Paws Up: Trevor Lawrence in the cold
Clemson’s climate is one of the most accommodating in the country when it comes to football. At its hottest, it avoids the humidity that towns like Tuscaloosa, Baton Rouge and Gainesville suffer from, and at its coldest, it never reaches the bone-chilling temperatures that schools like Minnesota, Michigan or Ohio State endure.
Going into the game, one of the biggest questions for the Tigers was how true freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence would fare in the cold Boston weather.
The 18 year old answered that question in typical Trevor Lawrence fashion: with an outstanding performance that defies all precedent for freshman quarterbacks.
Lawrence seemed at ease in the pocket despite a relentless Boston College pass rush, throwing for 295 yards and completed 29 of his 40 pass attempts. His throws down the sideline were pristine and designed to exploit the Eagle’s single man-to-man coverage.
Tee Higgins and Amari Rodgers were two of the biggest beneficiaries of these sideline passes, combining for 166 receiving yards. On Clemson’s first drive, Amari Rodgers used his explosive speed to create space from his defender, reeling in a catch for a 41-yard gain. Higgins demonstrated his outlandish athleticism as well with a leaping catch over the head of his defender in the first quarter.
Lawrence did have some miscues: he overthrew his receivers on occasion and forced some passes into some tight windows (one of which resulted in an interception), but his confidence is growing with each game and he has proven that he can bring his A-game in almost any circumstance.
Paws Down: Red Zone Offense
While the Tiger offense managed to put up 27 points on a stingy Boston College defense, there is certainly room for improvement, especially in the red zone.
On Saturday night, the Tigers settled for two field goals inside the 20-yard line. Most notably, after a 59-yard drive to open the game, the Tigers could not capitalize and find the end zone which left the door open for Boston College to take the lead.
Sure enough, later in the first quarter BC’s Michael Walker returned a punt 74 yards to give the Eagles a 7-3 lead. While the Tigers first touchdown of the game came from another exciting use of the “Fridge Package”, the play was made after the offense stalled in the red zone once again.
While the Tigers’ struggles inside the 20 didn’t end up costing them on Saturday night, they’re going to need to find a way to capitalize with six points if they want to have success the rest of the season.
Paws Up: Defensive Line
One of the most anticipated matchups going into the game was the Clemson defensive line versus Boston College running back AJ Dillon. Going into the game, Boston College averaged over 200 yards on the ground per game. On Saturday night, they tallied just nine.
This was largely due to yet another dominant performance from the defensive line. In a homecoming game for Massachusetts-born Christian Wilkins, he tallied five tackles. Fellow linemen Dexter Lawrence, Xavier Thomas, Austin Bryant and Clelin Ferrell compiled a total of 14 tackles, including four behind the line of scrimmage. After averaging over 128 yards per game entering the contest, AJ Dillon only managed 39 yards on 16 carries.
Throughout the night, the Tiger defense was penetrating into the backfield and disrupting plays early on. While it helped that Boston College starting quarterback Anthony Brown left the game in the first quarter, the Clemson defense didn’t give BC an inch all night long, and it all started in the trenches with the defensive linemen.
Paws Down: Special Teams Officiating
Everyone knows that referees are human which means that they sometimes make bad calls. However, this game had more than its fair share of bad calls and then some. Twice Clemson was the victim of a play in which an official clearly missed a call and it resulted in either a turnover or points for Boston College. It was so clear, in fact, that before the replay was ever shown, both announcers, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler, were shocked that the call, or lack of one, was made.
The first play was early in the game. Clemson was forced to punt after a poor series of plays. Clemson’s punter, Will Spiers, kicked it high enough to allow for the coverage team to get down to the player receiving the kick. Boston College’s returner, Michael Walker, seemed to play the ball off of a weird bounce and had some blocking in front of him to take it back for a touchdown. The issue was that it was incredibly obvious that the reason the ball took a weird bounce was because it bounced off of Clemson receiver TJ Chase. Replay confirmed this, but the officials chose not to review it at all and let the touchdown stand. Luckily, that would be the only points the Eagles would score all game, but it could have been a big point of contention if Boston College had won the game.
The second major gaffe came after the Tigers’ defense forced a fourth-and-49, aided by an aborted snap, and forced another punt. As the punt came down, Tigers returner Amari Rodgers clearly waived his am in the air to signal a fair catch. As the ball arced downward, a Boston College special teamer ran near Rodgers and bumped him before Rodgers could catch the ball. By rule, that is a catch interference penalty which should have resulted in Clemson’s ball with an extra 10 yards added to the spot. Instead, the officials missed the call and ruled it a turnover because Rodgers was ruled to have muffed the punt which was then recovered by Boston College.
In the end, neither call had any profound effect on the outcome of the game, but it just goes to show that calls that can be reversed by replay should be.
