Boston College vs Temple - Preview & Final Prediction
Boston College (2-0) will be playing on the road against Temple (1-1) this Saturday at noon. The game will take place at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The last time BC played Temple was in 2018 a year when the Owls went 8-5, the Eagles won 45-35. In fact, the Temple player that recovered a fumble for a touchdown against the Eagles in 2018 has since transferred to Boston College. That Temple transfer is Isaiah Graham-Mobley who is looking forward to returning to Philly saying, "it will be a nice little homecoming."
"This is still a business trip, we're here to go (3-0)..." - Isaiah Graham-Mobley on playing Temple
Since 2018, Temple has been mediocre in large part due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Coach Hafley alluded to how Temple is a lot better than their record has shown the past few years. The Temple Owls are .500 for the year so far, coming off a 45-24 win against Akron and a 61-14 loss against Rutgers.
"They lost so many guys, and so many other guys were hurt that at one time they had a wide receiver playing quarterback. Their record was not indicative at all of how good a football team this team was." - Jeff Hafley on Temple
This will be a good road test for Boston College, and should give everyone a much better understanding of where the Eagles stand especially after losing their starting quarterback Phil Jurkovec.
We do not expect this to be a full blowout game but we do expect BC to win by a few touchdowns. Hafley will most likely not have the luxury of staying vanilla in their play calls for this game, and we expect that Offensive Coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. will want to open up the playbook with his new starting quarterback Dennis Grosel. Expect the offense to develop more of the quick passing game while continuing to develop the running game.
The BC Eagles will be playing in the home stadium of the Philadelphia Eagles. It's always a unique experience to watch a game in a NFL stadium. So if you can take the trip down to Philly, go support the Eags this Saturday!
Current Line: BC -15.0 (o/u 57.0)
Chance Of Winning: 87.4%
According to ESPN's Football Power Index BC has a 87.4% chance of winning this game. The spread has dropped throughout this week after news spread about Phil Jurkovec's season ending injury. The spread for this game is currently -15.0 in favor of BC, with the over/under around 57.0.
Does BC Cover The Spread?
Likely. We think BC will at least score a few touchdowns more that Temple with a very good chance of pulling away late in the game. However, a two touchdown win still does not cover the spread which is still very possible. We believe BC will cover the spread; but with Grosel taking over at quarterback it is a risky bet since it is possible there will be some mistakes due to adjustments with the new QB. This Temple game will be like game one of the season, we will know a lot more about what to expect after this game. The Eagles are clearly the better team but we just don't know how much better.
The under looks favorable. We do not expect Temple to keep up with the BC offense and score more than two touchdowns.
UPDATE (Thursday Night): The current line has dropped to 14.0. This makes the bet for BC to cover a lot more safer. We do expect BC to score at least two touchdowns more than Temple.
Final Score: 38-14 (BC WINS)
This prediction reflects our confidence that Dennis Grosel will seamlessly take control of this offense. We think the Eagles can win by three touchdowns as long as they don't turn the ball over. While there is justified concern that BC will now take a step back without Jurkovec, we think with Grosel's high intelligence, experience and leadership, the drop off will be almost unnoticeable against this opponent. Also, expect the defense to continue to improve and have another great performance this Saturday.
How To Watch The Game:
Go to the game!? It's a short flight or about a six hour road trip from Boston. It would be fun gameday experience to watch the Eagles play in the NFL Philadelphia Eagles home stadium. If you cannot go in person, the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
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We will be tweeting live throughout the Temple game!
GO EAGS!
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