Week 8 College Football: Boston College vs. Virginia Tech

It is quite a busy week of college football already, as we had three games on Tuesday and two on Wednesday before getting into the two games on Thursday. Boston College and Virginia Tech square off in ACC action, while the Sun Belt is represented for the second time this week in the other game with Georgia State and Marshall.

Let’s go to Blacksburg first and then head to Huntington.

 

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For all of this week’s college football insights, refer to our College Football Week 8 Hub.

Boston College Eagles at Virginia Tech Hokies (-7, 49)

7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Both teams are on equal footing here, having last played on October 5. Virginia Tech bounced back nicely from a tough loss to Miami to topple Stanford 31-7 out in Palo Alto. Boston College played well for three quarters against Virginia, but gave up 18 points on three short scoring drives and lost 24-14.

Thomas Castellanos had been nursing some ailments prior to the bye week, so we’ll see if he’s in better shape for this one. The BC QB has a 12/4 TD/INT ratio with a 67% completion rate, as the Eagles have been getting the ball out quickly and hoping to create plays in space. Castellanos has not been nearly the same runner in Bill O’Brien’s offense that he was last season and you wonder if that’s due to injury or scheme.

Without Castellanos running all about, Kye Robichaux is having a down year and the Eagles have struggled to run the football. Perhaps a healthier Castellanos will look more like the dual-threat guy that we’re accustomed to seeing.

The BC defense has done a strong job, holding every opponent this season to 27 or fewer points. Unfortunately, top corner Amari Jackson is done for the year with a torn ACL, so the Eagles will have to adjust prior to facing Kyron Drones. Drones was a dark horse Heisman hopeful coming into the season. While that hasn’t worked out, he has accounted for 11 touchdowns.

Drones has completed 61% of his tosses with an 8/4 TD/INT ratio and has rushed for 278 yards. Like Castellanos, he hasn’t found the same success with his legs as he did last season and that has held this offense back. Fortunately, Bhayshul Tuten has with 5.7 yards per pop, but these two offenses rank right around the national average in yards per play.

Defensively, BC has been a good bit better with 4.84 yards per carry and VA Tech has allowed 5.43. The two teams have played similar schedules. With Castellanos having more time to get healthy, I like BC in this one.

Pick: Boston College +7

Other Thursday Game

Georgia State Panthers at Marshall Thundering Herd (-9, 51.5): This one draws the ESPN2 time slot, as both teams play with a quick turnaround. It feels quicker for Georgia State, as they have the travel, but Marshall also blew a 23-3 lead to Georgia Southern in the final seven minutes of last week’s game. Georgia State just lost in normal fashion to Old Dominion.

Marshall has a QB timeshare between Stone Earle and Braylon Braxton. They’ve posted a collective 14/2 TD/INT ratio, so it hasn’t negatively impacted them, and A.J. Turner has 9.6 yards per carry, including an 80-yarder. Georgia State is just rolling with one-time Penn State recruit and Pitt transfer Christian Veilleux, but the departures from the offseason are looming very large for this team.

I lean Georgia State because the number feels a tick high, but travel, short week, rookie head coach all keep me away from the game.

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