Boston College Louisville

The Boston College Eagles take on their second top 10 opponent of the year as #5 Louisville visits Chestnut Hill.  BC is riding high coming off of their first ACC win in 700 days, and is looking to keep the momentum going.  Louisville is lead by Heisman favorite Lamar Jackson, the best player BC has played against since former Heisman winner Jameis Winston, and arguably the best player they have seen since Michael Vick. 

What to Watch When Boston College has the ball: Every possession will be important for the Eagles on Saturday.  The more the offense has the ball, the less time Lamar Jackson can see the field.  BC must avoid turnovers, and must be able to gain field position.  BC also needs to take advantage of scoring opportunities, and score touchdowns instead of field goals in the red zone.  The Eagles need another big game out of Patrick Towles.  Towles has struggled so far with his decision making, but gave the Eagles enough of a passing threat last week, and helped to open up the offense.  Towles needs to look to throw the ball deep when there is an opportunity, and hit big plays.  The BC receivers played their best game all year last week, and will need to step up again on Saturday.  Look for Tommy Sweeney to be used on play action again, as he does an excellent job of selling his block before running into a pass pattern.  Also, look for Jeff Smith to be used a lot as a runner this weekend.  He took a jet sweep 60 yards for a TD, and he has been used in the wildcat formation in the last few weeks.  Michael Walker was also used more last week, but was hurt in the fourth quarter and his status for the game is unknown.  On the ground, look for Jon Hilliman to once again receive the bulk of the carries for the Eagles.  The Louisville defense is excellent on the ground, and it will be tough for the Eagles to run right at them.  This combined with arguably the best offense in the country, makes teams one dimensional as the get behind.  BC is not a team that can win if they throw the ball 50 times a game, so it will be important for the Eagles to come out and score early. 

What to Watch When Louisville has the Ball:  All eyes will be on Lamar Jackson, who is in the midst of the one of the best seasons for a dual-threat quarterback of all time.  He is explosive, and is a threat to score on any play.  He has greatly improved his throwing ability, and does not make mistakes threw the air.  Jackson does a great job of using his feet to buy time in the pocket, and keeps his eyes downfield.  He does not like to take off and run on designed passing plays.  Louisville likes to get Jackson going on the ground with zone reads.  Once he gets into the open field, with his speed, no one will catch him.  Jackson is not the only playmaker for Louisville.  Runningback Brandon Radcliff is an excellent accomplice to Jackson in the backfield.  Radcliff, like Jackson, is fast and has big play ability.  In the games that Louisville has struggled in this year, most notably against Duke and Virginia, the Cardinals have struggled to produce the big play on the ground.   The BC ends and linebackers have enough speed to contain the Jackson and Radcliff, but they must be ready on every play, and a missed tackle could result in a long touchdown.  The speed of Jackson may take away from some of the aggressiveness BC showed last weekend, as they do not want blitzers flying up field past the qb.  The BC secondary will fast their toughest test this week in an area they have struggled.  BC has given up plenty of long passes, most of which have gone for touchdowns.  They cannot afford to have this happen.  They need Louisville to use long drives in order to score. Very few teams have done this so far, but the Eagles need to if they have a chance.

Overall:  There is a reason why Louisville is #5 in the country.  They are an excellent team on both sides of the ball, lead by the Heisman trophy favorite.  It is also a bad matchup for the Eagles.  BC’s defense excels against teams that play smashmouth and try to run the ball, such as NC State last week.  They struggle with the up-tempo teams that use their speed to gain yards.  BC also has struggled giving up long touchdown passes through the air, which is where Louisville likes to attack.  If BC has any chance, they need the offense to come out aggressive, and take an early lead.  BC was able to do this last weekend, and they need the same again.  Look for Scott Loeffler to once again find ways to get BC’s playmakers the ball, and to use trick plays when a big play is needed.  If BC can slow the tempo down, and take an early lead they will have a chance in this win, but they will need to play their best game of the season.

Prediction: Louisville 41, Boston College 20