W2WF: No.2/4 Clemson

Boston College arrived in the ACC in 2005 as a geographical outlier to the southern-based league. It left its traditional rivals behind in the Big East and accepted an invitation to create new matchups against schools that didn't have much exposure to the New England college football landscape. It was the first step for realignment, but it required BC's success in order to chart a new path of creating nationally-based leagues.

The first conference game that year received a substantial national spotlight, and the opponent, Florida State, helped provide a dramatic, star-powered flair. Both teams had been nationally-ranked, and ESPN College GameDay's traveling stage riled up a sellout Alumni Stadium crowd. BC ultimately lost, but it didn't stop 44,500 fans from derisively chanting Lee Corso's name when the Eagles took 17-14 lead at halftime.

That first game was a made-for-television event, but the second game arguably became more important from a football standpoint. BC, unranked after losing to FSU, traveled for its first road game to Clemson to play a team coming off of a triple-overtime loss to Miami. Like the BC-FSU game, it featured two nationally-ranked squads, and the loss dropped the Tigers out of the national poll.

Analysts always expected Miami to compete against the ACC elite, though, and BC entered that game as a partially-overlooked new member. So when the Eagles won their own overtime game, 16-13, it provided a measure of respect against a team that would finish with a number next to its name.

It kicked off an immediate rivalry period between BC and Clemson. The Eagles won three consecutive games to start their ACC era and won a fourth game in the first six years with a 16-10 win in 2010. The matchup introduced the O'Rourke-McFadden Trophy in honor of the teams' first-ever meeting in the Cotton Bowl, and the MVP of the winning team earned a leather helmet in the colors of his team.

Nine years later, the BC-Clemson rivalry isn't what those first seasons foreshadowed. Clemson hasn't lost to the Eagles since that 2010 matchup, and the teams migrated in different directions as Clemson broke through as a national championship contender by the middle part of the decade. That changed last year when the Eagles rose to No. 17 in the nation and hosted the Tigers before the ESPN audience. They hung with Clemson but ultimately lost, walking away with the question of what could have been after quarterback Anthony Brown went down injured.

That's all history, but the perception of history can change in a single moment. The Eagles had close calls in 2013 and 2014, then pressured the Tigers in 2017 and last season. At some point, there will be another breakthrough, and it will usher in a new era for this rivalry. These are the games players and coaches dream about. It's a chance to beat a national championship contender, and it's an opportunity to light a spark on a matchup dominated by dormant results.

Here's what to watch for when BC heads to Death Valley to play the No. 2/4-ranked Tigers:

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Weekly Storylines

Expect the expected.

Almost everyone expected Clemson's defense to take a step backwards after its entire defensive line left for the NFL. Defensive end Clelin Ferrell became the fourth overall selection in last spring's draft, and both defensive tackles - Christian Wilkins and Dexter Lawrence - went within four picks of each other at No. 13 and No. 17. The fourth lineman, Austin Bryant, went in the fourth round to Detroit. It became a banner draft for the Tigers when defensive back Trayvon Mullen went in the second round, but the downstream impact created a number of different voids. That created the chatter around the defense's potential issues.

Clemson never went off that cliff, though, and the defense is surging as one of the best units in the nation. Defensive end Justin Foster is second on the team in tackles for loss and has three sacks, but the front line's success goes beyond the numbers. Its job isn't to disrupt as much as it is to create opportunity for the linebackers or the rest of the defense.

Those linebackers and defensive backs, meanwhile, now form the new core of a transitioned defense. Isaiah Simmons is an absolute monster with 56 tackles, 10 of which are for losses, and six sacks. He's joined by James Skalski and Chad Smith in the second level, but the real strength comes from the sheer skill and power out of safety Tanner Muse. Muse leads the team in interceptions with three, but also ranks third on the team in total tackles.

"The story coming into the year was that we couldn't replace all of those guys," Dabo Swinney said. "The story was about who wasn't here, and the defense has done a great job (replacing our departures). It's been strength in numbers. That's what we said coming in. There aren't a lot of superstars up front, but it's a group of guys that get the job done. Our strength in the back seven served us well, and we've done a lot of good things."

It's created a reasonable expectation that Clemson, regardless of personnel, will be successful on defense. Given the strength-on-strength matchup against BC's offense, the running game will need to wear it down by simply pounding it into different directions.

Expect the unexpected.

All of the talk surrounding the BC running game forced quarterback Dennis Grosel into the background after just one game. The redshirt-sophomore won his first start, but the sheer volume of throws he made paled in comparison to the number of times he handed off to either AJ Dillon or David Bailey. It almost overlooks when he substituted in for Anthony Brown against Louisville and completed three of his first seven passes for touchdowns.

"When Dennis played against Louisville, he threw the ball a fair amount," Steve Addazio said. "He can make all of the throws. He can run the whole offense, and he has a great arm. We're going to throw the ball, and we're going to throw play-action passes. We're going to run the football and do it all."

It's really a perfect storm for Grosel because he didn't have to do much last week. BC's success running the football made it look like he was a secondary piece of the game plan, but the NC State game really boiled down to its simplest component. The Eagles were running the ball with impunity, so there was no reason to make him throw all that often.

