Boston College vs. Kansas: Final Thoughts And Predictions

It is gameday, as the Boston College Eagles take on the Kansas Jayhawks under the lights of Alumni Stadium. This is a story of two teams in drastically different levels of rebuild. On the one hand the Eagles have had to rebuild their defense, which they have and has been relatively successful, on the other Kansas has hired Les Miles but has also left him with a pretty empty cupboard. The Jayhawks have a dynamic pair of running backs with Pooka Williams and Khalil Herbert, but really lack any explosive players at any other position. Can BC take care of business at home, in a game where they are favored by three touchdowns? Let's explore.

5 Keys To The Game

1. Punish Them On The Ground: AJ Dillon and David Bailey should have a field day against this defense, one that got carved up by Coastal Carolina last week. BC needs to be physical, establish that run and just wear down Kansas. I predicted it yesterday on the podcast, but I believe BC will hit an explosive play very quickly, and could open the flood gates.

2. Sure tackling: Pooka Williams and Khalil Herbert are both tricky backs in different ways. Williams is quick and hard to wrap up while Herbert is physical, BC is going to be solid tackling, and don't let them get into the open field.

3. Pressure Carter Stanley: Kansas's offensive line really struggled whenever Coastal Carolina blitzed, and even struggled when it was just a straight on rush. On passing downs send an extra rusher at the Kansas QB, it could cause some big plays, as Stanley struggles to get rid of the ball quickly, nor does he have the weapons to check down to.

4. Let Kansas Shoot Themselves In The Foot: Last week Kansas made mistakes up and down the field, a good team would have made them pay. Coastal Carolina barely scraped by, because they are not a good team. Stanley is going to make some errors, and Les Miles is going to as well. Make them pay.

5. Use The Run To Set Up The Pass: As I mentioned in #1, Kansas is going to really struggle to contain Dillon/Bailey, and will eventually have to send in extra guys to stack the box. If they start to do that, hit them with the play action to the tight end or get a pass up to Zay Flowers/Kobay White who should be in single coverage. The pass will be there, again just have to execute.

Pregame Music To Get You Ready To Shake Alumni Stadium On Friday Night

(warning explicit lyrics)

Nothing gets me more amped up before I go on a run than this song. Just pure energy once the beat hits. Should give you that Friday night football juice you need to hopefully watch another Boston College win.

Beer Of The Game

Hopsters: Comet Mosaic. I went to Hopsters before last week's game because I had my son with me, and I wanted to have a beverage but also give him some food in a chill atmosphere. They are located right around the corner from Alumni Stadium (right off the Pike exit for Newton). Delicious beers, excellent food, if you want a pre-pre-game spot I can't recommend this spot enough, and this beer was my favorite.

Food of the Week

Clam Chowder: So there is a rule in the Black household now that we are no longer allowed to bring Clam Chowder to a tailgate, as it has become a cursed food for our family. In two separate incidents we had someone forget to latch the back of our SUV and the crockpot spilled out on our street flowing creamy goodness everywhere. At a second game, it somehow spilled all over the floor of the passenger seat. HOWEVER, it is an absolutely perfect night game food, and I want to shout out Senior Associate Athletic Director Jason Baum for introducing me to hot sauce in New England Clam Chowder. Game. Changer.

Fan Excitement Gauge 5/10

Kansas is not a good football program, so there isn't much excitement for the opponent. However, Friday night football at Alumni Stadium always seems to have a special energy. Fans should be good and lubed up, BC's offense has been fun to watch so far, how can you not be a little excited?

BC Maven Podcast Episode 5:

Kansas Gamefilm Recap: If you want to see what Kansas can and can't do, check out this post and watch the WePlayed highlights that go along with it.

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Prediction Contest

It is not too late to join our contest, BC Maven is giving away a $25 gift card to the BC Bookstore for the winner, $15 for second and $10 for third. Remember all you have to do is get your predictions in the comment section below. If you want to win, just enter your comment with your score. Good luck!

Standings: The way I score the points is by taking away the difference from each individual prediction score from the actual score combining those and getting the sum . Lowest sum gets the points. In the event of a tie, I gave two or more teams those points.

Txaggie_2011: 3 points
Claver 2000: 3 points (only missed by one point!)
Soar22: 3 points (only missed by one point!)
Big Daddy Kane: 2 points (missed by three points)
BCStas2018: 2 points
TheThrowGame: 2 points
DollardBillsYo: 1 Point
Al_Skinner: 1 Point (missed by four points!)

Matchups:

When Kansas Passes The Ball: Advantage BC. Stanley can't throw the ball accurately or often, I think BC's secondary will have a strong game against these receivers. Given the struggles on the Jayhawks O-Line, I'd expect a big day from Richard Yeargin, TJ Rayam and Joey Luchetti.

When BC Passes The Ball: Advantage BC. Coastal Carolina didn't throw the ball often against Kansas but had good success when they did. As mentioned above, Kansas will have to stack box to stop Dillon/Bailey, I think the passes will be there for Anthony Brown

When Kansas Runs The Ball: Advantage BC. Pooka Williams and Khalil Herbert are excellent backs, BC stopped VT's run game and Richmond could really only run their QB. I think they will focus on this duo, and force Stanley to throw it.

When BC Runs The Ball: Advantage BC: Kansas is going to have major problems here all night, BC should run for 250+ against this defense

AJ's Prediction: BC 45 Kansas 14