Week 7 Notes: The Clemson Game

For the first time since 2014, Boston College gets a chance to play the top-ranked team in the country as the Eagles visit No. 1 Clemson Saturday at noon. The game will be broadcast nationally on ABC. Joe Tessitore (BC '93), Greg McElroy and Holly Rowe will call the game. It marks the fifth straight game on the ESPN family of networks a Boston College alum has been part of the television broadcast. Coverage on the Boston College Learfield IMG Sports Network begins at 11:30 a.m. with Jon Meterparel, Pete Cronan and Scott Mutryn. Fans can listen to the game locally on WEEI 93.7 FM, nationally on TuneIn and on Sirius channel 137, XM channel 380 and online via SiriusXM channel 970.

Last Saturday, Boston College (4-2, 3-2) rolled to an impressive 48-27 victory over Georgia Tech at Alumni Stadium. Clemson (6-0, 5-0) improved to 6-0 on Saturday with a 47-21 victory over Syracuse. The win marked the 35th consecutive regular season game that the Tigers came out on top, which is the longest such streak in ACC history.

The Series
In a series that began in 1940, Boston College and Clemson meet for the 30th time Saturday. The Tigers lead the series 18-9-2 and have won nine consecutive games against the Eagles. BC's longest winning streak in the series is four games. The most points scored in the series for BC were 40 in 1949 while the largest margin of victory for the Eagles was a 15-point win in 1983 (31-16). The current nine-game winning streak is the longest in the series for Clemson. The Tigers' highest point total was 59 in 2019 in Death Valley and it also set the largest margin of victory (52 points) in series history.

For the 13th time, Boston College and Clemson will play for a trophy. The BC Gridiron Club established the O'Rourke-McFadden Trophy in 2008. The trophy features a leather helmet replica of those used by Charlie O'Rourke of Boston College and Banks McFadden of Clemson, when they competed against each other in the 1940 Cotton Bowl. The Boston College Gridiron Club also presents a replica leather helmet to the MVP of the winning school.

Since BC joined the ACC in 2005, six of the 15 games have been decided by seven points or less. Clemson is 11-4 in ACC play against BC. The series began in the Cotton Bowl on January 1, 1940. The Tigers defeated the 11th-ranked Eagles 6-3 as Charlie Timmons rushed for 115 yards. The 1983 win by BC featured 28 unanswered points as Doug Flutie threw for 223 yards and two TDs to hand Clemson its only loss of the year (9-1-1). The 2018 game marked just the third time in Boston College history that two teams ranked in the AP Top 20 squared off at home as the No. 17/14 Eagles hosted No. 2/2 Clemson. Clemson won the ABC televised contest 27-7. Earlier in the day, ESPN's College GameDay aired live from BC for the third time in program history.

Scouting Clemson
• Ranked No. 1 in both polls, Clemson is attempting to win a 27th consecutive home game to extend its school record for the longest home winning streak in school history.
• Clemson has won 27 consecutive games against an ACC opponent, including postseason play.
• The Tigers are 10th nationally in total offense (518.0 yards per game), fourth nationally in scoring offense (48.2 points per game), 11th in passing offense (341.3 yards per game) and 19th in rushing offense (176.7 yards per game).
• Clemson is 10th in the nation in total defense (274.7 yards per game), 12th in scoring defense (13.5 points per game), 11th in passing yards allowed (169.3 yards per game) and 19th in rushing defense (105.3 yards per game). The Tigers are fourth nationally with 4.0 sacks per game and sixth with 9.5 tackles for loss per game in 2020.
• Now in his 13th season (and 12th full season) as Clemson's head coach, Dabo Swinney is the first coach in program history to lead Clemson to multiple national championships.
• At 135-31, Swinney is the winningest active coach by percentage in the FBS.