That's probably not going to happen against Clemson, and it brings a heightened awareness back to the play-action. Grosel really only needed to complete those passes to tight end Hunter Long, but this week will likely diversify his workload. The offense has multiple dimensions, and though BC will always be run-first, there's still a need to look further down the roster how to utilize those options.

"They're trying to create extra gaps (with the tight ends)," Swinney said. "There's a bunch of sets and close alignments to put your eyes in the backfield. That creates big plays off of play-action."

Expect expectations.

Clemson is the defending national champion and comes into Saturday riding a 22-game winning streak, but there's been a screaming headline lately about the team's diminished expectations. The Associated Press dropped the Tigers to No. 4 in the national poll, and recent games are casting doubt over how this iteration is going to fare compared to Alabama, Oklahoma and Ohio State.

I'll be the first to admit that I jumped into that pool, and I've openly felt that some team, somewhere, is going to eventually beat Clemson. That said, a team is the undefeated national champion until it's not, so running a parade of quotes heralding the end of the Tiger dynasty is a little premature.

"Our offense is right where were last year, and we're ahead in several areas," Dabo Swinney said. "People think we're just supposed to score when we get the ball, make every block and never turn the ball over. That's not reality. Offensively, we're in a great spot, but whenever you do something bad, that's all people focus on."

He's absolutely right, and Clemson has earned the right to have a bad game or two during the season as long as it keeps winning. That said, the Tigers have to start limiting, as opposed to overcoming, mistakes. BC's defense faced issues before the bye week, but it always managed to convert turnovers into points. In all four wins this year, the Eagles scored a touchdown off of a turnover and have scored 18 times since the start of the 2017 season. It's created a 15-3 record in those situations.

Clemson is the defending national champion. That by itself deserves all the respect in the world, but if the Tigers make mistakes, BC's defense needs to make them pay a tax.

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Countdown to Kickoff

10…The Tigers have won at least 10 games in eight consecutive seasons.
9…Clemson only has a 9-22 record, or a .290 winning percentage, when trailing after three quarters in the Dabo Swinney era. Since 2016, though, the team has only trailed four times, with a 3-1 record.
8…Clemson has rushed for multiple touchdowns in eight consecutive football games.
7…Saturday marks the seventh consecutive season in which BC played an opponent ranked inside the Top 5 nationally.
6…Travis Etienne needs 219 rushing yards to become the sixth Clemson running back with back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons.
5…This is currently the fifth consecutive season in which Clemson has been ranked every week by both the Coaches Poll and the Associated Press Poll.
4...Linebacker Max Richardson has at least 10 tackles recorded in four straight games.
3…BC offensive linemen Tyler Vrabel enters this weekend with only three QB hurries allowed this season. He has not allowed a sack or a QB hit by his assigned defender.
2…The Eagle offense is second in the ACC with 22 plays of 30+ yards in 2019. Louisville leads the conference with 23.
1...Dennis Grosel's first career victory last week made him the first backup QB to win an ACC home game since Chase Rettig beat Clemson in 2010.

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BC-Clemson X Factor

AJ Dillon and David Bailey

Everyone who watches Boston College knows the Eagles possess a blunt, straightforward offense built by horsepower force. It's easily the most bruising rushing attack in the nation, and there's a beauty and grace in how it pummels and bends defenses by earning physical, tough yards. It creates a strength-on-strength game on Saturday where BC can showcase AJ Dillon and David Bailey against the No. 5 defense in the nation.

"(The BC offense is) like going back to 1990," Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. "BC will use some shotgun, though. There's a physicality that is right at you. They're running zone and power, down and arounds. They just keep doing it, and it's hard. We have to fit everything right, and we have to run some one-on-one tackles. They have big, bruising backs that move the pile and keep coming."

There are a couple of factors working in BC's favor. Clemson's one soft spot on defense is against the run, where it ranks No. 25 in the nation compared to No. 3 against the pass. The last four opponents went over the century mark, including bookending 150-yard games by Charlotte and Louisville. It's a little skewed because the 49ers only mustered 216 yards of offense, but Louisville's Javian Hawkins was able to rush for five yards per carry. Applying the term "soft spot" is incredibly loose there, but it's still an opportunity that exists for the Eagles.

"(Dillon) is a very different guy," Swinney said. "(He's) maybe more like James Conner than Dalvin Cook. Dillon is 250 pounds, and he's going to go through you. Dalvon could go through you, but he'll go around you. Dillon will just drag you. You might be on him, but he's dragging you. He's a big, big, physical, old school back. He's one of those guys that's in the NFL every week. It's a challenge for our guys who want to play on Sunday."

The second piece is in the Eagles' formational alignment. Steve Addazio's use of the tight end is completely different from other teams in the ACC, and it bucks the trend of lining tight ends up as slot receivers. There is almost always a tight end on the line of scrimmage or in the backfield, and others slot out wide or go in motion. There's no way to tell which one is the blocker versus the receiver on any play, and selling play action can make tracking those tight ends even more difficult.

