Boston College football turned heads on Saturday afternoon, when it defeated Duke 26-6 after a close but sloppy first half. The Eagles’ jump in the second half established themselves a team that can adjust and fix a slump, but can we really decide that after one game?
The Eagles will play their home opener on Saturday, Sept. 26 against Texas State. This is an out-of-conference game, as the Bobcats reside in the Sun Belt, but it will still be carefully scrutinized, as we are still watching a new BC team. This game will be a test of whether this will become a hot streak, or if the Eagles just got lucky last weekend.
A second-half team?
BC had a tough first half against Duke, keeping the game to a close score of 7-6. However, it came out hot in the second half with a cleaned-up defense and put another 19 points on the board, while halting the Blue Devils. It will be interesting to see if Boston College can apply what it learned during that halftime going forward or if it will consistently take them a good chunk of the game to hit its stride. Hopefully, they are able to become more stable throughout the whole game, lest risk heart attacks for many fans.
Texas State
The Bobcats have struggled through the beginning of their season, going 1-2. As this is the fourth matchup this season for Texas State, it showing up with more experience than BC has gathered. However, Texas State has yet to prove any sort of consistency. In its season opener, SMU topped the Bobcats 31-24. Coming off the heels of that game, UTSA showed them the same fate with a final score of 51-48. On Saturday, the Bobcats finally threw together a 38-17 win against Louisiana-Monroe, although this victory is not too telling as Louisiana-Monroe is only able to boast an 0-2 record. Based on this record, it is hard to determine what kind of team Texas State will bring to the field on Saturday, but considering BC’s performance against Duke, they likely will be no match.
Predictions
The outcome of this game depends on which BC team Hafley shows up with Saturday evening. Will we see first half BC or second half BC? What is certain is the Eagles need to bring back their strong defense. Texas State has played consistently high-scoring games, scoring a total of 110 points in three matches. If BC limits the Bobcats’ yardage, which under Hafley it should be able to, this will be a promising game for the Eagles. So long as quarterback Phil Jurkovec continues to lead the offense, BC will be the higher-scoring team in this matchup. I predict Boston College’s strong defense will keep Texas State under 10 points, and the final will be a comfortable 24-7, BC.
Photo courtesy of TxStateBobcats.com
I am a junior Communication major at Villanova University, with specializations in Journalism and Media Production. My Instagram is @bridgethyland_.