Playing Number One
• A win Saturday at No. 1 Clemson would be against the highest-ranked opponent since a 41-39 win at No. 1 Notre Dame on Nov. 20, 1993.
• Boston College has not defeated an opponent ranked in the top five since a 14-7 win at No. 4 Notre Dame on Nov. 2, 2002.
• Boston College is 2-31 all-time against teams ranked in the top five and 1-4 against No. 1 teams.
• Saturday marks the sixth time in seven years BC is playing a Clemson team ranked in the top five.
• BC is 31-114-1 all-time against ranked competition.

BC on ABC
• Boston College will make its 47th appearance on ABC since 1991 Saturday at No. 1 Clemson.
• The last BC victory on ABC was a 34-27 win against Virginia Tech on Nov. 2, 2013.
• Since 1991, BC is 24-22 when playing on ABC.

BC Versus Ranked Opponents
• BC is 31-114-1 all-time against ranked opponents. The Eagles defeated No. 25 Miami (unranked in the AP) 27-14 for their last victory against a ranked opponent in 2018.
• The last win against an AP ranked opponent was against No. 9 Southern California (37-31) in 2014.
• Since joining the ACC in 2005, the Eagles are 10-37 against ranked teams.

Trick or Treat
• Boston College is 9-10-1 all-time playing on Halloween (Oct. 31). The last victory on this date was a 31-10 victory over Central Michigan in 2009.
• BC has only played one game in the ACC on Halloween, a 26-10 loss to Virginia Tech at home in 2015.
• One of the most memorable victories in school history came on this date in 1987 as BC captured a 20-18 victory over No. 13 Tennessee at Alumni Stadium. David Johnson interception with seven seconds left sealed the win for BC. Jim Bell rushed for 177 yards in the upset victory.
• Led by freshman QB Doug Flutie, the Eagles almost pulled off a Halloween upset against No. 2 and undefeated Pitt in 1981. Pitt survived a 349-yard passing day by Flutie and a nightmarish fourth quarter that included three straight turnovers, to pull out the five-point win at Alumni Stadium.

Thrill Jurkovec
• Phil Jurkovec has burst onto the scene as the starting quarterback for the Eagles. Jurkovec's 1,671 yards over his first six games are the most by any BC quarterback in school history. Shawn Halloran owned the previous best start through six games with 1,371 yards passing in 1985.
• Jurkovec also holds the record for the most completions (140) and passing touchdowns (12) over the first six games of any player in BC history.
• Jurkovec is the first player in BC history to total four, 300-yard passing games in his first five career starts at quarterback and the first BC quarterback with four or more 300-yard games in a season since Matt Ryan (2007).
• In the 31-30 overtime win against Pitt, he finished with 19-for-35 for 358 yards with three passing touchdowns plus one rushing score.
• Against No. 11 North Carolina on Oct. 3, Jurkovec was 37-for-56 for 313 yards and two touchdowns. The 37 completions were tied for second in BC single-game history with Frank Harris (37 versus Army in 1968). Matt Ryan's 40 completions are the most in BC history against Wake Forest on Nov. 4, 2006.
• Jurkovec's 37 completions were an Alumni Stadium record. The previous best belonged to Matt Ryan with 37 completions versus Army on Sept. 22, 2007.
• His 56 pass attempts were also the most by a BC quarterback at Alumni Stadium since at least 1996 and was the highest overall total number of attempts since Ryan passed 56 times on Nov. 10, 2007 at Maryland. Jurkovec is tied for fourth in BC single-game history with the 56 attempts. Matt Ryan, Shawn Halloran and Frank Harris own the school record with 57 attempts.
• Jurkovec opened the season becoming just the third BC quarterback since 2010 to throw for 300 yards in a game - and he did it in his first career game at BC against Duke.
• The Manning Award, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, has named eight quarterbacks as its "Stars of the Week." Jurkovec was one of the eight quarterbacks to be honored after his breakout performance at Duke and in the win against Pitt.
• The Davey O'Brien Foundation announced its Great 8 list of the top quarterback performances of the 2020 college football season and Jurkovec was honored for his efforts at Duke and against Pitt.
• The transfer from Notre Dame finished 17-of-23 passing for 300 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in the Duke victory. He joined 10 other former BC signal callers to throw for 300 yards in a game since 1996 (Chase Rettig, Anthony Brown, Matt Ryan, Chris Crane, Matt Hasselbeck, Paul Peterson, Scott Mutryn, Tim Hasselbeck, Brian St. Pierre and Quinton Porter).
• Jurkovec became the first BC quarterback since Matt Ryan in 2007 to throw for 300 yards, multiple touchdowns and complete 70% of his throws in a game in leading BC to a 26-6 victory at Duke.
• Jurkovec made his first start at quarterback since Dec. 9, 2017 at HersheyPark Stadium in the Pennsylvania Class 6A state title game. Jurkovec led Pine-Richland to a 41-21 victory over St. Joseph's Prep.

