Boston College Athletics
Football Opens ACC Slate Saturday At Clemson
September 16, 2009 | Football
Sept. 16, 2009
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - The Boston College football team will face its first Atlantic Coast Conference test of the season on Saturday, September 19 when the Eagles fly south to Clemson for a noon kickoff at Memorial Stadium.
The game will be televised by Raycom Sports with Steve Martin, Rick "Doc" Walker and Mike Hogewood on the call. For a list of affiliates that will carry the game, please click the link above.
Boston College has won three of the four meetings between the two teams since joining the ACC in 2005 and has won both of its games at Clemson. In 2007, Matt Ryan found senior WR Rich Gunnell for a 43-yard touchdown catch with 1:46 to give the Eagles the 20-17 win that gave them their first ACC Atlantic Division title.
Since joining the ACC, the four games have been decided by an average of 3.3 points. The first two meetings as conference foes went to overtime with BC winning 16-13 in 2005 and 34-33 in double overtime in 2006. Clemson won at Alumni Stadium last season, 27-21.
Boston College will likely be playing in front of the most people since the last time it went to Clemson in 2007. Memorial Stadium sold out that day with 81,500 fans in attendance. The largest crowd the Eagles faced last year was at Florida State when they came away with a 27-17 win in front of 79,792 at Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium.
"You always have to be aware of the noise," redshirt freshman QB Justin Tuggle said. "Everywhere we go it's going to be loud. A lot of schools that we go to are bigger than ours. You just have to get used to it wherever you go. It is going to be a good test for our team. We're going to have to battle adversity and get over this."
"I've never been in that environment," true freshman QB Dave Shinskie added. "I'm jacked up. I'm excited to see what that's all about. I've been watching on TV what it's like but this is the real thing. I can't wait. (My teammates) tell me to just wait and see. It's a different experience. It's life changing because not a lot of people get to experience stuff like that."
