Last week: 3-5 Season: 40-20
No. 10 Oklahoma State at Texas, Noon ABC
Oklahoma State 34, Texas 30
Louisville at Florida State, Noon ESPN
Florida State 27, Louisville 23
Pittsburgh at Duke, 12:20 p.m. ACC Network
Duke 31, Pittsburgh 27
Syracuse at No. 8 Miami, 3:30 p.m. ESPN
Miami 27, Syracuse 21
North Carolina at No. 14 Virginia Tech, 3:30 p.m. ESPN2
Virginia Tech 31, North Carolina 14
No. 19 Michigan at No. 2 Penn State, 7:30 p.m. ABC
Penn State 27, Michigan 17
National game of the week
No. 11 USC at No. 13 Notre Dame, 7:30 p.m. NBC
For the first time since 2009, both of these teams are ranked for this rivalry matchup. Both coaches -- Clay Helton at USC and Brian Kelly at Notre Dame -- have done a good job of getting these teams to 6-1 and 5-1, respectively, especially Kelly, whose Fighting Irish limped to a 4-8 record last year. The Trojans were expected to be one of the best teams in the nation, and they've been good, but have had a number of close games and also lost to Washington State, which was undefeated at the time but then lost to Cal 37-3. Notre Dame's loss was by one, 20-19, at home against Georgia, which is undefeated. The quarterbacks, Sam Darnold of USC and Brandon Wimbush of Notre Dame, will get a lot of the spotlight, but the running backs, USC's Ronald Jones II and Notre Dame's Josh Adams -- are very good as well. At USC, I'd probably pick the Trojans, but I like the rejuvenated Fighting Irish at home in a close game. Notre Dame has showed a little more capability on defense -- no team has scored more than 20 points on the Irish -- and also, Wimbush, a running QB, brings an edge to the offense that Darnold, though dynamic, can't quite match.
Notre Dame 31, USC 28
Wake Forest at Georgia Tech, 7:30 p.m. ESPNU
Georgia Tech 27, Wake Forest 24
Boston College at Virginia, 12:30 p.m. NBC Sports Washington (formerly CSN)
Virginia needs to be ready for another physical game Saturday. The Cavaliers tried to run the ball down the Tar Heels' throats last weekend, and that's what the Eagles are going to try to do today. Look no further than the Eagles' 45-42 upset of Louisville last week to see how they like to attack teams. BC ran the ball 59 times for 364 yards and five touchdowns. Most of that production came from freshman AJ Dillon, who carried the ball 39 times for 272 yards and four scores. Dillon is a 6-foot, 240-pound bruiser who had originally committed to Michigan. He was one of the top running backs in this year's freshman class. The Eagles also have senior Jon Hilliman, who has been a workhorse for years for them, and quarterback Anthony Brown, also a freshman, can run as well. Virginia ranks 53rd in rushing defense, giving up 143 yards per game, not good, but not bad. Obviously, it needs to come up with one of its better games stopping the run for the Cavaliers to prevail.
The other reason BC likes to run, besides being pretty good at it, is it isn't good at passing. On the year, Brown has completed just 51.2 percent of his passes for 1,009 yards, seven TDs, and eight interceptions. He only attempted 17 passes, and completed five, against Louisville. UVa is 10th against the pass this year, so BC probably won't be involved in a passing shootout with Virginia.
BC has had good defenses under coach Steve Addazio before, but this hasn't really been one of them.
Harold Landry is a standout defensive end with first-round NFL draft potential, and UVa certainly has to account for him, but the unit as a whole is giving up a lot of yards. The Eagles rank 120th in rushing yardage allowed, 242.4 per game, which is a little worse than North Carolina, so we can probably expect a similar game plan for UVa. Jordan Ellis will probably be given the ball a lot. BC is better at pass defense, ranking 45th. For comparison sake, UNC is 78th. Kurt Benkert fumbled twice last week and lost one of them. He needs to be more protective of the ball, and that is especially true with a pass rusher like Harold barreling around the end. That should give Virginia even more incentive to run the ball. The fewer times Benkert drops back to pass, the fewer times it's possible for him to fumble. Along those same lines, I would hope that most of the roll outs UVa might try in the passing game go away from Harold.
As an interesting side note, BC's offensive coordinator is former Virginia Tech coordinator Scot Loeffler, who was with the Hokies from 2013-15. BC's defensive coordinator is Jim Reid, who was the UVa DC under Mike London from 2010-12.
One edge you have to give the Eagles is special teams. Michael Walker is a dynamic return man, ranking first in the ACC in punt return average (16.8 per return) and fifth in kick return average (22.8 per return). UVa has had breakdowns this season with coverages, but might not be able to afford any vs. BC. Eagles kicker Colton Lichtenberg is only 8 of 13, but he has made five out of five field goals from 30-39 yards.
BC upsetting Louisville last week was actually probably a good result for UVa. You hope one of two things -- that it was the best performance BC is going to give this year, or Louisville is going to end up being not very good. Either way, though, such an upset should've brought down UVa off its high after beating UNC and refocused the players. Even though the Wahoos are 5-1, I don't think there's a reason to think the players won't be focused. I think Bronco Mendenhall knows how to make sure the team is only looking at the next opponent and not taking anyone lightly. Plus, although UVa is close to bowl eligibility, it isn't there yet. The schedule, as we've talked about, gets tougher soon. The incentive is there for the 'Hoos to wrap up that sixth win right now. And if they really do have bigger aspirations, it won't be easy to reach those if they lose to a team with a losing record (BC, 3-4, also has wins over Northern Illinois and Central Michigan, and its losses are to Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Clemson, and Virginia Tech). The Cavaliers talk and act hungry, so you would hope that wouldn't be a recipe to have a letdown at home. Still, I think this game will be close, because I could see some breakdown leading to a lead change or surge in momentum for BC that UVa might have to overcome. In front of what will be an excited, but also cautious and nervous fan base, I like the Cavaliers to win.
