Over/Under: Basketball and Bowl Thoughts

1. Over/Under 18 wins for this season's BC men's basketball team?

Jeff: I have BC at 11-3 going into their next ACC game which is at home against Wake Forest on Jan 12. From there I see BC winnning 6 home games but not a single away game. So i am going under right now.

Brian: Although it pains me to do so, I am going to have to agree with you. 11-3 out of conference, which they would then need to go 7-9 in conference to push. I only see them winning 5-6 conference games this year, 4 in the friendly confines of Silvio O. Conte and 1-2 on the road.


2. Over/Under 328.5 yards passing for Matt Ryan in the Champs Sports Bowl? (ESPN.com projects that he will have 328 yards in the bowl game based on year-end stat projections)

Brian: Way over! This will be the last time Matt Ryan wears a maroon and gold jersey, and I expect him to go out with a bang. Michigan State has the 43rd ranked pass defense which I think Logan will look to exploit. Plus, he's playing in the land of the NFC NASCAR (South) division and will be able to showcase his talents to potential drafters the Atlanta Falcons and Bill Parcels. OVER!

Jeff: This is going to be close. Ryan will throw for 275+ yards. But i am going to go under here because many of our scoring drives will be on short fields because Michigan State will struggle to move the ball against our defense that has had several weeks to get healthy again. Under.


3. Over/Under 3.5 point BC margin of victory in the Champs Sports Bowl?

Jeff: Over! The reason the spread is only 3.5 points is because the "experts" think BC will have a letdown game similar to the way they barely showed up against Navy last year after getting overlooked by all the top tier bowls. We have talked about this though and I think our team struggled last year because of the coaching change and is plenty mature enough this year to go to Orlando and take care of business, controlling the game from the opening kick.

Brian: Again, I agree this is over. Last year's coaching change certainly affected the bowl game against Navy. Jags will be looking to prove the product on the field didn't justify this team falling to the 4th ACC bowl and will have the team motivated to BEAT DOWN on the Spartans. Over.


4. Over/Under (the un-pushable) 4.5 wins by ACC teams in bowl games?

Brian: I'm going to go under. Surprised? Here are the teams I expect to win: Virginia Tech over Kansas, BC over MSU, Wake Forest over UConn, and maybe Clemson over Auburn. Here are the teams I expect to come up short:

• Maryland v. Oregon State - team isn't that good
• Georgia Tech v. Fresno State - fired head coach
• FSU v. Kentucky - suspension of 20+ players
• UVA v. Texas Tech - too many close UVA wins this year will catch up with them

I hope I'm wrong, of course, as a good bowl record will help better the ACC football image.

Jeff: I see wins from Wake Forest, Virginia Tech and BC. That gives the ACC 3 locks. Then I think Clemson will probably beat Auburn, UVA will likely beat Texas Tech, and Maryland has a good chance over Oregon State. GT and FSU have a 50-50 shot at best. To answer your question though the ACC will have 5 or more wins in the bowls this year after a poor 4 win performance last year. OVER.


5. Over/Under 5,500 BC fans in attendance at the bowl game.

Jeff: In Jacksonville for the ACCCG there were fewer than 4,000. I see this number increasing significantly. Orlando is much easier to get to than Jacksonville and people had more time to plan a trip. We traveled with 5 people to the ACCCG and are traveling with 6 to the bowl. So that is not a big enough increase to get over 5,500. But, I expect a lot more students to travel. I'm going over! But I'm not real confident.

Brian: Definitely over, but not by much. I hope I'm surprised, but I'm not holding my breath. And because we aren't that cool, Jeff, I don't see the connection between how many people we are going with to the bowl game as compared to the ACCCG.

Jeff: This game is 100% over and I am the winner because all you did was agree with me except for the times you didn't and therefore you were wrong!