The Heels are in Chestnut Hill

Alumni Stadium (BC)

Today at noon (televised on ESPN2) 25th ranked North Carolina (7-3, 3-3 in the ACC) will be in Chestnut Hill to take on Boston College (7-3, 4-2 in the ACC) in what could be once again a spoiler game for the Heels. UNC could once again ruin plans for a team in their conference, this time, even two of them. First, a loss for BC puts their chances on playing in the conference championship at risk, and it would also throw away their chances of being unbeaten at Alumni Stadium (something that BC has only done once since the Flutie era). But this is going to be a tough one, especially when you are facing a team that could be rappresenting their division in the ACC after being picked to come in last in it by the media!

Two things are very, very important in this game. The first one said by the Tar Heel quarterback:

“Last year was kind of when we hit a speed bump after we got that bowl-eligible win,” Yates said. “We don’t want to do that again. We’ve talked about it as a team, trying to get past the whole bowl-eligible thing and focus on what we have to do… We can’t afford to take another speed bump this late in the season.”

And the second one by the head coach of the team, who is 7-0 against the Eagles:

“Any time that you win, you have a chance to get closer to equaling or surpassing last year’s performance,” Davis said. “There’s a lot to play for.”

Add to that the fact that last year, in Chapel Hill, UNC took care of BC by the final of 45 to 24, and you have to believe that this should be one of those games that the World Leader in Sports might wish they had put it on ESPN and not the duece. This has the making of one of those games that you are just going to come out of it thinking “the Atlantic Coast Conference isn’t bad at all“. The biggest thing in this game is that you are going to see two very good defenses work as hard as possible to get turnovers and good field position for their offense. I would not be surprised at all that whichever team does a better job of what I just said is the the one that wins this game.

But what about the offense? Here I have a feeling that this is going to have to be Yates’ day if he wants his team to go back home with a W. He has to find the short/underneath routes and keep hitting them until BC starts getting in tight and then he must recognize it and go over the top (remember the slant TD of last week). Watch for tight end Zach Pianalto to be the main target for Yates at the beginning of this game and then to see Highsmith (or another of the young WRs) get thrown the long ball when no one expects it! In the middle I could easily see Greg Little getting touches with small passing plays. Sure, a lot simpler said than done, but I just see that as being the way to go since I do not see the Heels having as much of a day on the ground against a good rush defense by the Eagles. Finding the underneath and short routes is going to keep BC from piling seven/eight in the box and maybe finding more holes for Ryan Houston later in the game and it will give a chance for the UNC offense to try and go long once in a while.

For these two teams, that at different times in this season no one gave them a chance (BC being picked last in the pre season media poll and most giving up on UNC after the 0-3 start in the conference) this is one heck of an important game. BC needs it because if they lose and Clemson wins they won’t be going to the conference championship for the third time in a row. UNC needs it because when it comes to going to bowl games the Eagles beating the Heels would guarantee them a higher bowl due to the ACC one-loss rule. The win for Carolina would also give them 8 wins, which is the same as what they had last season, meaning that the coaching staff hasn’t gone backwards in year three.

As we all know, with expectations also comes pressure, so I am sure that this game is going to have a couple of mistakes on both sides of the field. Who takes advantage of those is probably the team that is going to win the game today. The Vegas insiders have Boston College a 3.5 points favorite in this one, and that is probably due to the fact they are the home team. I see this one as a game that is going to be decided by a touchdown, with the Tar Heels taking it with the final score being 24 to 17, meaning I think the 39 O/U is a tad low in my opinion.

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