Week 1: Boston College vs Rutgers 9/3/22 College Football Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Boston College Eagles and Rutgers Scarlet Knights do battle Saturday in week 1 college football action from BC Alumni Stadium.

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights will look to bounce back from a frustrating 2021 season, finishing the year at 5-8 overall including a 2-7 mark in Big Ten conference play. The Scarlet Knights received an invite to the Gator Bowl after Texas A&M had to withdraw, but the Scarlet Knights forgot to show up in a 38-10 drubbing at the hands of Wake Forest. Noah Vedral is expected to be the main option under center for Rutgers, after throwing for 1,813 yards, 7 TDs and 7 INTS last season while also rushing for the second-most yards on the ground on the team last year. Leading rusher Isaih Pacheco is no longer with the team, but there are still experienced guys like Aaron Young and Kyle Monangal who can take over the job. Aron Cruickshank leads the returnees in Rutgers’ receiving group as well as tight end Johnny Langan, but Taj Harris transfers in from Syracuse and Sean Ryan will come in from West Virginia to help the cause. On defense, Mayan Ahantoua and Mohamed Toure return as part of the Rutgers pass rush that needs to get more pressure in the backfield while Tyreem Powell is expected to lead the linebacking corps after Rutgers lost the services of Tyshon Fogg and Olakunie Fatukasi. In the Rutgers secondary, Avery Young and Christian Izien make up a solid pari of safeties while Kessawn Abraham, Robert Longerbeam and Max Melton make up a trio of corners for the Scarlet Knights defense.

The Boston College Eagles will try to show more signs of progression after a decent 2021 season, finishing the year at 6-6 including a 2-6 mark in ACC conference play. The Eagles got the invite to play East Carolina in the Military Bowl, but a COVID outbreak forced BC to withdraw from the game and the bowl game was subsequently scrapped. Phil Jurkovec returns to lead BC under center after a solid, but injury plagued 2021 seasonand the pieces are there to help him succeed, including Zay Flowers who is one of the best returning wideouts that the ACC has to offer while George Takacs transfers in from Notre Dame to help the cause. On defense, Marcus Valdez returns for BC’s defensive line after logging a team-high 5 sacks and 7 TFLs while Kam Arnold’s also back after leading the Eagles in tackles last season. Jordan Woodbey is also back in the secondary for BC this season.

Rutgers is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games overall and 9-2 ATS in their last 11 road games while the under is 9-0 in their last 9 games against the ACC. Boston College is 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games on turf and 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games against the Big Ten while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 home games.

I get why you’d look at either side here as Rutgers isn’t very good offensively, but neither are the Eagles if their form for last season carries over but for Boston College a healthy Jurkovec will go a long way. That being said, I like the under a lot here. This just feels like a slopfest between two teams that are going to have a hard time moving the ball down the field and I think this is a game predominantly played between the 20s. Forget getting near 50 points, this one’s going to struggle to hit 40. Give me the under here.