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Saturday, December 6, 2008, 1pm

TV: ABC

Forecast (from Wunderground.com):
Click the "Tampa Weather" link to the right.
Game time forecast, as of 3:00 pm Wednesday: Partly cloudy. High of 72.

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Game Preview: Virginia Tech (8-4, 5-3 ACC) vs. #17 Boston College (9-3, 5-3 ACC)
by Chris Coleman, TechSideline.com

Virginia Tech will meet Boston College on Saturday for the fourth time since October 25, 2007. For the second year in a row, the teams will square off for the ACC Championship and a berth in the Orange Bowl. BC won the regular season meeting last year, but Tech was victorious in the ACC Championship Game. The Hokies are hoping it will be a repeat in 2008.

Boston College knocked off Virginia Tech 28-23 in Chestnut Hill back on October 18. The Hokies got two defensive touchdowns, from Macho Harris and Brett Warren, but the offense failed to reach the endzone. The Eagles hit a couple of big plays on offense, returned a punt for a touchdown and played dominating defense, and they were able to come away with the win.

Both teams are very familiar with each other, with so many recent meetings. Each of the last three games has gone down to the wire, and this Saturday should be no different.

Not a lot has changed with the Boston College offense since the first meeting, except at quarterback. We'll get to that in just a few moments.

Boston College lost quarterback Chris Crane for the season with a broken collarbone against Wake Forest. Crane had his moments against the Hokies back in October, but he also threw four interceptions and nearly cost his team the football game.

With new quarterback Dominique Davis (6-4, 198, r-Fr.), the Eagles probably won't be quite as aggressive on offense. Davis hasn't shown the ability to hit as many big plays in the passing game as Crane. However, he has also protected the football much better. He has not thrown a pick this year, despite playing a major role in several games.

Davis has been BC's primary quarterback for the last two games. Here's a quick look at how he's fared.

He doesn't complete a high percentage of his passes, and he's not as aggressive down the field as Crane, but he's done a good job for the Eagles. However, how effective will he be against a Bud Foster defense? The answer to that question could decide the game.

The Eagles will attempt to establish the running game to give Davis some help. The Eagles are led by two true freshmen tailbacks, Montel Harris (5-10, 192, Fr.) and Josh Haden (5-8, 182, Fr.). Haden is the starter, and he has 439 yards on the season, averaging 4.3 yards per carry.

However, Harris has been the most effective back. He leads the team with 798 yards on the ground this year. He averages 5.1 yards per carry and he has five touchdowns. Harris had some success against the Hokies earlier this year, running for 61 yards on 15 carries. Expect that BC running game to be the primary focus of Bud Foster. If he can shut down the run, he can force a r-freshman quarterback to try and beat him.

Dominique Davis will have some solid receiving targets to help him out in the passing game. Rich Gunnell (5-11, 196, Jr.) leads the team with 42 catches on the season. He is averaging 10.4 yards per catch, with three touchdowns. Joining him is big play threat Brandon Robinson, who has 37 catches for 581 yards and three touchdowns. His 15.7 yards per catch average leads the team.

Justin Jarvis (6-5, 196, Jr.) is the third receiver. He is a big target who has 22 catches for 216 yards and three touchdowns on the year. The Eagles also feature tight end Ryan Purvis (6-4, 260, Sr.). Purvis has 20 catches for 147 yards. Though his numbers are down this year with no Matt Ryan, he is one of the top tight ends in the conference.

Boston College has a good offensive line that is the heart and soul of their offense. They aren't dominant in pass protection or run blocking, but they are perhaps the best combo run blocking/pass blocking offensive line in the ACC.

Though the line features three sophomores, it has been an effective group for the Eagles. Anthony Castonzo is probably the best player, and the left side of the line is the strength.

How will this offense fare against Bud Foster's defense? Probably not very well, but the Eagles are the only team since September to put up 300 yards of offense on the Tech defense.

As you can see, the Tech defense has been nasty since the beginning of October. The only team to reach the 300 yard mark was Boston College, and the Eagles barely got there.

Virginia Tech has the #1 ranked defense in the ACC right now, but BC is very close behind at #2. Here is a look at the Eagles' impressive defensive numbers this season.

This is the best defense on Virginia Tech's schedule this year. The Eagles are dominant up front. Their ability to shut down the running game helps them against the pass. Like the Hokies, it is tough to beat them if your offense is one-dimensional. BC leads the nation with 25 interceptions this year, and they've scored either a defensive or special teams touchdown in seven straight games.

BC's defense starts up front with their interior defensive line. B.J. Raji (6-1, 323, Sr.) and Ron Brace (6-3, 324, Sr.) are dominant in the middle. Raji was a First Team All-ACC selection, and Brace was named to the Second Team. For the season, they have combined for 20 tackles for loss and 10 sacks. The Hokies have not been able to get an inside running game going in their last three meetings with BC, and there's no reason to believe this game will be any different.

The Eagles also have a terrific group of run-stuffing linebackers. Mark Herzlich (6-4, 238, Jr.) was a First Team All-ACC selection. He led the Eagles with 98 tackles, including 10 tackles for loss and three sacks. Herzlich also intercepted an amazing six passes from his strongside linebacker position. Besides all of those great numbers, he also broke up seven passes and forced two fumbles. He is as active a linebacker as you'll find in the ACC.

