Miami Football: Canes must shore up struggles vs Boston College
Miami football looks to bounce back, following an ugly loss to the Virginia Cavaliers, on the road against cross-conference foe Boston College.
If there was a team in college football that needed a bye week, it was the Miami Hurricanes.
Miami traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia to take on Virginia and left with their second loss in one of the ugliest games of the season. Both teams combined for 282 yards through the air with not one passing touchdown and three interceptions. N’Kosi Perry played four drives and ended the first two with punts and the second two with interceptions that both resulted in Cavalier scores. Malik Rosier replaced Perry for the rest of the game and didn’t play much better than the man who replaced him several weeks ago.
Boston College actually hasn’t been bad considering they haven’t had their star running back over the past several games. AJ Dillon rolled his ankle against Temple and hadn’t made it back to the field since. In that time, Boston College defeated Louisville and fell short against North Carolina State due to an unfortunate late fumble from Ben Glines. All reports are pointing to an AJ Dillon return against Miami and the Eagles offense will certainly welcome him back with open arms.
Miami can not afford another conference loss if they expect to make it back to Charlotte this season. Can they pull it out against Boston College? or will the Eagles fly on off to victory?
Date: Friday, October 26, 2018
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Location: Newton, MA
Venue: Alumni Stadium
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Keys to Victory
This game all comes down to two offensive players and their individual performances.
Malik Rosier is the X-Factor for the Miami Hurricanes after “reclaiming” his starting job back against Virginia two weeks ago. Rosier has more yards per attempt than Perry, but Perry has simply been more efficient and less turnover prone. The Hurricanes have a wealth of talent on the offensive side of the ball in Jeff Thomas, Lawrence Cager, Brevin Jordan, Travis Homer, and DeeJay Dallas but that really didn’t seem to matter early on in the season when Rosier lost to LSU and Virginia. If the Senior quarterback can clean things up and keep the defense rested then the Hurricanes should be fine against Boston College.
Boston College has AJ Dillon back and that’s a huge get for this matchup. Miami has a good defensive front but they aren’t quite on that elite level that they were on a year ago. AJ Dillon is one of the more impressive backs in college football and is a huge difference maker. Unfortunately, Dillon isn’t the big swing vote for the Eagles, it is quarterback Anthony Brown. Brown has 14 touchdowns and four interceptions. Nine of those 14 touchdowns came in two games and all four interceptions came against the Purdue Boilermakers. Brown has to do enough to open up the run game and keep the defense back so they can crank out yards and control the clock.
Betting Odds
Points Spread: Miami -3.5
Over/Under: 49.5
Next. Picks for all top games of Week 9 against the spread. dark
Prediction
Rosier will do what he normally does when he plays. His stat line will be under 60 percent passing with two or three touchdowns and one or two turnovers. Boston College has proven to be efficient on offense with or without AJ Dillon and I’m just not sure that the Miami offense can keep up with Rosier on the field.
Final Score: Boston College 28, Miami 24