USC
vs.
Boston College
Football Pick
with Analysis
9/13/14
That’s it, USC won at Stanford, it’s time to crown them champs. No, not quite yet. Don’t forget the Trojans won that matchup last year, yet still lost Four Games. On the heels of that upset win, the Trojans are -17 point road favorites at 5 dimes sportsbook with a total of 51.
In this meeting last year, USC dominated in all phases, outgaining the Eagles 521 to 184 yards in a 35-7 win. Sure, travelling from coast to coast is tough to do, but why can’t the Trojans do the same thing again?
Quarterback Tyler Murphy has been something new for the Eagles offense this year as they had Chase Rettig previously. Murphy provides dual-threat capabilities, hence his 210 rushing yards. However, throwing the ball is a much different story as he went 10-for-28 against Pittsburgh last week. You definitely can’t do that if you want to win. It’s doubtful that the BC passing Game will look much different in this one.
The Trojans are better than Pittsburgh on both sides of the ball and the Panthers beat the Eagles 30-20 last Friday.
Boston College could not stop the Pittsburgh running Game last Friday as they rushed for 303 yards total. Now they have to go against Javorius Allen, who just trounced one of the best defensive lines in college football for 154 yards on 23 carries. That doesn’t bode well for the Eagles. USC will likely push the ground Game again, which is something Steve Sarkisian is looking to do every Game.
Once the defense starts worrying about the run, that’s when quarterback Cody Kessler steps in the for the kill. As seen against Stanford (15-for-22, 135 passing yards), Kessler will probably be used more as a Game manager than anything. When the opportunity presents itself, wide receiver Nelson Agholor can get open against any defense.
On defense, USC will Game plan around stopping Murphy from using his legs. If they can do that, this Game could get ugly because the Eagles don’t have much outside of Murphy’s running at this point. The loss of RB Andre Williams has been evident early on.
USC couldn’t have asked for more from Sarkisian at this point and it’s looking like the Trojans could be back to prominence on a national level this season. Boston College is just hoping they don’t finish in the basement of the ACC Atlantic.
The Trojans are 7-2 ATS in their last nine overall, but just 3-11 ATS in their last 14 road Games. The Eagles are a solid 8-3 ATS in their last 11 home encounters, 6-1 ATS in their last seven following an ATS loss, but have not covered in their last five vs. the Pac-12. 72% of the action as of Wednesday has come in on the Trojans.
A year ago BC gave Florida State their closest Game of the year. They also hit the road and played #3 at the time, Clemson, within 10. So, despite their loss to USC, they had their moments as a competitive football team. The problem this year is that they lost a ton of players. Not just starters. They should be down a notch or two this year while USC looks to be up several.
We can’t make a strong recommendation here however we’ll go against the public in this spot and grab the double digits and hope BC can find a way to keep this one close. A possible letdown looms as well, the week after such a big Game against Stanford. A light opinion only, Boston College +17