In the middle, BC has a brick wall in Mike McLaughlin (6-0, 252, Jr.). McLaughlin doesn't have great range, but he is very strong at the point of attack. Combined with Raji and Brace in front of him, he'll make life very difficult for Virginia Tech's interior offensive line. He has 10 tackles for loss and four sacks on the year.

The third starting linebacker is Robert Francois (6-2, 253, Sr.). He returned an interception for a touchdown against Maryland last week, and has seven tackles for loss and two sacks this year.

Boston College has a huge front seven, in terms of weight. Their linebackers are the size of Virginia Tech's defensive ends. The Eagles' starting front seven averages 273.7-lbs per man, while VT's averages just 252.7-lbs. That's not a criticism of the Hokies. They are just used as a comparison. In short, BC's front seven is very large and they will be difficult to move, if not impossible.

The Eagles are more vulnerable in the secondary. However, teams haven't been able to exploit it this year for two reasons. First, passing games in the ACC are average at best. Second, BC shuts down the run every game, which means the safeties don't have to worry about run support at all.

BC's size extends all the way back to their safeties. Strong safety Paul Anderson (6-1, 211, Sr.) and free safety (6-1, 215, So.) have terrific size. They don't have great range, but that hasn't mattered this year. Anderson is second on the team with five interceptions on the season.

Boston College has solid corners, but they haven't been playmakers this far. Roderick Rollins (6-0, 188, Jr.), DeLeon Gause (5-11, 174, So.), Kevin Akins (6-2, 224, Sr.) and Donnie Fletcher (6-1, 186, Fr.) have combined for seven interceptions on the year. The majority of BC's turnovers are forced by their safeties and linebackers, so I don't expect to see Tech throwing to the middle of the field much in this game.

The Tech offense will likely play pretty conservatively this game, but they will pick their spots and attack. I expect to see Tyrod Taylor using his legs quite a bit in this game. Taylor ran for 110 yards in the first meeting against BC. With the sudden improvement of the Tech receiving corps, the Hokies will be able to attack the Eagles down the field more effectively than in their first meeting.

With neither offense looking like they are going to do much against the defense they are facing, special teams could be the difference in this game. It certainly was last time, as Rich Gunnell's 65 yard punt return for a touchdown gave the Eagles a lead that the Hokies could never manage to overcome.

Despite that return, the Eagles haven't been dangerous on punt returns this year. Gunnell is the only player on the roster who has returned more than one punt, and 65 of his 146 return yards came in that one play against Virginia Tech. On kickoff returns, the Eagles average just 19.3 yards per return as a team.

The kicking game is solid from short range. Steve Aponavicius is 13-of-20 for the season. However, from beyond 30 yards he is just 7-of-13 this year, and he hasn't even attempted a field goal from beyond 40 yards. The Hokies appear to have the advantage if this turns into a field goal battle.

Ryan Quigley is a true freshman punter who is averaging 39.7 yards per punt on the season. Frank Beamer could try to go after a couple of his kicks.

On paper, the Hokies appear to have the advantage on special teams. However, BC won the battle back in October, so we'll just have to wait and see.

This is a dead even matchup, as far as I'm concerned. I don't know who is going to the Orange Bowl. You might as well flip a coin. Neither offense is going to have a lot of success, in my opinion. It will probably come down to turnovers and the kicking game. Yeah, I know. I say that every week.

One thing I do like is how much the Virginia Tech wide receivers have improved over the recent weeks. Danny Coale and Jarrett Boykin are making big plays for the Virginia Tech offense. They can't be considered a weakness anymore, in my opinion. I've seen them make more progress than the offensive line, but that's another story.

The last time these teams met, the Hokies were plagued by dropped passes from an inexperienced wide receiver corps. Tyrod Taylor didn't play his best game that night, but he sure didn't have much help either. This time, I think he's got a little more to work with. Confidence shouldn't be an issue, after his excellent performance against UVA.

On the other hand, Boston College has defeated Virginia Tech three of the last four times the teams have met. The Hokies scored three points against BC in 2006. They scored 10 in the first meeting last year, but the one touchdown was a gift from the refs. The Hokie offense put up 23 points against the Eagles in the ACC Championship, but failed to score an offensive touchdown in the first meeting this season.

In other words, Tech isn't going to be breaking any offensive records on Saturday. They are going to play it conservatively, take what they can get, and try not to put the defense in bad situations. However, I still look for Tech to take a few shots downfield. They'll need to score an offensive touchdown this time, that's almost for certain.

I'm really close to picking BC in this game, simply because of how much trouble they've given the Hokies lately. However, I liked what I saw from Tech last week against UVA. I think the VT defense has improved by leaps and bounds since the October 18 meeting, and I think Coale, Boykin and Dyrell Roberts will play better this time around.

Therefore, I'll stick by my preseason prediction and pick the Hokies to win the ACC Championship Game and go to the Orange Bowl.

Note: Will Stewart is not available to make his pick this week.