Nebraska vs. Boston College Preview and Prediction
by Pete Fiutak, CollegeFootballNews.com


Oh yes, these teams will care.

It's the first year under head coach Bill O'Brien at Boston College, and the program that lost seven bowl games in eight appearances before pouncing on Southern Methodist in last year's Fenway Bowl, the Eagles have a shot to close out the year with four wins in the last five games to go into the offseason red hot.

Nebraska hasn't been to a bowl game since the 2016 Music City Bowl, and it hasn't won a bowl game since the 2015 Foster Farms Bowl against UCLA. It's been a grind to get here, and there's still more to play for.

Nebraska -- the football program that was the model of consistency for SO long -- hasn't had a winning season since 2016 and just that one since 2014. When it comes to momentum and the offseason, 7-6 would be a giant deal.

Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl
Nebraska (6-6) vs. Boston College (7-5)
Saturday, December 28 - 12:00 PM (ET) - ABC

Why Boston College Will Win
Yeah, Nebraska really, really cares about being in a bowl game again, but it's also missing a bunch of key players. Isaiah Neyor led the team with five touchdown catches. He's gone along with several parts of the defense including four starters.

As good as Husker star QB Dylan Raiola is, it's the ground game that powers the offense. Nebraska is 4-0 when running for 149 yards or more and 5-1 when coming up with 142 or more. The Boston College run defense has been a rock for most of the year, only getting powered over by Virginia Tech and Missouri for more than 140 yards.

As long as the Boston College line can get to Raiola -- it's good at generating sacks, the Huskers have problems in pass protection -- it should slow down the Husker O, but ......

Whey Nebraska Will Win
......the Huskers bring a run defense, too.

They're 11th in the nation allowing just 106 yards per game, and it just can't get gouged. Boston College is 4-0 when running for 228 yards or more, 3-5 when it can't get past 180, and there's a problem when it doesn't get to at least 4.4 yards per carry.

Nebraska allowed 3.5 yards per run and only Indiana and USC have been able to push past the 180-yard mark.

But really, this is the showcase for Raiola and the Dana Holgorsen offense. While this bowl season across the board doesn't matter much to 2025 in a transfer portal era, this might be the moment when .......

Who Will Win
Raiola will let it rip.

Again, the Huskers need to run the ball effectively to balance things out, but Boston College had big problems this season with accurate passers.

The Eagles went 0-4 when allowing teams to hit 65% of their passes, 7-1 when they don't get there, and Raiola has only failed to get to 65% four times.

Both teams will bring the fire and want-to, but Nebraska will be just a bit more effective at controlling the clock.

Prediction
Nebraska 27, Boston College 21

Spread
Nebraska is favored by 4 points

Won’t play because he wants to prepare for the NFL scouts at the East West Shrine game.

Good. If we don’t have a better receiver on the roster then something is seriously wrong. He stank this year. Can’t believe he thinks he will get drafted.

Good riddance and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Haven't seen him or heard much about him through the latter half of the season.

Recruiting Portal Football Players with “Bags of Money” will force every school to Re-Recruit their entire roster of 105 every year.

Because others will be Recruiting their top level players and the remaining players are going to want proportionate share.

There are no rules for 3rd party representatives prohibiting contact with players any day of the year. And they will and are. Portal entry already doesn’t matter. Every Coach and School will experience being undermined constantly. This is going to lead to disaster within the sport starting now.

College Football provides the revenue that pays for the Sports Programs at most schools. NIL money by itself will not save some schools.

Without Change, think about every school churning the top 25 returning players every year. Coaches will continue leaving the profession in much larger numbers.

Schools will experience pressure to solicit NIL dollars constantly, in huge chunks. And this will pit Sports vs Academia even more for those dollars. It’s not a pretty picture.

How do you see it?

That's a pretty cool experience for them.
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Members of the Nebraska and Boston College football programs rang the bell at the New York Stock Exchange this morning.

Looks like Jahmal Banks, Ty Robinson and Isaac Gifford are the player representatives for the Huskers.



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The Edge rusher and an all ACC OT.

Are we going to get a bold prediction piece for this game?

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Man called his shot!

Owners got their 17 game schedule, now there's so many short weeks for teams that the quality of the game is down. Tonight's 6-3 game was poop.
Also hated the 1st round CFB playoffs, the transfer portal, these bowls, and my wife pisses me off, too

Hope Nebraska goes after this guy. That is one large human being !

Boston College edge Donovan Ezeiruaku and starting RT Ozzy Trapilo have opted to not play in the Pinstripe Bowl against Nebraska on Saturday.

Good news for the Huskers.

Here's more on the BC Eagles and what to expect. Disregard to Ezeiruaku and Trapilo mentions:

Fake punt, that was awesome

Here's a quick look at what stood out to me while checking out Boston College:

I was checking out a bowl opt out list and I'm disappointing to see that B.C.'s star pass rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku has not opted out for the draft. He's expected to be a first round pick. He could be a major problem for our offense. Our opt outs aren't listed on this list. Michigan lost several players, but almost all of them are projected first rounders.

This other tracker includes portal transfers. It appears that the Huskers were barely affected by the portal compared to some teams. Tim Beck has half his team in the portal.

GameAbove Sports Bowl
Rate Bowl
68 Ventures Bowl

Rhule and BoB had their final pregame media availability this afternoon. Tap the link for full presser videos of both head coaches.

I'd be interested in hearing about the younger guys on the roster and what Dana and the other guy are up to with a new set of eyes

Leaving tomorrow for the Bronx. Staying at the Highbridge Hotel near Yankee Stadium. Would love to meet up with anyone else on here who:
A) Is going to the game
And:
B) Can stand me. 😂

Go Big Red! Beat BC!

Fast-fact Friday:

“In a little more than three seasons as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, former Nebraska point guard Tyronn Lue posted a 128-83 regular-season coaching record. In the playoffs, he guided the Cavs to a 41-20 mark with three Eastern Conference titles and the first NBA championship (2016) in Cleveland franchise history.”

“Name the former Nebraska rifle coach who was hired five years ago, is a former Husker student-athlete and is a seven-time U.S. champion.”

=================================

Answer:

Rachel Martin

Chiefs dominated the Steelers and the Ravens dominated the Texans. Both the Steelers and Texans were at home and got embarrassed.

Why are the Steelers and Texans allowed in the NFL Playoffs? We need to have a serious conversation about the current playoff format.

Going to be interesting to see if Butler institutes any defensive changes for the bowl game. Obviously, any major changes will probably wait until next year. But I would wager we are going to see some new wrinkles. I am looking forward to it. I was never a huge Tony White fanboy. His defenses here were obviously good ones. But I also thought something was lacking. Killer instinct? Effective blitz packages?

Going to be fun to see what Butler does.