Preview and Prediction: Clemson vs. Boston College
The Clemson Tigers hold a 17-9-2 lead in its series with Boston College dating to the programs' first meeting in the 1940 Cotton Bowl.
Early in the series, the two teams played three games at famed Fenway Park in Boston, the home of the Boston Red Sox. Clemson won its first game there in 1941 — just 13 days after Ted Williams finished his .406 season for the Red Sox — by a 26-13 score. The teams met at Fenway again the following year, and Boston College won, 14-7. The two teams played to a 14-14 tie in 1953 at Fenway, evening the series' all-time record at Fenway Park at 1-1-1.
The two teams also played at Braves Field in Boston, then the home of the National League’s Boston Braves. Clemson had a 3-1 advantage in games played at Braves Field, all between 1942-52.
Fast forwarding the more recent games, the Tigers have won 10 of the 11 games played against Boston College since Dabo Swinney became Clemson's head coach on an interim basis on Oct. 13, 2008, including his first win as a head coach on Nov. 1, 2008.
Clemson’s only loss to the Eagles in the Swinney era as head coach came on the road in 2010.Clemson has won each of the last eight games in the series. Boston College’s last win in the series took place in 2010, a 16-10 final score. The Eagles have not won at Clemson since 2007, a 20-17 Eagles win that determined the ACC Atlantic Division title.
Swinney-coached Clemson teams have allowed more than 17 points just once in his 11 games against the Eagles. That came in a 45-31 Clemson win at Boston College in 2012.
Who to watch when Clemson has the ball:
Travis Etienne (RB):
In what is forecast to be a sloppy, rainy game, the Tigers will rely heavily on the running of Travis Etienne.
Etienne's explosive 2019 season opener resulted in an average of 17.1 yards per carry against Georgia Tech, the second-best single-game average of his career (19.1 vs. Louisville in 2018). Last week, against Louisville in mid-October, he ripped off 192 yards on 14 carries for a 13.7-yard average.
Etienne has had a great deal of success against the Eagles, as he had 11 carries for 78 yards, as well as three receptions for nine yards, in 33 snaps as a starter in 2018. Had nine carries for 113 yards and two touchdowns in 13 snaps, along with a 26-yard kickoff return in 2017, his first career 100-yard rushing game and multiple touchdown game.
Offensive Line:
In a game that will require the Tigers to run the ball efficiently the Tigers must continue their elite-level of play on the offensive line.
Clemson is powered up front in 2019 by one of the most senior-laden offensive lines in school history. Alongside sophomore left tackle Jackson Carman, Clemson's line includes four senior starters in left guard John Simpson, center Sean Pollard, right guard Gage Cervenka and right tackle Tremayne Anchrum, meaning the Tigers should have the advantage when facing tough conditions.
Max Richardson (LB; BC):
Max Richardson leads the ACC and ranks 10th nation- ally with 10.4 tackles per game in 2019. He leads BC with 73 total tackles, 47 solo stops and 11.0 tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
Richardson is fourth nationally with 47 solo tackles this season. The 47 solo stops are third nationally among Power 5 players.
Who to watch when Boston College has the ball:
Isaiah Simmons (LB):
In addition to being Clemson's most prolific tackler, Simmons leads Clemson this season in sacks (6.0) and tackles for loss (10.0) while also contributing three pass breakups, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
Currently, Simmons is one of only two FBS players — and the only one in the Power Five — credited with at least 50 tackles, 5.0 sacks and 10.0 tackles for loss this season.
Defensive Line:
The Tigers' defensive line will be tasked with stopping the likes of a bruising running back this week in A.J. Dillon — who weighs in at 240 pounds. The good news for the Tigers is that stopping the run is something they have become very good at.
Clemson held Texas A&M to 2.0 yards per carry on 27 carries in Week 2, the lowest yards-per-carry average allowed by Clemson since holding Boston College to 0.3 yards per carry on Nov. 10, 2018.
A week after the Texas A&M game, Clemson then held Syracuse to 0.4 yards per carry. The games represented the 18th and 19th times since 2014 that Clemson has held an opponent to 2.0 or fewer yards per carry, tied for the third-most in the country. Clemson is 18-1 in those contests.
Prior to facing Louisville on Oct. 19, Clemson had gone 27 consecutive games without allowing opponents to produce a 100-yard rusher, which had been the longest active streak in the country and the school's longest since at least 1980.Clemson's lone 100-yard rusher allowed since 2018 is tied for the fewest in the country.
AJ Dillon (RB; BC):
AJ Dillon is second nationally in rushing yards (968) and rushing yards per game (138.3) in 2019. Dillon is also fourth nationally with 158.0 yards per game from scrimmage in 2019.
Also, Dillon needs just 75 yards to become the all-time leading rusher in Boston College history, and with two more rushing touchdowns, Dillon will become the all-time leader in BC history.
Dillon is currently 18th in ACC history with 3,665 rushing yards. Looking ahead, Dillon needs 294 rushing yards this season to move into the top 10 in ACC history in rushing yards.
Preview:
Saturday will be Clemson's Homecoming, an event that has historically included a Clemson victory 77 percent of the time since the first celebration in 1922. Clemson has an overall record of 72-20-3 for its previous 95 Homecoming games, a .774 winning percentage. That includes a 42-4-2 record (. 895) on Homecoming games since the 1971 season.
Dabo Swinney is 10-1 on Homecoming in his head coaching career. That includes the 2008 season when Clemson defeated Duke on Homecoming during his interim head coaching stint.
With the Tigers favored by 34.5 points, at least Vegas believes that Swinney will run his record to 11-1 on Homecoming.
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Prediction:
Zach Lentz: Clemson- 45 BC-10
*Note: Clemson covers the spread, but drops to No. 19 in the AP Poll.*
Susan Lloyd: Clemson-42 BC-13