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Meteorology 101

I never know how to dress for humid, rainy weather. I know how to layer up when it's cold and raw, but muggy rain always confuses me. It tempts me to wear pants rather than shorts because the temperature is low enough to justify it, but I know I'm just going to explode into sweat as soon as I'm outside. That same breath tells me not to wear shorts because I'll be cold when I dry up. No matter what, I'm going to put a poncho on and start sweating, and then I'm just cold and sweaty.

Saturday at Clemson won't be that muggy, sweaty weather that comes with summertime rain. Instead, it's going to be humid and wet with temperatures in the 60s. Rain is in the forecast for the better part of the weekend and the early days, but it's going to be cooler than it will be on Sunday or Monday.

So I don't know what to make of it. It's not soupy, but it's not raw. It's something worse, like porridge or something.

It doesn't look like wind will be a factor, but the wet conditions will absolutely play a role in this game if it starts raining. The weather can immediately slow down fast teams and bog games into a stalemate, and it's especially true on natural grass surfaces like the one at Memorial Stadium. That may force everyone's hand to the ground game, though the lack of wind may help keep passing attacks alive.

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Scoreboard Watching

This weekend is the first real huge weekend of games in the ACC. Ten teams are in action on Saturday, all in conference games, with every game except for one featuring intra-divisional matchups. It starts at noon with Miami-Pittsburgh before both Syracuse-Florida State and Virginia-Louisville at 3:30 p.m. Duke is at North Carolina at 4 p.m. before the BC-Clemson game at night.

All of these games are absolutely critical for bowl eligibility and tiering. Louisville and BC both harbor two league losses and sit one game behind Wake Forest. Both teams would need some weird math to win the Atlantic Division, but a third loss makes it difficult to finish second. That all but eliminates certain tiers in the bowl consideration, though a fourth overall loss actually tightens the screws on even becoming bowl eligible, even though both still have breathing room.

It's even more drastic for Florida State and Syracuse, which both enter Saturday with four losses. Syracuse is still searching for its first league win, and the losing team will eat a fourth conference loss, pushing it to the brink of Tier II and bowl ineligibility. Syracuse still has its rivalry game against BC next week, but road games at Duke and Louisville and a home game against Wake Forest to end the season likely take a bowl game off the table one year after a 10-win season.

In the Coastal Division, Virginia and Pittsburgh continue setting the pace, and the loser of the Duke-UNC game will have a difficult time catching either one if both the Cavaliers and Panthers win on Saturday. The situation can be made worse if both of those teams lose, largely because Miami would then have a second league win, and UNC would be tied for first.

On a secondary note, a fifth loss is also in play for both the Hurricanes and Tar Heels, which pushes them closer to the wall in terms of bowl eligibility.

On the national radar, No. 13 Wisconsin is at No. 3 Ohio State in the early game, kicking off Saturday with an absolute titan matchup in the Horseshoe. That leads into a 3:30 p.m. start between No. 9 Auburn and No. 2 LSU. No. 6 Penn State is at unranked Michigan State in a game that has me feeling queasy for the Nittany Lions, and it leads into the night start for No. 8 Notre Dame and No. 19 Michigan opposite the BC game.

Back here in the Commonwealth, UConn and UMass both have well-documented struggles, but it remains an intriguing rivalry based on geographic proximity. The Huskies travel to Amherst this week to play the Minutemen at 3:30 p.m., and the winner of that game will have to feel a lot better about the season than the team that walks out on the short end.

Also locally, Harvard heads to Princeton in a game between two undefeated conference teams. The winner of that game will draw a potential elimination game for the conference championship against Dartmouth; the Big Green host Columbia before playing at Harvard next week.

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Pregame Quote and Prediction

This is the out you've been waiting your whole life for. -Jake Taylor, "Major League"

I was on vacation when Boston College hosted Clemson last year. I missed ESPN's arrival in Chestnut Hill, having gone on vacation with my wife for our wedding anniversary. I remember finding an Internet channel with the College GameDay broadcast, which gave me the feeling of a lifetime when Desmond Howard picked Boston College. I harbor no regret about huddling around a tiny iPod screen with my wife on the patio of a resort, even though I know she would have preferred that walk down the beach.

It's because the opportunity to defeat a top-ranked national champion is the reason why we all watch sports. The allure of certifying an eternal moment is why sports are so great. It's why coaches and players commit to a program and each other.

Boston College didn't win that game last year, but the beauty of sports is that there's another chance, on Saturday, to knock off Clemson. Doing so will likely take a Herculean effort, but this is the game and the opponent these Eagles have been waiting for. No matter how hard it is, no matter how impossible it seems, the game still needs to be played.

No. 2/4 Clemson will host Boston College 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 cable providers, visit www.getaccn.com.

Additionally, radio broadcast of the game can be heard via the BC Learfield IMG Sports Network, locally in Boston on WEEI 93.7 FM. It can be heard on satellite radio on Sirius channel 135, XM channel 194 and Online channel 956. Streaming audio is also available via the TuneIn app on mobile devices.

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Players Mentioned

David Bailey

Anthony Brown

AJ Dillon

Dennis Grosel

Hunter Long

Max Richardson

Tyler Vrabel