FSU football: Success against Boston College hinges on run defense

FSU football needs a win against Boston College to improve their chances of making a bowl game in 2019. Their success will hinge on run defense.

What if I told you FSU football has a favorable matchup against Boston College Saturday afternoon?

It’s a road game and FSU has rarely won on the road and it’ll be cold, but it’s a game they could win if they can simply stop the Boston College run game.

Boston College’s defense isn’t very good (ranked No. 100 by SP+) and gives up 6.34 ypp and 31.4 ppg, so if the FSU offense was every going to score it should be this weekend.

It’ll be interesting to see who Kendal Briles decides to use at QB since interim head coach Odell Haggins said he’d leave that decision up to Briles.

Boston College’s offense can put up points(ranked No. 25 by SP+), but they primarily do it via the run game. They run the ball an astonishing 68 percent of the time and junior running back AJ Dillon already had 232 carries through nine games.

He averages 5.54 ypc with 13 touchdowns, and sophomore running back David Bailey averages 6.52 ypc while carrying the ball 107 times with six touchdowns.

The Eagles have only attempted 217 passes all season with their offensive line only giving up five sacks which is good for No. 2 in the nation.

Junior QB Anthony Brown only completes 59 percent of his passes and isn’t a huge threat to run with just 33 carries on the season.

The game plan should be simple just as it was last year when the Noles squeaked out a one point victory. The defense needs to load the box and stop the run and make an inaccurate QB beat them with his arm.

Oh, and hopefully the FSU offense can find life somewhere and perform like it did in the first couple of games this season.

The good news is Boston College only has 11 sacks on the season so the offensive line should be able to hold up somewhat we hope.