BC-Syracuse preview

I don't consider Syracuse a rivalry in the sense that I get overly emotional or take great pride in beating them. However, I do recognize that our games with the Orange -- especially in the Dome -- tend to be either huge trap games or huge boosts to various seasons. This game comes at a critical time. With a win, we become bowl eligible and keep the hot streak going. Lose and all the recent goodwill and momentum goes away. 

What's on my mind (not totally related to this game)
The basketball season starts next week and I am excited. I think there is a general optimism among many casual BC fans and a lot of optimism among the hoops diehards. The experts still predict BC to finish in the bottom half of the conference, but many have us sneaking into the Tournament. We are still in the honeymoon phase with Earl, so I think we can do it. I just like entering the season where people beyond BC have a little faith in what's ahead.

Three Simple Keys
1. Protect the ball. Hafley didn't throw TC under the bus, but you could tell when talking about the UConn win, he was frustrated. Statistically BC dominated, but the scoreboard didn't show it. We can't turn the ball over and kill our drives nor give the Orange good field position.
2. Stick with the run. I know we are going to run. Everyone knows. But the key, which has paid off in the last three games, is the steady diet of run that wears on the other team. Our OLine is very good. Syracuse is not great against the run. So stick with it and hope that in the second half it leads to BC controlling the game.
3. Stop the run. Like us, I think Syracuse will try to control tempo, establish the run and then open up the passing game. If we run stop on first downs, we win this game.

Gambling Notes
-- Hafley is 1-2 vs Babers
-- Hafley is 1-1 in Syracuse
-- Babers is 4-3 vs BC
The current line is BC+2.5

Factoid
Neither team has won three in a row in the series since 1998.

Scoreboard Watching
Louisville-Virginia Tech. If you are reading this blog you probably know that the BC Twitterverse is hyper-focused on BC's path to the ACC Championship game. Aside from running the table ourselves, we need some help. It would be very helpful to the cause if Virginia Tech upset Louisville this weekend.

BC is in trouble if...TC is not 100%. Last week he made some mistakes and missed some time and BC still won. That sort of thing can happen against a UConn. It won't in ACC games.

I hope to see...the DLine step up. The rest of the D is looking pretty good, but the Dline is still not disrupting much or generating a lot of pressure. We could use a big game.

Bottom Line
Syracuse looks like a team that is mentally checked out. I think BC goes into the Dome, pushes them around on the Line and pulls away in the second half.
Final Score: BC 31, Syracuse 13