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Virginia Football vs. Boston College Game Preview, Score Prediction
The Virginia Cavaliers and Boston College Eagles will put their undefeated ACC records to the test when the two ACC foes clash on Saturday in Charlottesville. Boston College is looking to improve to 5-1 for the first time since 2008 and 2-0 in the ACC for the first time since 2007, while UVA is looking to improve on its best start under Tony Elliott and best start since 2019.
Read on for a full preview of Virginia vs. Boston College with everything you need to know, including game details and notes, an opponent scouting report, what to watch for, and a score prediction.
Who: Virginia Cavaliers (3-1, 1-0 ACC) vs. Boston College Eagles (4-1, 1-0 ACC)
When: Saturday, October 5th at 12pm ET
Where: Scott Stadium (61,500) in Charlottesville, Virginia
How to watch: ACC Network
How to listen: SiriusXM 158 or 194, SXM App 956 | Virginia Sports Radio Network
All-time series: Boston College leads 7-1
Last meeting: Boston College defeated Virginia 27-24 last season in Chestnut Hill.
Read Virginia’s injury report for the Boston College game here: UVA Football Week 6 Injury Report: Updates on Boley, Harris, Furnish, Wilson
See below for UVA’s week 6 depth chart for the Boston College game.
2023: 7-6, 3-5 ACC
2024: 4-1, 1-0 ACC
In year 1 under the direction of long-time NFL head coach Bill O’Brien, the Eagles have gotten off to an excellent 4-1 start, which includes blowout wins over Florida State and Duquesne followed by a competitive loss at Missouri, and then more recently, close victories over Michigan State and Western Kentucky.
The scouting report on Boston College became a lot simpler on Thursday with the news that normal starting quarterback Thomas Castellanos is expected to be available for the Eagles on Saturday at UVA after missing last week’s game with an undisclosed injury. With Castellanos leading the way, BC can hope to return to form offensively after struggling on that side of the ball in a tight 21-20 victory over Western Kentucky last week. When Castellanos is healthy, the Boston College offense was certainly capable, opening the season with a 28-13 win at Florida State, nearly upsetting a top 10 SEC team on the road at Missouri, and coming from behind to beat Michigan State in week 4.
Though Castellanos is a dynamic quarterback, the run game is the focus for the Eagles, who call designed runs 55% of the time and have nearly twice the rushing attempts than passing attempts. Castellanos does his fair share of running the ball, but Treshaun Ward leads the way in the ground game, averaging 6.0 yards per carry, which ranks 10th in the ACC. Seven different Eagles have scored rushing touchdowns this season and three of them are averaging at least 4.0 yards per carry.
In the passing game, Boston College’s strength is the efficiency of Thomas Castellanos, who ranks sixth in all of college football in passing efficiency and who has thrown only two interceptions as compared to 10 passing touchdowns. His top target is 5’11” redshirt junior Lewis Bond, who leads the BC receivers with 23 catches for 279 yards and two touchdowns. Only one other Eagle has double-digit receptions for the year, so the Cavaliers should consider focusing on denying Bond and make someone else beat them.
Defensively, Boston College thrives on takeaways, forcing 10 turnovers through the first five games, eight of which have been interceptions. There’s one player UVA quarterback Anthony Colandrea will have to locate before every snap and that’s defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku, who leads the entire country with eight sacks through the first five games of the season. To emphasize that mind-boggling level of production, Ezeiruaku is averaging more than one sack per game and has more sacks than the entire UVA defense combined.
Other defensive playmakers to keep an eye on for BC are defensive backs Max Tucker and Khari Johnson, who each have two interceptions on the season and know how to turn those picks into game-changing plays, as both Tucker and Johnson have more than 50 interception return yards this year. If Colandrea makes an ill-advised throw, it’s a good bet that Tucker or Johnson will make him pay.
Overall, the BC defense ranks third in the ACC in scoring defense, though that’s boosted significantly by the Eagles shutting out FCS Duquesne in week 2.
Quarterback Play
Before Thursday’s news that Thomas Castellanos is likely to start at quarterback for Boston College at Virginia on Saturday, this key was going to be about what the Eagles could get from backup Grayson James. To his credit, James threw the game-winning touchdown pass against Western Kentucky, but BC’s offense with James leading the way was uninspiring. With Castellanos expected to play, the question becomes how close to 100% of his normal dynamic play he provides in his return and whether the Cavalier defense can do a better job of containing him than last season, when he threw for 183 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 78 more to lead the Eagles to a comeback in the second half. On the other side, the quarterback facing Castellanos will be different as Anthony Colandrea looks to do what Tony Muskett couldn’t last year and lead the Hoos to a victory over the Eagles for just the second time in the history of the series.
