After hearing the news that Trevor Lawrence tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday night, many people predicted that Saturday’s game would be closer than they were previously expecting. And that is exactly what we got, a very close game. But the Tiger’s managed to come back and win the game 34-28.
Clemson definitely missed Trevor Lawrence out there on the field today. D.J. Uiagalelei looked good out there, especially for him being a true freshman and this being his first career start. He was 30 for 41, threw for 342 total, and had two touchdowns. Those are not bad stats at all, but he was not as accurate as Lawrence. There were a few times in the game where if his pass was more accurate, then that would have turned into a completion and possibly a first down too. The Tigers receivers did a good job adjusting to the ball and coming up with the catch. His favorite targets of the game were Cornell Powell with 11 receptions, Amari Rodgers with seven receptions, and Travis Etienne with seven receptions.
Etienne plays such an important role on Clemson’s offense that it is no surprise that Etienne stepped up and had a big game today, showing off both his receiving and rushing talent. He had 140 total yards receiving and completed two of D.J. Uiagalelei’s longest passes of the game, one for 35 yards and the other for 42 yards. He finished the game with two touchdowns 20 carries and 84 total yards rushing, which was enough to become the ACC all time leading rusher.
Everyone expected that Clemson’s offense may be a little slow, as a result of not having star quarterback Trevor Lawrence, but not as many people anticipated such a poor performance from Clemson’s defense. But, the Tigers were without three key starters on defense today due to injuries: James Skalski, Tyler Davis, and Mike Jones Jr. Especially in the first half, Boston College’s offense seemed to get to the end zone rather easily. On the first drive of the game, the Eagles picked up three first downs in a row and then their quarterback, Phil Jurkovec, threw an 11 yard touchdown pass. Then on their next possession, Clemson’s defense continues to struggle as Jurkovec hits open receivers and is able to scramble and run the ball 12 yards, and then a defensive pass interference call on Sheridan Jones allows them to on the next play run the ball in two yards for the touchdown.
The score ended up being 28-13 at halftime. Dabo told ESPN’s Holly Rowe at halftime “They threw the ball about every snap and we did a poor job finding the ball. We had some position but we didn’t find the ball so and then they converted a couple of third and long scrambles, we missed a tackle on third and 11, we had two guys and we just didn’t tackle the quarterback so just got to our job a little better and settle in. Hey its been a long time since we’ve been down like this, we’re going to find out what we’re made of.”
Coach Swinney is right, the last time that Clemson was trailed by more than two touchdowns in a regular season game was in 2014. This year when the College Football Playoffs come around, no one is going to be able to say that Clemson did not face any adversity this year.
The Tigers came back strong, starting with a 40 yard kickoff return from Etienne and then finishing the drive with D.J. Uiagalelei running the ball in the endzone for a touchdown. Clemson tried for a two point conversion once in the second half to tie the game up, but they could not get it. It looked like they were going to try again, but a penalty pushed them back and they decided just to kick the ball for the extra point. Unfortunately B.T Potter’s kick hit the post, so only six points came out of that drive. Potter did kick a clutch field goal earlier in the game from 50 yards.
Clemson finally got ahead of Boston College in the third quarter, but it was still only a one score game and with a touchdown the Eagles would pull ahead. But a safety late in the fourth quarter from the dominating freshman Bryan Bresee increased the Tiger’s lead to 34-28.
Clemson may have survived this week against Boston College, but they are headed to South Bend next week to play a much better team in Notre Dame. Coach Swinney announced after the game that Trevor Lawrence will not be able to play against Notre Dame next week because of all of the protocol he has to go through to make sure that he can return to play safely. In addition, the controversial targeting call on Xavier Thomas means that Clemson will be without him for the first half of the Notre Dame game next week on Nov. 7. If the Tigers want to leave South Bend with a win, they are not going to be able to afford to play like they did in the first half of today’s game.
