Boston College vs. Temple: Predictions and Final Thoughts
On Saturday, the Boston College Eagles will face off with the Temple Owls at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Dennis Grosel will take over for injured quarterback Phil Jurkovec, and give us a glimpse of what he can do with the Boston College offense. With five returning offensive lineman, Zay Flowers and Trae Barry and a host of other weapons, will we see a repeat of Grosel's performance against UVA in 2020 when he threw for a team record 520 yards? Or will he be asked to do a little less, while relying a bit more on the run game?
Temple on the other hand is coming off the high of a big win over Akron, but they have question marks as well. Their defense has allowed an average of 42.5 points per game, and Rod Carey's squad still hasn't completely settled on a starting quarterback at this point. The Owls could go with either Georgia transfer D'wan Mathis, or true freshman Justin Lynch. The latter was much more successful for the Owls against Akron.
Here are our final thoughts and predictions for today's game.
Matchups
When Boston College Throws The Ball: Doesn't matter if it is Jurkovec or Grosel, the Eagles can move the ball through the air. Interestingly, Temple has pretty stout against the pass, ranked 32nd in the country in pass defense. Advantage: Boston College
When Boston College Runs The Ball: The Eagles exploited UMass's run defense last week, and I would expect the same this week. Temple is 106th in the country in rushing defense. Look for a steady diet of Patrick Garwo III, Travis Levy and Alec Sinkfield. Advantage: Boston College
When Temple Throws the Ball: It was a tale of two games for the Owls and their passing attack. They looked much more confident against Akron, throwing for 255 yards and a pair of touchdowns behind Lynch. Boston College needs to improve here, they had two takeaways against UMass, but let them move the ball far too easily. Advantage: Boston College
When Temple Runs the Ball: The Owls still do not have a running back with over 100 yards on the season, and the team as a whole ranks in the bottom 1/3 of the country. This should be an area where the Boston College defense exerts their will. Advantage: Boston College
Beer of the Game
There are so many great breweries in Philadelphia, but as a lover of trying something different, nothing beats Evil Genius. Stacy's Mom (great name) is their flagship beer, but they have some other really funky brews to try out as well. All with great names like "Purple Monkey Dishwasher", "#Adulting", and "Santa! I Know Him!"
Song of the Game
Freeway and Beanie Siegel are two incredibly underrated Philadelphia rappers. I loved this song when it came out, but just realized the whole video is a homage to The Wire, including like six of the characters (you can find Omar vibing in the hallway at one point).
Fan Excitement: 3/10
The winds definitely came out of the sails this week with the injury to Phil Jurkovec. Understandably many BC folks on Twitter, and on the Maroon and Gold Forums voiced their dismay at a season seemingly lost. However, there is still a large faction that believe that Dennis Grosel, and a down ACC conference could mean that BC could still have a solid year. This game may give us a glimpse of where BC truly is at.
Podcasts:
Prediction
Boston College was incredibly sloppy last weekend against UMass and it allowed a far inferior Minutemen team stick around a lot longer than they should. Temple is better than UMass, but not by much. Jeff Hafley and his staff hopefully have worked to clean things up for the Eagles, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Expect a more polished BC, probably with the playbook opened a bit more than the past two weeks. Boston College 49 Temple 14
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