Second and Fourth Quarter Trends
Boston College tends to get off to a slow start offensively, scoring just 21 points in the first quarter through five games. The Eagles then turn it on in the second quarter, putting 62 points on the board this season in second quarters. In the fourth quarter, the BC defense locks in, giving up just six total points in five fourth quarters this season. Virginia has outscored each of its opponents in the second quarter this season and showed much improvement in fourth quarter execution, which was perhaps the team’s greatest weakness last season, in the comeback victory at Wake Forest. How each team performs before halftime and in the closing possessions of the game will be even more important in this game than they usually are.
Battle in the Trenches
The Eagles lean heavily on their physical play at the line of scrimmage, relying on a capable run game and an effective pass rush to turn the tides in their favor. Virginia can flip the script by disrupting Boston College’s efforts to dominate the line of scrimmage on either side of the ball. The UVA defensive front must contain BC’s run game and force the Eagles into third and long situations. But perhaps mostly importantly, the Cavalier offensive line must hold up against Donovan Ezeiruaku and the BC pass rush. Keep an eye on the left tackle spot, as McKale Boley is slated to make his season debut after missing the first four games with an injury. It wouldn’t be surprising to see both Boley and Jack Witmer, who started those four games at left tackle, split reps in this game, and look for the Cavaliers to potentially double team Ezeiruaku in order to take him out of the game if possible.
Boston College has owned the series against Virginia. Though the two teams have met only eight times, it still seems almost unfathomable that the Cavaliers have prevailed over the Eagles only once in the 60-year history of the series, and that one win came with just 250 fans in attendance at Scott Stadium during the COVID-impacted 2020 season. There should be plenty of fans in the stands on Saturday for UVA’s Homecomings game to see the Hoos face their toughest challenge yet against a well-coached team that has proven to have a winning mentality. UVA is 3-1, but still unproven without a marquee victory against a quality opponent. That could change on Saturday in what should be a very competitive ACC football game. I see this one coming down to the wire, with the Cavaliers showing that their improvements in late-game execution are for real.
Score prediction: Virginia 26, Boston College 23
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The good news for Marco Sturm and the Bruins is that the team could get defenseman Henri Jokiharju back in action Tuesday night in Seattle.
But the potential return of Jokiharju, who has been out of Boston’s lineup since sustaining an injury back on Nov. 28, does not give Sturm a healthy blue line. Instead, the Bruins are apparently dealing with yet another injury ahead of Jokiharju’s return to action, this time with Hampus Lindholm back on the shelf with an injury.
And one that certainly sounds concerning based on what Sturm said.
“It’s not going to be a day-to-day thing,” Sturm, whose team is on a three-game point streak, said following Monday’s practice when asked about Lindholm’s injury status. “Hopefully it’s not too long, but he’s definitely going to be out for a little bit. We’ll have to do more testing when we’re back in Boston so we can go from there.”
Sturm added that Lindholm has “been hurt,” though it’s unclear if he meant that Lindholm has been hurt in the last contest if he’s been playing hurt for the last little bit here. Lindholm did finish Saturday’s game without issue (at least one that was visible), and finished with an assist and logged a pair of overtime shifts in a 22:47 night.
Lindholm is also less than a week removed from what was one of his best games of the season, with a goal and an assist in Boston’s 6-2 win over the Oilers last Wednesday.
Lindholm has not traveled back to Boston ahead of schedule, though that admittedly means very little with just one more game on deck for the B’s on this road trip.
“We just had our first appointment [Sunday] and we’re going to wait until we get back because there’s nothing we can do right now,” Sturm said when discussing Lindholm’s injury. “And then we’ll let our doctors decide our next steps.”
Lindholm, who has three goals and 14 points through 34 games this year, has already missed eight games due to a lower-body injury earlier this season.
Sturm noted that Jokiharju looked “pretty good,” which is a positive development when it comes to his potential availability for Tuesday against the Kraken. If Jokiharju is unable to go, Vladislav Kolyachonok would slide back into the Boston lineup.
