Boston College Eagles @ NC State Wolfpack Football Preview

On paper, games look so easy. In reality, they can turn out to be far more complicated. This truism enters into Saturday's ACC clash between the Boston College Eagles and the North Carolina State Wolfpack.

In what is essentially the Tom O'Brien Bowl - a matchup between O'Brien's former team from New England and his current team in the Carolinas - the matchup should easily favor NC State. In theory, the Wolfpack and their high-powered offense under the leadership of dual-threat quarterback Russell Wilson should blow past the impotent Eagles at Carter-Finley Stadium. NCSU owns all the weaponry and heavy artillery in this contest, while Boston College - led by an army of mediocre quarterbacks - can barely get out of its own way.

The visiting Eagles, as they make the trip south to North Carolina's Research Triangle, have all the firepower of a slingshot, and maybe that's being too charitable. Boston College has scored all of 13 points in its last two games, as three signal callers - Dave Shinskie, Mike Marscovetra, and Chase Rettig - have combined to produce exactly one touchdown drive among them. Boston College spent 50 minutes last weekend against Notre Dame trailing by a double-digit margin. The Eagles got blown out of the box, surrendering 21 points in the game's first 13 minutes. BC crept within eight points (21-13) and pushed the Irish midway through the third quarter, but Notre Dame scored a field goal in just 90 seconds to push its lead back to 11, and the Eagles came up with no answers down the stretch. The 31-13 loss was a slightly different version of a fundamentally similar story. The previous week, the Eagles lost by 19 points to Virginia Tech and trailed by at least 10 points for almost all of the second half. Long story short, this team shouldn't be able to hang very long against North Carolina State, which owns a 4-1 mark and whipped defending ACC champion Georgia Tech by a 45-28 score earlier this season... in Atlanta.

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Yet, for all the ways in which this game looks, cooks and smells like a blowout, there's one reason why this game could be close: the hangover.

North Carolina State is coming off a deeply disappointing 41-30 loss against ACC standard-bearer Virginia Tech. The Wolfpack led 17-0 and were headed to the very top of the ACC (not just the Atlantic Division), but poor tackling and red-zone frustrations on offense doomed NCSU in the second half, as the visiting Hokies mounted a big-league comeback. NC State has regularly failed to display consistency during the ACC season under O'Brien. The Wolfpack allow adverse moments to hijack their frame of mind. If NCSU doesn't clear away the mental fog of last week's loss, Boston College will have a shot.

Some games test the Xs and Os. This game will definitely challenge the Jimmies and Joes on the NC State roster. We'll see if a hangover game turns into the kind of train wreck that will make Wolfpack fans drink.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer