So we are officially into bowl season now, so it’s time to take a look at the Bearcats opponent from the ACC, Boston College. UC and BC will meet Jan. 2nd in the Ticket Smarter Birmingham Bowl. I will be the first to admit this feels like a huge disappointment on an otherwise outstanding season, but because of the contracted bowl tie-ins a 10 win Bearcats could do no better than Birmingham the day after New Year’s. With that said, they drew a favorable matchup against what is technically a Power 5 opponent. Boston College comes into the game at 6-6 and their star running back is skipping the bowl game in preparation for the NFL Draft.
What can UC expect to see against a Boston College team without its best player and an interim coach? (OSU Coordinator Jeff Hafley has accepted the position but will remain with OSU through the playoffs). Well it’s hard to say…
What we do know is that at quarterback the Bearcats will see sophomore Dennis Grossel, who does come from Northern Ohio’s St Ignatius powerhouse high school. Junior Anthony Brown was playing well to start the season, but has since undergone season ending knee surgery. Grossel comes into the game with a pedestrian 48.5% completion percentage and 896 yards, he has found the end zone nine times, but also thrown three interceptions. Boston College has been a very run oriented team with Dillon in the backfield and with Brown going down for the year Grossel has managed only 74 yards passing a game. To put it simply, if the Bearcats can generate pressure and shut down the run even a little bit they should be able to stifle this BC offense.
Since Dillon and his 1,685yards, 14 touchdowns and 5.3 yards a carry are sitting this game out the rushing attack is going to fall on the shoulders of sophomore David Bailey. Bailey has 816 yards and seven touchdowns of his own, but this will surely be the first game of the year he eclipses the 16 carry mark so we will see how much he wears down late in the game, especially against a great UC defense.
No receiver on the roster has gone over the 500 yard mark for the Eagles this season, and much like the Bearcats, the leading pass catcher for BC is actually sophomore tight end Hunter Long, he has 464 yards on the year. As for actual wideouts, junior Kobay White leads the charge with 424 yards and a team leading five touchdowns.
Defensively, this BC team is not as strong as in years past. They will give up points (currently 31 a game to be exact). Yes, those numbers might be skewed from playing a Clemson team that dropped 59 on them, however they also have given up 40 to Notre Dame, 38 to a bad Florida State team, and a jarring 48 to Kansas. Junior linebacker Max Richardson is the tackling machine of the defense with 108 tackles on the year, next closest defender has 74, Richardson also has 3.5 sacks to go with his 14.5 tackles-for-loss. Making sure to always know where he’s lined up on the field will be crucial for the Bearcats offense.
Overall, I expect the Bearcats to come out of the gates strong, despite the lackluster bowl they find themselves in. They should really be able to overmatch Boston College on all phases of the game and if Ridder is healthier than we saw him in Memphis the Cats should have no problem getting the scoring into the 30-40s and I just don’t believe without Dillon, that BC will have enough firepower to move the ball up and down the field on the UC defense. Expect the Bearcats to cap off a fantastic season at 11-3.
