Boston College vs. Wake Forest Preview and Pick

The Boston College Eagles head south for a visit with the surprising Wake Forest Demon Deacons in a battle for first place in the ACC’s Atlantic Division Saturday night in Winston-Salem.

These teams are 2/3 of a three-way tie atop the Atlantic Division with the Maryland Terrapins.

In their most recent outings, Boston College beat the Buffalo Bulls 41-0 in a non-conference game last week as 34-point home favorites, while Wake Forest had to come from behind to defeat the North Carolina Tar Heels 24-17 as eight-point road chalk.

B.C. is 5-2 against the spread this season, W.F. 4-3.

The Eagles beat the Deacons 35-30 as 15-point home favorites last season. The Wake jumped out to a 17-0 lead and held a 30-21 lead late in the game. But B.C. QB Matt Ryan, the back-up at the time pitching in relief, tossed two touchdown passes in the last 2 ½ minutes to rally the Eagles to the victory. The Deacons outrushed Boston College 134-84 and the Eagles turned the ball over five times, all leading to an easy cover for Wake Forest.

This season, B.C. is outrushing opponents by a 123-78 yards-per-game average. And QB Ryan, who sat out last week’s game in the rain (as it turned out, the Eagles didn’t need him), is hitting 60% of his throws and owns a 9/4 TD/INT ratio.

The Demon Deacons, who returned 19 starters from last season’s 4-7, 3-5 team, are outrushing foes by a 151-109 YPG margin. And QB Riley Skinner, who took over as the starter after Ben Mauk got hurt in the season opener, is hitting at a 69% completion rate and owns a 5/1 TD/INT ratio.

These two teams have played two common opponents this season. Boston College suffered its only loss of this season at North Carolina State 17-15 on a late Wolfpack touchdown, while Wake Forest beat N.C. State in Raleigh 25-23 three weeks ago. And the Deacons suffered their only loss to Clemson 27-17 as 14-point home dogs a month ago (a game W.F. led 17-3 after three quarters), while B.C. beat the Tigers 34-33 in September in Chestnut Hill.

In those games, Boston College outrushed N.C. State 172-141, while Wake Forest outgrounded the Wolfpack 142-134. Clemson outrushed B.C. by a 136-110 margin and the Deacons by 214-31.

Wake Forest RB Kevin Harris, the Deacons’ leading rusher this season with 344 yards, is listed as doubtful for Saturday’s game with a bad knee.

The O/U is 4-3 in Eagles games this season, but just 2-5 in Wake Forest games.

The Sagarin PREDICTOR ratings rank B.C. 17th at 85.0, Wake 46th at 74.9.

Boston College opened up as six-point favorites for this game, but that number has been bet down to 3 ½.