Boston College Friday Night Lights

Who: The Kansas Jayhawks, led by the new head coach Les Miles, aka The Mad Hatter. Miles is leading a rebuild in Lawerence and it's off to a rocky start. They barely beat Indiana State in week 1, 24-17 and then lost to Coastal Carolina 12-7 last week. Yikes.

Where: Beautiful Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, MA.

Weather: Partly cloudy. 60s. Might drop to 50s. Good football weather.

When: Did you see the title of this article? Friday night! 7PM Eastern, 5 PM Mountain Time

What Channel: The ACC Network - check if your provider is one of the last ones who doesn't have it.

Where I'll Be Watching: Long Island Game Watch.

What's the Spread: Eagles are favored by 21.

What else: Friday night games have become a regular on BC's home schedule. I'm not a huge fan but I've come to accept it. The ACC's deal with ESPN called for a commitment to more weekday games and we were going to be a prime target for a lot of them. The pros are that it's a nationally televised game that can showcase our program when a game like this vs Kansas would typically get lost on a full college football Saturday. The cons are that it's a tough game to go to for locals and non-locals. I wish they were more evenly distributed amongst the rest of the ACC schools but doubt that ever gets done.

Most Important Dude

Linebackers Joey Sparacio, Max Richardson, John Lamot

As AJ alluded to earlier this week, BC's defense has lots of room for improvement. While there are a number of areas that need a good deal of work, stopping the run has to be at the top of the list. Boston College is currently ranked 88th in the country against the run, giving up 156 yards a game. And one of those games was against Richmond. Yuck. That's not what Boston College fans have grown accustomed to and not a recipe for success for the rest of the season.

The Jayhawks might not have a mobile QB but they have a pretty damn good running back in Pooka Williams. Last year Pooka ran for over 1100 yards and had 7 touchdowns, including a 252 yard, 2 TD performance against Oklahoma. It'd be encouraging to see BC's linebackers neutralize the Jayhawks power running game and restore some order in the Eagle front 7.

3 Keys to #SOAR'N

1) Stop Pooka - See above. Kansas has the 110th offense in the country and the 106th passing attack in the country. Pretty brutal. The worst thing BC could do is give the Jayhawks offense any life by letting their best weapon get in a groove. Stop Pooka and let anyone else on Kansas make plays.

2) Get AJ Going - We haven't really seen AJ Dillon dominate in our first two games this year. This would be a nice game to get #2 his mojo back. Let's give the guy some good holes and let him do some damage running downhill.

3) Don't Let This Get Into Hatter Mode - If the game is in doubt heading into the 4th quarter, I'll be upset. We're three touchdown favorites at home on a Friday night. Start fast and don't let this become one of those crazy Les Miles games where weird stuff happens late and he's taking gambles and showing inexplicable clock management (if you think Daz is bad, Les takes it to another level).

Clip(s) Of The Week - (A movie scene, a song, a TV show moment - something that encapsulates how we're feeling this week.)

That's right, Dorothy. You and Toto along with Les and the Jayhawks better be scared. You're in Chestnut Hill now! Be prepared for a world of pain!

(Yes, I'm talking smack to a decades old movie character and her terrier.)

Final Prediction

Boston College 38

Kansas 10

This should be a convincing win and I think it will be.

Giblin's Gambles

This Will Be Where I Make A Few CFB Picks Each Week - Use At Your Own Risk My Season Goal: Over 57%

2019 Record: 8-11, 42.1%

I don't want to even recap last week because it was a) bad b) I had some awful beats. I had an over killed because UCF-FAU called the game 5 minutes early due to a weather delay. I had Tulane drop a 4th quarter TD that would have given me a cover. Ohio's star QB came down with a serious illness. Things didn't break right. It stunk. Rebound time this week.

1) Friday Night Special - Washington State/Houston OVER 74 - Mike Leach and Dana Holgerson are the head coaches of these teams. The number could be 100 and I'd take the over.

2) Virginia -7 vs FSU - Do I have to explain this one? The Cavaliers take on the train wreck that is Florida State football at home. Bronco Mendenhall has a good squad in Charlottesville. They play tough and are disciplined. Basically the opposite of FSU. Lay the points.

3) Penn State -17 vs Pitt - James Franklin runs up the score against everybody, but especially inferior "rivals." The Nittany Lions have looked good early and I think they put a hurting on their in-state rivals from the ACC.

4) UCF -7 vs Stanford - Big spot for the Golden Knights against a P5 team. They're gonna show up and look to put on an impressive display. Meanwhile, Stanford isn't healthy, hasn't looked good really and is traveling east. Lay points.

5) Temple +7 vs Maryland - I'm not taking all favorites don't worry. I hate this spot for Maryland. Terps are feeling themselves after the Cuse blowout. They have a bye after this then a big game vs Penn State. Good spot to take the underdog.

6) Iowa State +2.5 vs Iowa - Matt Campbell's Cyclones struggled week 1 vs Northern Iowa. But then they had a bye. A full week to prep for the Hawkeyes and they're home underdogs. Iowa State is winning the CyHawk Trophy this year.

7) TCU -2.5 at Purdue - First road team I'm taking and it's another team coming off a bye. I like Gary Patterson having a week to prepare his team and hate that Purdue's QB suffered a "slight concussion" and that they just lost their best defensive player for the season with a torn ACL. Take the Frogs.

8) Charlotte Team Total Over 43 - Not a typical bet for the Gambles but Charlotte takes on UMass this week. UMass has one of the worst defenses in the country (they gave up 48 points to Rutgers) and Charlotte can score a bit. Take the 49ers Team total over. They'll score a lot.

9) San Diego State -15.5 at New Mexico State - Spaz is the defensive coordinator for New Mexico State.

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