BC Aiming to Flip the Script in Clemson Series
October 24, 2019 | Football, #ForBoston Files
The Eagles' last two bids dragged Clemson but fell short.
In each of the past two seasons, Boston College entered its game against Clemson with the right game plan and mindset. The Eagles knew they couldn't try to outpace the top-ranked Tigers, so they boiled their game plan down to their program's core values. They analyzed their plan through clock possession, stingy defense and special teams with the intention of dragging a field position battle into the game's latter stages.
In both years, it nearly worked. The Eagles held the No. 2 Tigers to under 100 yards passing through three quarters in their 2017 meeting and dragged a tie game into the fourth quarter. BC controlled the clock in the first and third quarters by limiting Clemson first downs and pushing a tempo-driven pace on offense. It wasn't until an injury-depleted linebacking corps took another hit in the fourth quarter that the Tigers finally broke out, scoring four consecutive touchdowns to end the game with a lopsided score.
It was more of the same last season when a sold-out Alumni Stadium watched the No. 17 Eagles host No. 2 Clemson before ABC's Saturday primetime audience. Special teams grabbed the spotlight there when Michael Walker returned a punt for a touchdown for a first quarter lead, and BC stayed within one possession by dragging the second quarter with its defense. An injury at quarterback necessitated an in-game change, and the offense's ensuing ineffectiveness wound up allowing the Tigers to push ahead, 27-7, before the fourth quarter.
On Saturday, BC is hoping that the third time, finally, is the charm.
"The key is staying on the field and getting first downs," BC head coach Steve Addazio said. "If you have three and outs and have no rhythm, that's not productive."
It's the simplest of values within the Boston College football program. An effective defense gets an opponent off the field early, and the Eagle offense chunks its way down the field by controlling the clock. First downs force an opponent to stay on defense far too long, forcing it to take overly-aggressive chances on offense. Special teams tilts field position to bridge the gap, so the mistakes are made in advantageous positions.
It was on full display last week against NC State. The Eagle offense already owned time of possession in the first quarter when Grant Carlson coffin-cornered a punt on the Wolfpack one-yard line. It forced NC State to become overly aggressive from its own end zone, and quarterback Bailey Hockman threw a second-down incompletion from his own three. It set up a third down, obvious-pass conversion, and Jason Maitre came up with the pick-six play.
It helped tilt the scales in favor of BC, and everything fell into place from there. The Wolfpack continued taking chances and failed on a fourth down conversion from the offensive goal line on their next drive, and the BC offense simply continued doing its job. The game finished with the Eagles ahead in every major measurable metric, including time of possession, third down conversions, yards and points.
"I think we had a good opportunity with the bye to work on some things," Addazio said. "Some of those things came forward for us. We got some younger guys on the field, and they had some good experience out there and made some plays. We were able to do some fine tuning a little bit. I thought we played well on both sides of the ball. Guys stepped up, and we showed some improvement, which was important and necessary."
There's no reason to believe BC won't attempt to work its bread and butter against Clemson for a third time. The Eagles are ranked No. 11 in total offense in the nation this year and are No. 6 in total rushing. The running back tandem of AJ Dillon and David Bailey is surging behind a bunched, powerful offensive line, and it's creating a system that plays directly into the BC advantage. They've gone over 200 yards in every game this season except for one, and that was the first game against Virginia Tech. The 429 yards on the ground against NC State negated the need to ever pass the ball, and the passing yards dropped under 200 for the first time since the Rutgers game.
Simply put, BC is beating down opponents. There's a balance that has this team clicking, and it's helping buoy the "synergistic" approach to the game plan. There were hard-luck losses to Wake Forest and Louisville, but everything is capable of lining up against talented teams. When it's there, the Eagles can throttle a defense's conditioning before switching gears with a back-breaking play-action pass.
"I think there's a mindset that (teams) have to stop the run game," Addazio said. "That's why our play-action game is so critical. In order to stop the run, you're adding hats (in the box). That puts you in man coverage, and there's a lot of (interference) violations that occur. So if you're worried about stopping the run, you can get hit with play-action. But I'd rather invest in getting first downs. If you don't get first downs, you never get that going."
