Boston College Eagles: Finish Strong

After a long, hard road of ACC foes, the Boston College Eagles will come to town for the final ACC test of the regular season.

Two years ago Boston College were in Winston-Salem for a nationally televised night game that ended up being one of the biggest nights in then-Groves Stadium history. Maybe that's a bit of a bold statement, but that victory meant the Deacs only needed to win two of their next three to make the ACC Championship game. The excitement that night was clearly evidenced by the joyous celebration of thousands of Wake Forest faithful on the field immediately following the game.

Last season's trip to Chestnut Hill wasn't quite as successful. After Phonz picked off the opening pass of the game and returned it for a touchdown things looked very, very good. Unfortunately that was one of the last positive feelings Deacon fans would have that game, as Matt Ryan picked apart the secondary and Riley Skinner went down with a shoulder injury on the way to a very disappointing season-opening loss.

Wake will definitely be looking to redeem the loss from 2007, and replicate the 2006 victory. Thankfully there won't be any Matt Ryans to contend with in order to make that happen.

BC's new starter, senior Chris Crane, is supposed to be a reasonably talented player himself, but no one expects him to match the production of Ryan. BC similarly lacks experience at running back, where two freshman are expected to shoulder the load. The receivers and offensive line return much of their talent, and we'll have to wait and see of Crane gets the protection he needs to get the ball in those receivers hands.

On defense BC will bring a very talented line, including several skilled and experienced seniors. They're a deep group and will make things tough on any offensive line/running game they face this season. Although the Eagles graduated some very impressive linebackers, they were very deep at that position and have several players ready to step in and get the job done. Despite those strong points, BC is definitely going to struggle in the secondary, where they graduated All-American safety Jamie Silva as well as talented corner DeJuan Tribble. With only one returning starter they're going to have to whip some young guys into shape quickly.

I think Wake should match up fairly well with Boston College. I don't see any position where Wake will definitely be at a disadvantage, and I think Riley Skinner will be able to take advantage of an inexperienced secondary. Phonz and the rest of the Wake secondary should make things difficult for Crane, and our experienced front seven won't make things easy for a couple of freshman running backs.

Given all of these things, I don't have much doubt that Wake will finish the ACC schedule on a strong note with a victory over the Eagles. Disagree with me? Think I missed something important? Let me know in the comments.