The Eagles are favored by three points at the Bodog Sportsbook over the Wildcats for Saturday afternoon, with both those teams coming off seven-win campaigns in 2010.

Neither team, though, had any success in bowl season last year, with Northwestern falling 45-38 to Texas Tech in the TicketCity Bowl in Dallas, and Boston College losing 20-13 to Nevada in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco.

And neither team is expected to contend for their respective conference titles this year.

The Wildcats  went 7-6 overall but just 3-5 against Big Ten opponents last season, and the oddsmakers at the Bodog Sportsbook have their wins OVER/UNDER at just 7.5 for this season.

Northwestern is also back at 20/1 odds on the NCAA futures list to win the Big Ten, well behind top teams Nebraska (7/4), Wisconsin (13/5), and Ohio State (5/1), and ahead of just Illinois (25/1), Purdue (85/1), Indiana (125/1), and Minnesota (125/1).

For Saturday the Wildcats will be hoping the arm and feet of quarterback Dan Persa can lead them to a win over the Eagles as underdogs. Persa threw for over 2,500 yards and connected on 15 touchdown strikes for Northwestern last season, and he also picked up over 300 yards and nine more scores on the ground.

But Persa suffered an achilles injury against Iowa last November; the Wildcats lost all three games he missed to end the season. The senior QB says he's 100% for Saturday's matchup; at the Bodog Sportsbook he's at 95/1 on the Heisman Trophy odds.

Boston College, fourth at 9/1 to win the ACC's Atlantic Division this season on the college football futures, will lean on running back Montel Harris (1,200 yards rushing and eight touchdowns in 2010) on Saturday as they try to open the year with a win.

Get all your college football odds at Bodog.