Virginia 27, Boston College 24
No. 10 Oklahoma State at Texas, Noon ABC
Oklahoma State 34, Texas 30
Louisville at Florida State, Noon ESPN
Florida State 27, Louisville 23
Pittsburgh at Duke, 12:20 p.m. ACC Network
Duke 31, Pittsburgh 27
Syracuse at No. 8 Miami, 3:30 p.m. ESPN
Miami 27, Syracuse 21
North Carolina at No. 14 Virginia Tech, 3:30 p.m. ESPN2
Virginia Tech 31, North Carolina 14
No. 19 Michigan at No. 2 Penn State, 7:30 p.m. ABC
Penn State 27, Michigan 17
National game of the week
No. 11 USC at No. 13 Notre Dame, 7:30 p.m. NBC
For the first time since 2009, both of these teams are ranked for this rivalry matchup. Both coaches -- Clay Helton at USC and Brian Kelly at Notre Dame -- have done a good job of getting these teams to 6-1 and 5-1, respectively, especially Kelly, whose Fighting Irish limped to a 4-8 record last year. The Trojans were expected to be one of the best teams in the nation, and they've been good, but have had a number of close games and also lost to Washington State, which was undefeated at the time but then lost to Cal 37-3. Notre Dame's loss was by one, 20-19, at home against Georgia, which is undefeated. The quarterbacks, Sam Darnold of USC and Brandon Wimbush of Notre Dame, will get a lot of the spotlight, but the running backs, USC's Ronald Jones II and Notre Dame's Josh Adams -- are very good as well. At USC, I'd probably pick the Trojans, but I like the rejuvenated Fighting Irish at home in a close game. Notre Dame has showed a little more capability on defense -- no team has scored more than 20 points on the Irish -- and also, Wimbush, a running QB, brings an edge to the offense that Darnold, though dynamic, can't quite match.
Notre Dame 31, USC 28
Wake Forest at Georgia Tech, 7:30 p.m. ESPNU
Georgia Tech 27, Wake Forest 24
Boston College at Virginia, 12:30 p.m. NBC Sports Washington (formerly CSN)
Virginia needs to be ready for another physical game Saturday. The Cavaliers tried to run the ball down the Tar Heels' throats last weekend, and that's what the Eagles are going to try to do today. Look no further than the Eagles' 45-42 upset of Louisville last week to see how they like to attack teams. BC ran the ball 59 times for 364 yards and five touchdowns. Most of that production came from freshman AJ Dillon, who carried the ball 39 times for 272 yards and four scores. Dillon is a 6-foot, 240-pound bruiser who had originally committed to Michigan. He was one of the top running backs in this year's freshman class. The Eagles also have senior Jon Hilliman, who has been a workhorse for years for them, and quarterback Anthony Brown, also a freshman, can run as well. Virginia ranks 53rd in rushing defense, giving up 143 yards per game, not good, but not bad. Obviously, it needs to come up with one of its better games stopping the run for the Cavaliers to prevail.
The other reason BC likes to run, besides being pretty good at it, is it isn't good at passing. On the year, Brown has completed just 51.2 percent of his passes for 1,009 yards, seven TDs, and eight interceptions. He only attempted 17 passes, and completed five, against Louisville. UVa is 10th against the pass this year, so BC probably won't be involved in a passing shootout with Virginia.
BC has had good defenses under coach Steve Addazio before, but this hasn't really been one of them.
As an interesting side note, BC's offensive coordinator is former Virginia Tech coordinator Scot Loeffler, who was with the Hokies from 2013-15. BC's defensive coordinator is Jim Reid, who was the UVa DC under Mike London from 2010-12.
One edge you have to give the Eagles is special teams. Michael Walker is a dynamic return man, ranking first in the ACC in punt return average (16.8 per return) and fifth in kick return average (22.8 per return). UVa has had breakdowns this season with coverages, but might not be able to afford any vs. BC. Eagles kicker Colton Lichtenberg is only 8 of 13, but he has made five out of five field goals from 30-39 yards.
BC upsetting Louisville last week was actually probably a good result for UVa. You hope one of two things -- that it was the best performance BC is going to give this year, or Louisville is going to end up being not very good. Either way, though, such an upset should've brought down UVa off its high after beating UNC and refocused the players. Even though the Wahoos are 5-1, I don't think there's a reason to think the players won't be focused. I think Bronco Mendenhall knows how to make sure the team is only looking at the next opponent and not taking anyone lightly. Plus, although UVa is close to bowl eligibility, it isn't there yet. The schedule, as we've talked about, gets tougher soon. The incentive is there for the 'Hoos to wrap up that sixth win right now. And if they really do have bigger aspirations, it won't be easy to reach those if they lose to a team with a losing record (BC, 3-4, also has wins over Northern Illinois and Central Michigan, and its losses are to Wake Forest, Notre Dame, Clemson, and Virginia Tech). The Cavaliers talk and act hungry, so you would hope that wouldn't be a recipe to have a letdown at home. Still, I think this game will be close, because I could see some breakdown leading to a lead change or surge in momentum for BC that UVa might have to overcome. In front of what will be an excited, but also cautious and nervous fan base, I like the Cavaliers to win.
Virginia 27, Boston College 24
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