NC State Football: Can Wolfpack survive at home vs. Boston College?

NC State football looks to ground the Boston College Eagles in their third straight home game of the season. Will the Wolfpack take care of business?

There hasn’t been a more surprising team out of the ACC this season than the 4-0 North Carolina State Wolfpack.

The Pack entered 2018 with a completely different team from their 2017 squad. They lost a total of 514 tackles from a season ago, Sack leader Bradley Chubb, interception leaders Airius Moore, Shawn Boone, and Johnathan Alston, 1,520 rushing yards between Nyhiem Hines and Jaylen Samuels (who was also the receptions leader), and also 24 total touchdowns between the pair of backs.

With all of that being said, North Carolina State has the ninth-ranked passing offense behind the arm of, the man that refuses to graduate, Ryan Finley and dynamic receivers Kelvin Harmon, Jokobi Meyers, and Emeka Emezie. Despite losing most of their front seven from a unit that produced several NFL Draft picks, the Wolfpack currently ranks top 20 in rush defense and held Virginia’s potent run offense to 3.2 yards per carry a week ago.

Boston College didn’t isn’t coming off the greatest of two-week stretches. After looking like a well-rounded football team against Wake Forest, they followed their road win with an embarrassing loss to Purdue at home and almost fell flat against Temple, also at home.

The most important development from the Temple win was AJ Dillon’s ankle injury. He was already off to another impressive season with 652 yards in the first five weeks but left the game against Temple in the third quarter and is currently a game-time decision.

If Dillon can’t play this weekend, can Anthony Brown get the job done through the air in one of the more difficult road venues in recent history?

Date: Saturday, Oct. 6
Time: 12:30 p.m. ET
Location: Raleigh, N.C.
Venue: Carter Finley Stadium
TV: ACC Network
Live Stream: ACC OnDemand or FuboTV

Players to Watch

Boston College

QB, Anthony Brown
RB, Ben Glines or AJ Dillon
WR, Tommy Sweeney
LB, Connor Strachan
The Entire Secondary

North Carolina State

Keys To Victory

North Carolina State is in a good position going into this week but there are some things it needs to be careful of. For one, the Wolfpack go on the road for the first time in a while to take on divisional rival Clemson in Death Valley in two weeks. They can’t focus on the Tigers and get caught in a look ahead spot.

On the field this week, they have to make Anthony Brown throw the ball. Brown has played really good in games but also threw four interceptions against Purdue. Brown is the determining factor for the game and the pass rush has to make Brown force some passes.

Boston College isn’t going to be able to run the ball much this weekend if AJ Dillon isn’t on the field. Ben Glines looked promising last weekend against Temple, but this is a very different beast. Once again, Brown is the determining factor. If the line can hold off the surprisingly good NC State front seven from getting to Brown, he should be able to throw enough to the large Eagle targets and open up the run.

Also, the Boston College secondary has to prove their worth this week against one of the better passing attacks that they will see this season.

Betting Odds

Presented by OddsShark

Points Spread: NC State -5.5
Over/Under: 58.5

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Prediction

The last two matchups between these two squads have been fairly close and the outcomes were split between the two teams. Boston College just hasn’t looked good enough on the defensive side of the ball in recent competitions to give me the impression that they can stop the NC State offense. Give me the Wolfpack plus the points.

Final Score: NC State 35, Boston College 24

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