Thursday Night College Football Preview: Boston College Eagles vs. Virginia Tech Hokies
ACC rivals Boston College Eagles and the Virginia Tech Hokies will meet on Thursday, October 17th, 2024, at 7:30 PM on ESPN in a Thursday Night College Football game. Currently, the home team, the Virginia Tech Hokies, is listed as seven-point favorites, with a total for the over-under set at 48 1/2 points.
There is a lot of history to compare between these two ACC rivals. If we look at just the last four years, we find that the Hokies have won three out of four, both straight up and against the spread. If we look at the last 10 games overall, Virginia Tech has gone 6 – 4 SU and 5 – 5 ATS.
Boston College Eagles Preview
The Boston College Eagles enter this game with a record of 4 – 2. Their two losses in the year came on the road: They lost to Missouri on September 14th by the score of 27 – 21 and again two weeks ago on October 5th when they lost to Virginia by the score of 24 – 14.
One of the Eagles’ issues this year is their inability to score points. They’ve scored only 28 points on one occasion this year against Duquesne, a team nowhere near the level of talent as the Virginia Tech Hokies.
Due to their inability to score points, they’ve played under the posted number in five out of their six games, with the only game going over that number being the game against Duquesne.
The other factor in the Boston College Eagles’ low-scoring affairs is their one of the best defenses in the ACC. Boston College has allowed the fewest points per game in the ACC, at 17.2 points per game.
Virginia Tech Hokies Preview
The Virginia Tech Hokies enter this game with a 3 – 3 record straight up and against the spread. They are coming off a big Rd. win against the Stanford Cardinals 31 – 7. That game took place on October 5th, 2024, which means the Hokies would have had 12 days to prepare for this game.
They are thankful to be back home. They’ve played three out of their last four games on the road, and they’ve played four out of six on the road this year.
Unlike the Eagles, the Hokies can score points. They’ve scored at least 30 points in four of their six games. That said, they do have to be a little careful with their defense, which allowed teams to score 38, 26, and 34 points this year.
Spooky Express Free Play
This is a challenging Thursday Night College Football game to handicap. On the one hand, head coach Bill O’Brien is the better of the two head coaches in this game, and what he brings to defense could even minimize the home-field advantage for Virginia Tech.
Knowing that Virginia Tech had its issues at home with Rutgers, a team like Boston College should be able to compete here. I’m not saying they’re going to win, but at some Sportsbooks, you can still get this at Boston College +7.5.
Therefore, you recommend taking the Boston College Eagles plus the points on the road as a free play of the day. Let’s rely on their defense to keep us in the game and get the win here on the road at Virginia Tech for our free play.