Clemson Offense Shows 'No Panic Whatsoever' at Boston College

A major benefit of Clemson's newfound confidence in its offense this season is that when things don't go especially well, the belief isn't wavering.

That wasn't always the case last year, but in Saturday's 31-3 win over Boston College, quarterback DJ Uiagalelei shook off an early interception and the offense got past a sluggish start to stick together and figure it out.

"There's no panic whatsoever," Clemson offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter said. "It's just a whole different demeanor than it was a year ago and everybody's confident and just says, 'Hey let's go, let's move forward and grow past this and learn from it and move on.'

"That's what (Uiagalelei) did and just continues to overcome some of the adversity and continues to be a great leader for our offense. So my confidence is sky high with him and with our offense."

The No. 5 Tigers (6-0, 4-0 ACC) didn't get down on themselves after scoring just three points on their first six drives against Boston College (2-4, 1-3). After five consecutive fruitless possessions. they finally broke through late in the second quarter when they converted a short field into a Will Shipley 1-yard touchdown run to go up 10-3 before the half.

Then Clemson came out of the locker room and went on a 5-play, 73-yard drive that was capped by a 38-yard deep ball from Uiagalelei to Joseph Ngata to go up 17-3. Uiagalelei hooked up with Beaux Collins on a 21-yard passing play to get the Tigers in scoring range.

"That shows the heart," Uiagalelei said about bouncing back. "I think it shows the heart of the coaching staff we have here, Coach Streeter and all the other position coaches. I think it shows the toughness of the players on our offense. Then it shows the resilience that we have.

"All the guys on offense, we all trust each other. No one's pointing fingers on the sideline. No one's complaining. Everyone's out there just wanting to keep competing."

The Tigers gained 233 of their 364 total yards in the second half and scored on two more drives: a 10-yard pass to Collins and a 13-yard strike to Brannon Spector. Uiagalelei completed 18 of his 32 passes for 220 yards to go along with his three TD throws, and he added a game-high 69 rushing yards.

There was no quitting or hanging his head after he threw a bad pass off of his back foot that was easily picked off by BC deep in Clemson territory. The Eagles didn't turn it into points as they missed the field goal, and the Tiger defense picked Uiagalelei and the offense up when they needed it.

"No one lost hope on the sideline," Uiagalelei said. "Defense played an unbelievable game. Hats off to the defense. It gave us a chance each and every time, making stops, making turnovers, sacks, just giving us the ball back countless times. And I feel like we just know on offense, no one panicked."

Clemson knows, though, that it left plays on the field. The running game never really got on track. The Tigers had great momentum on the first drive of the game but couldn't turn it into 6 points. Collins dropped a sure TD in the end zone. Then there was Uiagalelei's interception. Too many stalled drives followed, but that confidence showed up when they won the "middle 8" — the last four minutes of the second quarter and the first four minutes of the third.

"Obviously, we got plenty to clean up, plenty to clean up each and every week," Streeter said. "Just like life, I wish life was easy all the time. It's not easy. There's gonna be adversity every single week, every single day. And so that's what I'm proud of our guys just being able to respond. That's what they've been able to do."

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