The Pittsburgh Panthers and Boston College Eagles were both in another conference as rivals 10 years ago. They’re now rivals in the ACC, and they’ll try to win bragging rights on Friday.
Pittsburgh Panthers @ Boston College Eagles
Friday, September 5th – 7:05 PM ET
Odds: Pittsburgh -4
Why The Panthers Will Cover
They are playing a team that should not be much of a threat on offense. Boston College struggled to score against Massachusetts this past Saturday, getting out of the blocks slowly in the first half before pulling away in the second half. The Eagles don’t have a prolific passing game, and their offense is predicated on the ground game anyway. The bigger worry for Boston College on offense is that Andre Williams, who finished in the top five of the Heisman Trophy balloting last year and was a finalist for the award, is no longer with the program. The absence of Williams is going to drastically cut into the Eagles’ level of production, and it’s going to make their offense very easy to defend. Massachusetts, despite being outsized by a big margin, was able to corral the Eagles for roughly a half. Pittsburgh is strong enough and physical enough to do so for a whole game, not just 30 minutes. The Panthers also have a receiver, Tyler Boyd, who is a special playmaker. He put up freshman numbers last year that were very comparable to what a man named Larry Fitzgerald managed to do as a Pitt Panther. If Boyd is that good a receiver, he just needs to make two or three huge plays to give Pittsburgh enough offense to outscore Boston College by a solid margin.
Why The Eagles Will Cover
They are going up against a team that is not blessed with much on offense outside of Boyd. Pittsburgh has serious questions at quarterback and running back. Chad Voytik has to fill in for Tom Savage under center, and while Savage was not a perfectly consistent quarterback, his arm strength clearly drew the attention of NFL scouts and gave him a good position in the draft. Pittsburgh is almost certain to regress at quarterback this season. The Panthers have James Conner at running back. Conner is agile for his size, and he’s certainly valuable to this team in short-yardage situations, but it remains to be seen if Conner has the agility and speed to be an every-down running back in a major conference. He looks and feels more like a situational player than everything else. Boston College’s defense was excellent against Massachusetts, holding the Minutemen to seven points. The Eagles can put the clamps on Pittsburgh’s offense and keep this game close, ultimately covering the number.
The other thing about Pittsburgh that should concern Panther fans is that there are nine sophomore starters on the roster, and only seven seniors. Pittsburgh is not a seasoned team, and so in a night game on the road, it might not be able to show the steadiness needed to win.
Outlook
If Boston College’s offense doesn’t improve quickly, Pittsburgh’s defense should be able to smother the Eagles so thoroughly that the Panthers won’t have to do much else to win the game. This feels like Pittsburgh’s game to lose.
Pick: Pittsburgh -4
