Vegas ACC Predictions
Pittsburgh at Boston College
Line: Pittsburgh by 4
The Pittsburgh Panthers are building a very strong program in Paul Chryst’s third year as head coach with lots of young talent. Opening with a 62-0 win against Delaware was a nice tune-up game, and they showed they’ll rely heavily on the running game this year and very efficient passing from Chad Voytik, who could turn into an upgrade from Tom Savage. The defense more than lived up to its hype, giving up 57 yards of total offense, and the back seven is still very good. The Panthers are so young that the future looks very bright, but that makes the present that much more exciting. A win at Boston College would set them down a nice pass to hopefully a 7-win season as they slowly improve.
The Boston College Eagles are having to deal with departing talent all over the field in head coach Steve Addazio’s second year, hinting that they could possibly repeat Addazio’s second year at Temple, when he went 4-7. Still, a 30-7 win at Massachusetts was a good start to the season, and a home win against Pittsburgh would be huge as far as setting them in motion for another winning season. The Eagles will have to find a way to take advantage of inexperience on the Pitt offense and use the running game that Addazio loves to try to take advantage of a Pitt front four that’s weaker than the rest of the defense. Those two thing would allow the Eagles to control the clock and hold the ball, hopefully pulling out a win.
Prediction
The Eagles will try to hold the ball and control the clock, which will keep the game close, but it won’t be enough. Pittsburgh will stop any offensive threat Boston College tries to pose, and the offense will be good enough to pull away with a close win.
Pittsburgh: 24 Boston College: 17