Clemson Tigers vs Boston College Eagles Football Preview

Clemson, welcome back to the national stage.

With a 5-0 start, racking up wins over top-25 opponents Auburn, Florida State and on the road at Virginia Tech in consecutive weeks – Clemson is at their highest rank, 8th, since 2000 and on their first trip into the top-10 since 2008, when they were preseason No. 9.

As a three touchdown favorite this week hosting Boston College (1-4, 0-2 ACC), Swinney’s young Tigers, for the first time this season, enter a game while ranked and heavily favored.

It’s the classic letdown game, and homecoming weekend to boot, a bit of extra motivation for the road team.

After brilliant offensive displays against Auburn and Florida State (533.5 yards and 36.5 points per game), the first road trip of the season to a cold, wet and windy Virginia Tech last week necessitated defense to carry the Tigers to a win – and it did, after coming in ranked 90th nationally in total yards given up.

Containing the dynamic Virginia Tech rushing attack to 133 yards (minus-21 in the fourth quarter), Clemson’s defense held the Hokies without a touchdown (23-3 final) for the first time in Lane Stadium since 1995.

While Clemson has momentum, Boston College has the equivalent of the opposite going into the matchup down south.

Head coach Frank Spaziani’s Eagles have yet to grab a win over a Football Bowl Subdivision team, losing three close home contests (24-17 to Northwestern, 20-19 to Duke and 27-19 to Wake Forest) and a road blowout defeat (30-3 at UCF).

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Boston College’s struggles aren’t without excuse though, as the school’s all-time leading rusher Montel Harris missed the first three games with a knee injury and got his first action of the year against Massachusetts in week four, before leading the Eagles with 108 rushing yards and two touchdowns against Wake Forest last week.

BC switched offensive coordinators after two games, when newly-hired Kevin Rogers announced a medical leave of absence for an undisclosed health situation. The Eagles currently rank 98th in total offense and 99th in scoring offense with sophomore second-year starting quarterback Chase Rettig completing 52.1 percent of his passes for 1,052 yards, five touchdowns and four interceptions.

The Boston College defense, led by linebacker Luke Kuechly, faces its toughest challenge of the season with the new-look Clemson spread offense under offensive coordinator Chad Morris.

Kuechly is riding a 27-game streak of double-digit-tackle games, including 14 in a 16-10 win over Clemson last year in Chestnut Hill, and is No. 1 nationally with an average of 16.6 tackles per game.

But he anchors a BC defense that’s struggling – ranked 85th in total defense (403.20 yards per game) and 87th in pass defense (250.20 yards per game) against Clemson’s 20th-ranked passing offense, which has scored 35 or more points in four of their five games (502.75 total yards per game in those four).

A win Saturday will break the tied overall series at 9-9-2 stretching back to the 1940 Cotton Bowl (Clemson won 6-3), and five of the six meetings since BC joined the ACC in 2005 have been decided by a touchdown or less (Eagles 4-2 in that span).

By: Brandon Rink
DFN Sports Staff Writer