The Bruins come into Tuesday’s head-to-head with the Kraken with five of a possible eight points on this road trip banked away, but are a woeful 2-6-0 with Lindholm on the shelf this season.
Police are investigating a deadly shooting that occurred overnight in Boston’s Mattapan neighborhood.
Boston police said they responded to a report of a person shot in the area of 24 Stow Road in Mattapan around 12:12 a.m. on Monday.
When they arrived, officers found a vehicle parked in front of 24 Stow Road with a man inside suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Boston EMS transported the man to a local hospital, where he later died.
No arrests have been announced.
The shooting remains under investigation, and anyone with information is being asked to call homicide detectives at 617-343-4470. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling 1-800-494-TIPS, texting the word “TIP” to 27463 or online.
In 2021, 60 Minutes visited the offices of robotics company Boston Dynamics and met an early model of its humanoid robot, Atlas.
It could run, jump and maintain its balance when pushed. But it was bulky, with stiff, mechanical movements.
Now, Atlas can cartwheel, dance, run with human-like fluidity, twist its arms, head and torso 360 degrees, and pick itself up off of the floor using only its feet.
“They call it a humanoid, but he stands up in a way no human could possibly stand up,” correspondent Bill Whitaker told Overtime. “His limbs can bend in ways ours can’t.”
Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter told Whitaker that Atlas’ “superhuman” range of motion is keeping with the company’s vision for humanoid robots.
“We think that’s the way you should build robots. Don’t limit yourself to what people can do, but actually go beyond,” Playter said.
Whitaker watched demonstrations of the latest Atlas model at Boston Dynamics’ headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts. Rather than turning around to walk in the other direction, Atlas can simply rotate its upper torso 180 degrees.
“For us to turn around, we have to physically turn around,” he told Overtime. “Atlas just pivots on his core.”
Boston Dynamics’ head of robotics research, Scott Kuindersma, told Whitaker that Atlas doesn’t have wires that cross its the joints of the limbs, torso and head, allowing continuous rotation for tasks and easier maintenance of the robot.
“The robot’s not really limited in its range of motion,” Kuindersma told Whitaker. “One of the reliability issues that you often find in robots is that their wires start to break over time… we don’t have any wires that go across those rotating parts anymore.”
Another upgrade to the Atlas humanoid robot is its AI brain, powered by Nvidia chips.
Atlas’ AI can be trained to do tasks. One way is through teleoperation, in which a human controls the robot. Using virtual reality gear, the teleoperator trains Atlas to do a specific task, repeating it multiple times until the robot succeeds.
Whitaker watched a teleoperation training session. A Boston Dynamics’ machine learning scientist showed Atlas how to stack cups and tie a knot.
Kuindersma told Whitaker robot hands pose a complex engineering problem.
“Human hands are incredible machines that are very versatile. We can do many, many different manipulation tasks with the same hand,” Kuindersma said.
Boston Dynamics’ new Atlas has only three digits on each hand, which can swing into different positions or modes.
“They can act as if they were a hand with these three digits, or this digit can swing around and act more like a thumb,” Kuindersma said.
“It allows the robot to have different shaped grasps, to have two-finger opposing grasp to pick up small objects. And then also make its hands very wide, in order to pick up large objects.”
Kuindersma said the robot has tactile sensors on its fingers, which provide information to Atlas’ neural network so the robot can learn how to manipulate objects with the right amount of pressure.
But Kuindersma said there is still room to improve teleoperation systems.
“Being able to precisely control not only the shape and the motion, but the force of the grippers, is actually an interesting challenge,” Kuindersma told Whitaker.
“I think there’s still a lot of opportunity to improve teleoperation systems, so that we can do even more dexterous manipulation tasks with robots.”
Whitaker told Overtime, “There is quite a bit of hype around these humanoids right now. Financial institutions predict that we will be living with millions, if not billions, of robots in our future. We’re not there yet.”
Whitaker asked Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter if the humanoid hype was getting ahead of reality.
“There is definitely a hype cycle right now. Part of that is created by the optimism and enthusiasm we see for the potential,” Playter said.
“But while AI, while software, can sort of move ahead at super speeds… these are machines and building reliable machines takes time… These robots have to be reliable. They have to be affordable. That will take time to deploy.”
The video above was produced by Will Croxton. It was edited by Scott Rosann.
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