BC will play No. 2/4 Clemson on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. from Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C. The game can be seen on the ACC Network or on WatchESPN.com, though it will remain available only to cable subscribers with access to the channel. For an updated list of ACC Network providers, visit www.getaccn.com.
In both years, it nearly worked. The Eagles held the No. 2 Tigers to under 100 yards passing through three quarters in their 2017 meeting and dragged a tie game into the fourth quarter. BC controlled the clock in the first and third quarters by limiting Clemson first downs and pushing a tempo-driven pace on offense. It wasn't until an injury-depleted linebacking corps took another hit in the fourth quarter that the Tigers finally broke out, scoring four consecutive touchdowns to end the game with a lopsided score.
It was more of the same last season when a sold-out Alumni Stadium watched the No. 17 Eagles host No. 2 Clemson before ABC's Saturday primetime audience. Special teams grabbed the spotlight there when Michael Walker returned a punt for a touchdown for a first quarter lead, and BC stayed within one possession by dragging the second quarter with its defense. An injury at quarterback necessitated an in-game change, and the offense's ensuing ineffectiveness wound up allowing the Tigers to push ahead, 27-7, before the fourth quarter.
On Saturday, BC is hoping that the third time, finally, is the charm.
"The key is staying on the field and getting first downs," BC head coach Steve Addazio said. "If you have three and outs and have no rhythm, that's not productive."
It's the simplest of values within the Boston College football program. An effective defense gets an opponent off the field early, and the Eagle offense chunks its way down the field by controlling the clock. First downs force an opponent to stay on defense far too long, forcing it to take overly-aggressive chances on offense. Special teams tilts field position to bridge the gap, so the mistakes are made in advantageous positions.
It was on full display last week against NC State. The Eagle offense already owned time of possession in the first quarter when Grant Carlson coffin-cornered a punt on the Wolfpack one-yard line. It forced NC State to become overly aggressive from its own end zone, and quarterback Bailey Hockman threw a second-down incompletion from his own three. It set up a third down, obvious-pass conversion, and Jason Maitre came up with the pick-six play.
It helped tilt the scales in favor of BC, and everything fell into place from there. The Wolfpack continued taking chances and failed on a fourth down conversion from the offensive goal line on their next drive, and the BC offense simply continued doing its job. The game finished with the Eagles ahead in every major measurable metric, including time of possession, third down conversions, yards and points.
"I think we had a good opportunity with the bye to work on some things," Addazio said. "Some of those things came forward for us. We got some younger guys on the field, and they had some good experience out there and made some plays. We were able to do some fine tuning a little bit. I thought we played well on both sides of the ball. Guys stepped up, and we showed some improvement, which was important and necessary."
There's no reason to believe BC won't attempt to work its bread and butter against Clemson for a third time. The Eagles are ranked No. 11 in total offense in the nation this year and are No. 6 in total rushing. The running back tandem of AJ Dillon and David Bailey is surging behind a bunched, powerful offensive line, and it's creating a system that plays directly into the BC advantage. They've gone over 200 yards in every game this season except for one, and that was the first game against Virginia Tech. The 429 yards on the ground against NC State negated the need to ever pass the ball, and the passing yards dropped under 200 for the first time since the Rutgers game.
Simply put, BC is beating down opponents. There's a balance that has this team clicking, and it's helping buoy the "synergistic" approach to the game plan. There were hard-luck losses to Wake Forest and Louisville, but everything is capable of lining up against talented teams. When it's there, the Eagles can throttle a defense's conditioning before switching gears with a back-breaking play-action pass.
"I think there's a mindset that (teams) have to stop the run game," Addazio said. "That's why our play-action game is so critical. In order to stop the run, you're adding hats (in the box). That puts you in man coverage, and there's a lot of (interference) violations that occur. So if you're worried about stopping the run, you can get hit with play-action. But I'd rather invest in getting first downs. If you don't get first downs, you never get that going."
BC will play No. 2/4 Clemson on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. from Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C. The game can be seen on the ACC Network or on WatchESPN.com, though it will remain available only to cable subscribers with access to the channel. For an updated list of ACC Network providers, visit www.getaccn.com.
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