Grading the Boston College Eagles: Clemson Game
Here are our grades after yesterday's 59-7 loss to Clemson. This was a tough one to grade, but here we go...
Quarterback: D-
Dennis Grosel very much looked the part of a walk on as he completed a measly 3/14 for 53 yards. He was constantly pressured, threw a handful of passes that were nearly intercepted and gave up a strip sack for a touchdown. Against an elite Clemson defense he looked completely overwhelmed. But what saved him from receiving an F was the touchdown drive where he made two nice passes to Hunter Long. Matt Valecce saw some time as well in garbage time and made a few nice passes.
Running Backs: C-
AJ Dillon broke the school record for career rushing yards and tied the school rushing touchdown record. He also had the lone scoring highlight on an excellent run to score in the second quarter. Other than that though, Dillon was a non factor, especially once Clemson went up by a lot and BC had to try and pick up yards through the air. David Bailey was a non factor running the ball 10 times for 18 yards, and Patrick Garwo saw some garbage time as well, but he didn't do much either.
Wide Receivers: Incomplete
Over the past two weeks the Boston College wide receiving crew has almost completely vanished. They had three catches last night, but it's hard to blame them, Grosel just couldn't get them the ball. Zay Flowers wasn't even really involved in the misdirection runs, which Addazio usually does to keep him involved.
Tight Ends: C-
Hunter Long had two great catches on the scoring drive, but after that was a complete non factor just like everyone else on the offense.
Offensive Line: D
This grade is not an indictment of the group, they ran into a very talented and athletic Clemson team. It's based on how on the output. Dennis Grosel was running for his life, and BC ran for 2.2 yards per carry. The offensive line couldn't slow down Brent Venable's defense, open lanes, and were basically ineffective the entire game.
Defensive: F
Just a complete mess on defense last night. Yes, Clemson had elite weapons, but BC's problems were more than that. It seemed like on every pass Trevor Lawrence found wide receivers wide open with coverage five yards off, and this was compounded with terrible tackling that turned a normal play into an explosive one. At one point Clemson had 200 yards after the catch, an extraordinarily high number due a lot to BC's inability to tackle in space.
On top of that we saw the usual problems BC struggles with, little to no pressure on Trevor Lawrence, getting dominated by offensive lines on rushing plays.
There are some major personnel issues that Bill Sheridan hasn't addressed as well, specifically in the linebacking group and in the back half of the secondary. Offenses continue to target Mike Palmer's side of the field, while Joe Sparacio who may be young and talented is being thrown out there and forced to cover speedy wide receivers.
In the end Clemson broke the single game record for yardage allowed by Boston College, breaking the record set three weeks ago. After the NC State game Steve Addazio praised his defense, I wondered if it was more of a reflection on how bad the Wolfpack were, this game did nothing to ease my concerns.