ripped to shreds by Jerod Evans of Virginia Tech and Deshaun Watson of Clemson, so all signs point to Jackson going for another six or seven touchdowns himself. As long as Louisville shows up, there should be no problems. But it wasn’t long ago that they had trouble against Duke.
Louisville vs. BC Free ACC College Football Pick – 11/5/16
And considering this team already has a small blueprint against Jackson, there could be some surprises that happen in this Game. Last year, Jackson had one total touchdown while throwing two picks and rushing for only 15 yards. If the Eagles can somehow bring back that level of defense, and at home, there is a chance they cover, but not many will want to back the home team in this situation.
As for Louisville, they’ll hope to get running back Brandon Radcliff on track after dealing with some minor injuries and struggling the last few Games. again, as long as the Cardinals show up to play, they’ll be fine.
Our Pick – To make a case for BC, we need only look at the Louisville Games against Duke and Virginia. Two not very good teams who both managed to keep it close against the Cards. 25 is a big number to lay on ANY football Game and something we would rarely, if ever, do, in the real world. In fact, we’re not going to do it in this articles either. Just a lean but we’ll side with BC to cover the number. Boston College +25