Game Observations (Defense): #1 Clemson 34 Boston College 28

A look at the play of the Boston College defense against the Tigers

Boston College jumped out to an early lead on Saturday against Clemson, but struggles in the second half allowed the Tigers to jump back and win the game 34-28. Here are some observations on the play of the defense. 

* First the good. I thought BC did a really good job trying to neutralize Travis Etienne in the run game. 20 rushes for 84 yards. Good tackling up front, and a good surge kept him relatively limited. Max Richardson and Isaiah McDuffie were excellent in run support. Etienne's big run came late in the game, when BC's offense couldn't stay on the field, and the defense were left on the field. 

* Etienne in the passing game though was a major problem. Boston College had no one on defense that could cover him, he was too quick for the secondary and there was no way to put a linebacker on him. Once Tony Elliott and that offense figured this out, they killed BC with it. 7 receptions for 140 yards and a touchdown. 

* And talk about physicality of Etienne. There was one red zone run that he made that Deon Jones tried to really pop him and the safety basically bounced off of him. Jones knocked him down for the tackle, but Etienne absorbed that hit. 

* On the 4th and 1 that DJ Uiagalelei scored his thirty yard touchdown run, it was pretty clear that the defense was selling out to stop Etienne up the middle. It was a beautiful play call by Clemson. John Lamot who should have been on the edge for support, was instead surging inside and was out of place. I don't think it was a guy purposefully out of place, I think BC was just trying to stop something at all costs, and got bit because of it. 

* Call it what it is, Uiagalelei was very impressive against BC's secondary. He was accurate, threw a great ball and made some good decisions. After the game Hafley said that their goal was to rattle him. Clearly they were not able to do that. He is going to be a superstar in this league after Trevor Lawrence leaves.

* Can always count on Max Roberts for one big play every game. He had the team's lone sack. 4.5 sacks through six games. If there are graduate students who choose to come back, he would benefit the most getting another year in FBS play. If he comes back he may be in line for a huge 2021 season. 

* Brandon Sebastian's scoop and score was probably one of the most exciting BC plays in the past ten years. Saw a lot of comparisons online to different plays like Michael Walker's TD against Clemson two years ago, but for me, it reminded me of the excitement of Tyler Murphy's 4th quarter run against USC.

* Cornell Powell ate up BC, grabbing 11 balls on 12 targets. He didn't have to anything extraordinary, but the short and intermediate passes were there all game. 

* Even after Clemson took the lead, the defense had a pair of big stops to keep the team in the game. Lot of pride in this group and they battled to the end.