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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
Quinton Porter -- 56.0% comp, 1,764 yards, 14 TD, 6 INT
Ryan Hart -- 58.8% comp, 2,162 yards, 12 TD, 15 INT


Top Rushers
Derrick Knight -- 1,178 yards, 5.2 ypc, 3 TD
  Horace Dodd -- 416 yards, 5.1 ypc, 10 TD
Brian Leonard -- 591 yards, 4.7 ypc, 8 TD
  Justise Hairston -- 546 yards, 4.1 ypc, 8 TD


Top Receivers
Grant Adams (WR) -- 35 catches, 563 yards, 2 TD
  Joel Hazard (WR) -- 25 catches, 307 yards, 0 TD
  Sean Ryan (TE) -- 25 catches, 321 yards, 6 TD
Shawn Tucker (WR) -- 41 catches, 632 yards, 2 TD
  Tres Moses (WR) -- 39 catches, 385 yards, 3 TD
  Brian Leonard (RB) -- 33 catches, 334 yards, 4 TD


Top Defenders
Josh Ott (LB) -- 93 tackles, 5 for lost yardage
  Mattias Kiwanuka (DE) -- 63 tackles, 10 sacks, 20 QB hurries
  Will Blackmon (CB) -- 48 tackles, 3 INT, 8 passes broken up
Jarvis Johnson (SS) -- 76 tackles, 2 INT
  Raheem Orr (DE) -- 61 tackles, 15 for loss, 6.5 sacks
  Will Gilkison (LB) -- 55 tackles, 2 forced fumbles and a recovery


The Kickers
Sandro Sciortino -- 9/15 FG, 27/27 PAT
Ryan Sands -- 7/11 FG, 18/19 PAT


The Punters
Jeff Gomulinsky -- 40.2 yards per kick
Joe Radigan -- 38.7 yards per kick


The Kick Returners
Will Blackmon -- 23.8 yds per KO return
  Nat Hasselbeck -- 9.4 yards per punt return
Tres Moses -- 16.0 yards per KO ret, 11.1 per punt ret
  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.
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.


Statistic BC RU
Offense - Run 35 67
Offense - Pass 59 41
Defense - Run 32 74
Defense - Pass 58 80