What We Learned: Scouting Boston College's 2010 Opponents After Week 3

Much like Week 2, the third week of the college football season wasn't much better for Boston College's remaining 10 opponents in 2010. BC's opponents went 4-5 in Week 3, but hey, that's a mark that's a half-game better than Week 2, right? The Virginia Cavaliers were idle this past weekend and will host VMI on Saturday.

How's this for bad? BC's remaining ten opponents are 17-12 overall, 9-11 against FBS opponents, 2-9 vs. BCS, non-ACC conf opponents.

Let's take a trip through the box scores and recaps to learn more about how the Eagles' next few upcoming opponents fared in Week 3.

Virginia Tech 49, East Carolina 27: The Hokies shook off a slow first half (a James Madison Dukes hangover?) and came on strong in the second half, erasing a 27-21 third quarter deficit by scoring 28 unanswered points and knocking off Dominique Davis and the ECU Pirates, 49-27. A win goes a long way for the much maligned Hokie fan base, as The Key Play is more happy than Don Draper after he won a Clio.

The good news for the Eagles is if Virginia Tech's first half defense shows up, it might be a long day for the Hokies on Saturday. The Virginia Tech defense allowed 24 points and nearly 300 yards of offense in the first half as ECU scored on four of its first five drives. The Hokies defense remains young, and their first true road test of many of the Hokies freshmen comes this weekend in Chestnut Hill.

The Hokies offense was dealt a serious blow when All-ACC running back Ryan Williams went down with a hamstring injury. Our Virginia Tech blog Gobbler Country doesn't expect to see Williams playing on Saturday, saying that now at 1-2, this season becomes more of a marathon than a sprint. Though we won't get an official word on Williams' status for this weekend's game until Thursday. [Gobbler Country, Box Score]

Michigan State 34, Notre Dame 31: Continuing with our Mad Men theme, Rakes of Mallow is here to remind us how sometimes the difference between winning and losing can be ever so slight:

A couple weeks ago on Mad Men, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce creative director Don Draper was talking about a campaign for Samsonite with one of his employees, Peggy Olson. They were struggling to come up with an idea for a new luggage campaign when Peggy confessed to her boss that she can no longer tell the difference between something good and something awful. Draper's reply? "Well, they're very close."

I feel the same thing about winning and losing, because the line between the two is so incredibly thin sometimes, such as the last two weeks for the Irish.

On a play called "Little Giants," Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio called for a fake FG pass that, you know, actually worked, and the Spartans handed the Irish their second loss in as many weeks. Nevermind the fact that the play clock may or may not have already expired and a possible pass interference call. With the loss, the Irish fall to 1-2 on the season.

CW further goes on to ask Irish Nation to chill out a little. Besides, Nick Saban did lose to Louisiana-Monroe in his first season in Tuscaloosa.

Notre Dame QB Dayne Crist had a big day, throwing for four touchdowns and 369 yards on 32-of-55 passing. Sophomore wide out Theo Riddick hauled in 10 catches for 128 yards and a touchdown in the loss. The Irish return to South Bend to take on a ranked Stanford squad that rolled Wake Forest before traveling to Chestnut Hill to take on the Eagles in prime time. [Rakes of Mallow, Box Score]

N.C. State 30, Cincinnati 19: If I were to have told you at the beginning of the season that the N.C. State Wolfpack would be the first ACC team to three wins, would you have believed me? Because that's exactly what happened. The Wolfpack join the Eagles as the conferences remaining unbeaten programs.

After stalling on their first offensive possession, N.C. State quarterback Russell Wilson led the Wolfpack offense on back-to-back 93-yard touchdown drives. Cincinnati would respond before N.C. State scored again, keeping victory out of reach of the Bearcats. Don't let the final score fool you, though. Cincinnati scored a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns to make it look much closer than it actually was. Wilson returned to form a bit, and had the Wolfpack offense humming on Thursday night. N.C. State amassed 491 yards on 76 plays, good for 6.5 yards per snap.

The Wolfpack are now 3-0 for the first time since 2002, though the schedule gets much tougher, and in a hurry. Next is a trip to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech in a game where they are more than a seven-point underdog, before hosting Virginia Tech on October 2. [Backing The Pack, Box Score]

Florida State 34, BYU 10: The Seminoles got back to basics in a win Saturday over the BYU Cougars, pushing their record to 2-1. The Florida State offense was particularly proficient on the ground, rushing for 278 yards on 44 carries. Sophomore RB Chris Thompson led the way, with 123 yards on nine carries, including an 83-yard burst sprung by a block from fullback Lonnie Pryor. A week after his Heisman hopes were pretty much dashed, QB Christian Ponder responded by throwing for 149 yards and a touchdown on 14-of-21 passing, to go along with 50 yards and a touchdown on the ground.

The bigger story of the day, however, may have been the Seminoles defense, which managed to hold BYU to 191 total yards. The FSU defense stifled both of BYU's quarterbacks, recording eight sacks on the day against a team that had yet to surrender a sack in 2010. As a result, after three weeks, the Seminoles defense leads the nation in sacks with 13. The Seminoles next host Wake Forest this Saturday (3:30 ET, ABC) before heading out on back-to-back road trips to Charlottesville and Miami Gardens. [Tomahawk Nation, Box Score]