Clemson Tigers @ Boston College Eagles Football Recap

Boston College 16, Clemson 10

The living nightmare that is Clemson football continues.

In a game that has seemingly been replayed over and over again for one of the most tortured fan bases in all of college football, Boston College - impotent but not stupid - managed to avoid screwing up, and that was enough to send a familiar kind of Clemson club to a miserable and devastating defeat. The song of "Same Old Clemson" filtered through the stands at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill on a day when a talented team once again played far below its capabilities.

Clemson entered the game with an outside shot at winning the Atlantic Division despite a 2-2 record in the ACC, since the Tigers had not yet played both North Carolina State and Florida State, the teams leading the Atlantic.  A win in both of those games and a loss by Maryland somewhere would have enabled Clemson to win the division (pending a complicated tie-breaker scenario) as long as the boys from South Carolina took care of business this past weekend in New England.  However, the Tigers are now going to have to fight to become bowl-eligible, with tough games against North Carolina State, at Florida State, and against SEC East leader South Carolina all looming.  The Tigers need two more wins, and even with a very winnable game at Wake Forest still to come, Clemson will need to win one of those other three games to go bowling.

Boston College, on the other hand, greatly increased its chance of making a bowl game with the win over Clemson, even with five losses on the season.  The meat of the Eagles’ schedule is already complete; when they suffered five consecutive losses to Virginia Tech, Notre Dame, North Carolina State, Florida State, and Maryland, they took a lot of hits, but with this win over Clemson, they're still alive in the chase for the postseason.  The Eagles need to win three of their final four games, but with Wake Forest, Duke, Virginia, and Syracuse remaining on the schedule, three more wins is a realistic goal.

Clemson was outplayed by Boston College; to be more precise, Boston College was better at avoiding huge mistakes.  Both teams struggled on offense, though that can be attributed in part to the teams’ solid defensive efforts.  Boston College, in particular, features a sometimes fearsome defense which includes one of the best linebackers in the nation - and an almost-certain ACC Defensive Player of the Year - Luke Kuechly.  The star linebacker finished with a game-high 14 tackles and a game-sealing interception when Clemson threatened late in BC territory. 

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Fittingly, the scoring began early in the first quarter with defense, as Clemson drew first blood on a Rashard Hall interception of a pass from BC quarterback Chase Rettig.  Hall returned the interception 48 yards for a touchdown just a minute and a half into the game.  After the teams traded field goals, the score stood at 10-3 for Clemson with about three minutes to go in the first quarter. 

Amazingly yet undeniably, the Tigers did not score again, while a flood of miscues allowed Boston College to grab the lead and then hold onto it.

The Eagles’ first drive of the second quarter resulted in a field goal, and when the subsequent kickoff was muffed by Clemson's Jamie Harper, the Eagles wasted no time in taking advantage. Rettig hit Montel Harris for a 36-yard touchdown play on the first (and only) snap of the drive. The entertaining first half ended with each team attempting a field goal on its last possession, which Clemson missed and Boston College converted, in a very familiar repeat of past Clemson losses in New England. The Tigers lost at BC in 2006 on a blocked PAT in overtime, and this time, more field-goal woes plagued a Dabo Swinney-coached team that looked a lot like a typical Tommy Bowden squad from years past. The resemblance was uncanny. When one realizes that the Eagles' 16-10 lead at the half was also the final score, it becomes that much more apparent that nothing, but nothing, has changed at Clemson.

Oh, the Tigers did have scoring opportunities in the second half, but they missed yet another field goal and then drove inside the Boston College 20 before beleaguered quarterback Kyle Parker threw an interception to Donnie Fletcher inside the Eagles’ 10-yard line.  On another drive, Clemson drove nearly into field goal range, but when facing fourth-and-six at the BC 37, Parker hit Dwayne Allen for a five-yard gain, ending the scoring opportunity.

Just another mind-blowing loss to a mediocre BC club. Just another gift-wrapped defeat littered with giveaways. Just another kicking-game catastrophe made complete by shaky quarterbacking in scoring range.

Yep, just another bad dream for the Clemson Tigers... a bad dream that is once again all too real.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer