Eagles Mauled By Tigers

The first road game of the season turned ugly early and never got better as the Eagles offense was smothered by the Clemson defense. The Tiger front four dominated the line of scrimmage and thoroughly shutdown the BC attack. If not for a heroic effort by the Boston College defense, the game would have been out of hand at the break.

After two dominating performance to open the season, the young Boston College football team jumped way up in competition with a road trip to Clemson. This game was circled as a measuring stick game for the young Eagles. How they responded to a hostile environment and the world-class speed of Clemson would tell us a lot about this teams capabilities.

The game started off positively for BC as they picked off a Clemson pass to stop their first drive of the game at the BC 30. The offense was unable to get a first down and punted back to Clemson and C. J Spiller ran it back for a 76 yard touchdown.

With the help of a Clemson penalty, BC was able to move the ball from their 23 yard line up to their own 39, but a Tuggle interception gave the ball back to Clemson in their own end. But, Clemson returned the favor as Kyle Parker was picked off on the next play and BC was back in business at their own 39.

That was the high point of the game for the Eagles. From that point forward, the Clemson front four manhandled the BC offensive line. The running game was stopped behind the line and the passing game was unable to get anything going. At the half, BC had minus-2 yards of offense. Justin Tuggle had three yards through the air.

If not for an heroic performance by the Eagle defense, Clemson would have taken a four score lead into the break. Three red zone stops, forcing Clemson to settle for field goals, kept the game close. Defending the short field for most of the half, the defense came up with timely stops and kept the Clemson offense out of the end zone. The score remained respectable at the half, 16-to-0 Clemson.

The story of the first half was the inability of the BC offensive line to handle the Clemson front four. Play after play the Clemson defenders blew past the BC line, dropping BC runners behind the line and pressuring the BC quarterbacks. The Eagles generated literally zero offense against the Clemson defense.

The second half started with more of the same. The Clemson defense force a three and out and then drove down for a field goal to extend their lead to 19-0. BC came out for the second drive and Tuggle threw an interception, setting up Clemson at midfield.

The BC defense bowed up yet again and Clemson made the inexplicable decision to go for it on fourth down. The defense stuffed the attempt and BC was setup in their best field position of the day. But, the Eagles could not take advantage of it and were forced to punt.

A length delay due to lighting interrupted the third quarter as both teams were forced to the locker room until the weather cleared. When play resumed, Clemson seemed to have lost their momentum and Boston College was able to put together their best drive of the day. Tuggle had two big runs that took the Eagles from their 28 to the Clemson 30. But a sack of Tuggle killed the drive and BC was forced to punt.

For some reason, Dabo Swinney inserted Willie Korn at quarterback, despite being pinned inside their ten after a Ryan Quigley punt. The next play Clemson fumbled and BC recovered at the Clemson 12. The first play for BC was a 12 yard TD pass from Tuggle to Jarvis and the Eagles were on the board. They also seemed to have gained the momentum.

After a failed on-side kick, the lighting returned and forced another long delay. Once the teams returned it was all Clemson again. The Eagle offense was only able to generate three yards in the fourth quarter and Clemson added two more field goals to win the game 25-to-7.

Boston College managed just 49 yards of offense and four first downs. One of those first downs was due to penalty, meaning they earned just three first downs for the day. The Eagles return home to face Wake Forest at Alumni.