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Boston College - Rutgers Matchup
The BC Eagles will try to keep their slim bowl hopes alive when they take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights
on Saturday in New Jersey. At 4-5, the Knights are having one of their best seasons in a decade and are
poised to beat the Eagles for the first time since 1991. Here is a summary of each team:
The Quarterbacks |
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Quinton Porter -- 56.0% comp, 1,764 yards, 14 TD, 6 INT |
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Ryan Hart -- 58.8% comp, 2,162 yards, 12 TD, 15 INT |
Top Rushers |
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Derrick Knight -- 1,178 yards, 5.2 ypc, 3 TD |
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Horace Dodd -- 416 yards, 5.1 ypc, 10 TD |
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Brian Leonard -- 591 yards, 4.7 ypc, 8 TD |
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Justise Hairston -- 546 yards, 4.1 ypc, 8 TD |
Top Receivers |
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Grant Adams (WR) -- 35 catches, 563 yards, 2 TD |
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Joel Hazard (WR) -- 25 catches, 307 yards, 0 TD |
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Sean Ryan (TE) -- 25 catches, 321 yards, 6 TD |
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Shawn Tucker (WR) -- 41 catches, 632 yards, 2 TD |
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Tres Moses (WR) -- 39 catches, 385 yards, 3 TD |
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Brian Leonard (RB) -- 33 catches, 334 yards, 4 TD |
Top Defenders |
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Josh Ott (LB) -- 93 tackles, 5 for lost yardage |
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Mattias Kiwanuka (DE) -- 63 tackles, 10 sacks, 20 QB hurries |
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Will Blackmon (CB) -- 48 tackles, 3 INT, 8 passes broken up |
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Jarvis Johnson (SS) -- 76 tackles, 2 INT |
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Raheem Orr (DE) -- 61 tackles, 15 for loss, 6.5 sacks |
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Will Gilkison (LB) -- 55 tackles, 2 forced fumbles and a recovery |
The Kickers |
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Sandro Sciortino -- 9/15 FG, 27/27 PAT |
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Ryan Sands -- 7/11 FG, 18/19 PAT |
The Punters |
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Jeff Gomulinsky -- 40.2 yards per kick |
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Joe Radigan -- 38.7 yards per kick |
The Kick Returners |
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Will Blackmon -- 23.8 yds per KO return |
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Nat Hasselbeck -- 9.4 yards per punt return |
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Tres Moses -- 16.0 yards per KO ret, 11.1 per punt ret |
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Nate Jones -- 23.0 yards per kickoff return |
Final Analysis |
It is becoming very difficult to judge how this year's Boston College Eagle team will play game to game, and
even quarter to quarter. Last week, they had 30 first downs and outgained the Mountaineers by more than
150 yards of total offense, but it didn't matter because of five major mistakes - four interceptions
and a West Virginia kickoff return for a touchdown. Interceptions really hadn't been a huge issue until
last week, but it seems that a new problem hurts the Eagles every week. In the opener against Wake Forest,
it was fumbles. More often than not, it has been penalties. Against Notre Dame, it was special teams
that nearly cost BC the game. Add to this some terrible Big East officiating and one 3am arrival time
the night before a key game and you have a 5-5 team struggling to reach a bowl game that appeared a lock a
month ago.
Thankfully the great elixir, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, are on tap this week. Rutgers has four wins this season, but
three of those are against teams that are a combined 2-28. Their only meaningful victory came against
a decent Navy team six weeks ago. If the Eagles can play relatively mistake-free, they will win the
game easily. The Eagle offense moved the ball extremely well last week against a much better West
Virginia defense. BC's pass defense has been weak in recent games and the one place where Rutgers can
hurt you is with the passing game. Still, I can't imagine that it will be enough to end BC's eleven
game unbeaten streak against Rutgers.
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Boston College 40 Rutgers 17 |
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Rutgers by the Numbers
BC is 8-0 against Rutgers since 1995 and 10-0-1 since 1992.
The Eagles have won the last seven by an average of 25 points. The closest game was 35-21.
Rutgers is 5-49 in Big East play since 1996. Three of those
wins are against Temple.
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Statistic |
BC |
RU |
Offense - Run |
35 |
67 |
Offense - Pass |
59 |
41 |
Defense - Run |
32 |
74 |
Defense - Pass |
58 |
80 |
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