Previewing the Boston College Offense

Note: All stats are courtesy of ESPN.com.

Wake Forest begins its conference schedule on Saturday at 3:30pm as the Deacs travel to Chestnut Hill to take on the Boston College Eagles. A win likely will allow the Deacs to be ranked in the AP Poll for the first time since October of 2008.

Boston College Head Coach Steve Addazio is in his seventh year with the program, and has the Eagles sitting at 3-1 coming into this game with wins over Virginia Tech and Richmond at home and Rutgers on the road. The Eagles’ loss was an ugly 48-24 drubbing by Kansas in Chestnut Hill.

Junior quarterback Anthony Brown leads the offense, and the Deacs will have to be careful not to let him carve up the defense like he did in the last meeting when he threw five touchdown passes.

Brown is 54/101 passing on the year for a 53.5% completion percentage. Through four games he has thrown for 792 yards, 6 touchdowns, and no interceptions, with an average of 7.8 yards per completion. He has a QB rating of 138.9 (for comparison, Jamie Newman’s is 177.0).

Brown has been sacked twice for a loss of 12 yards in the first four games of the season. He has 26 rushing attempts for 94 yards and 2 touchdowns, and is averaging 3.6 yards per carry. He also has one reception for 12 yards and a touchdown.

BC’s biggest offensive weapon is junior running back AJ Dillon. Through four games, Dillon has 99 rushing attempts for 468 yards and 6 touchdowns, and is averaging 4.7 yards per carry. Sophomore David Bailey has 44 rushing attempts for 237 yards and 2 touchdowns, and is averaging 5.4 yards per carry. Freshman receiver Zay Flowers also has 10 rushing attempts for 135 yards and a touchdown.

Sophomore tight end Hunter Long is the Eagles’ leading receiver with 9 catches for 139 yards. Junior Kobay White has 7 receptions for 133 yards and a touchdown. Flowers has 6 catches for 130 yards and a touchdown. Senior tight end Korab Idrizi has 2 receiving touchdowns. AJ Dillon and senior tight end Jake Burt, along with Anthony Brown, also have touchdown receptions on the year.

Senior kicker Aaron Boumerhi has made all 17 of his extra point attempts this season. He is 3-5 on field goals, having missed twice from 30-39 yards. His season long is from 40 yards, and his career long is from 52 yards as a sophomore at Temple in 2017. He is in his first year with the Eagles.

Boston College is averaging 33.5 points per game, 457 offensive yards per game, 6.2 yards per play, 250.8 rushing yards per game, 206.2 passing yards per game, 4.5 offensive touchdowns per game, and 23.75 first downs per game.

Wake Forest will have to contain the run game, and not let Anthony Brown go off like he did last season if they want a chance to move to 5-0 and likely be in the AP Top 25. This game should be another very competitive matchup in what has proved to be quite an interesting series between the two teams.