Among the Nation's Elite
• Phil Jurkovec is sixth nationally and second in the ACC with 1,671 passing yards. Only Clemson's Trevor Lawrence (fifth nationally) has thrown for more yards this season in the ACC than Jurkovec (1,833).
• Jurkovec is fourth nationally in completions (140) and his 12 touchdowns passing rank ninth nationally.
• While just a small sample of only six games, Jurkovec is second among all BC quarterbacks since 1996 with 278.5 passing yards per game in a season.

Two Top 10 National QB Recruits
• Trevor Lawrence and Phil Jurkovec were top-10 nationally in the ESPN 2018 recruiting rankings. Lawrence was listed as the No. 1 pocket passer in the country according to ESPN while Jurkovec was rated ninth.

Zay All Day
• Sophomore Zay Flowers has blossomed in BC's new pro-style passing attack. After totaling just 22 receptions for 341 yards in 13 games in 2019, Flowers has 29 catches for 473 yards and four touchdowns in 2020.
• Flowers is 17th nationally with 473 yards receiving and tied for 19th with four receiving touchdowns.
• The speedster from Fort Lauderdale finished with his second 100-yard receiving game of the season with six receptions for 162 yards and a career-high three touchdowns in the 31-30 victory in overtime over Pitt.
• Flowers became the first BC player with three receiving touchdowns in a game since Kelvin Martin at Holy Cross (11/22/86).
• He tied the school record with five other players with three touchdown receptions.
• The 166 yards receiving by Flowers were the fifth-most by a BC player since 1996.
• Flowers' 77-yard score was the first of 70 or more by an Eagle since Hunter Long's 72-yard score at Louisville (10/5/19).
• Flowers is tied for 11th in BC single-season history with two 100-yard receiving games this season. He is the first Eagle with multiple 100-yard receiving games in the same season since Kobay White in 2018.
• Flowers totaled five receptions for a career-high 162 yards and a touchdown in BC's 26-6 win at Duke. It was the first 100-yard receiving game for an Eagle since Kobay White's 121 yards at Florida State in 2018.
• Flowers was named the ACC Wide Receiver of the Week for the first time in his career following the Duke game. He became the only BC wide receiver to ever be named the ACC's WR of the Week for the second time in a season after his performance in the Pitt win.
• The 162 yards receiving by Flowers were the seventh-most by a BC player since 1996.
• Flowers averaged 32.4 yards per reception. No receiver in BC history had more receiving yards on fewer receptions than Flowers in a single game.
• Flowers was the first BC receiver since 2012 (Alex Amidon) to have over 150 yards receiving in a game.

The Nation's Leader
• Junior tight end Hunter Long has been BC's top receiving target in 2020 and he leads the nation in receptions for a tight end with 38. He is ninth among all players nationally in receptions in 2020 as well.
• Long has started the year with 38 receptions for 455 yards and three touchdowns. Prior to this season, Long had just 32 receptions total over his first two years on the field at Boston College.
• He was named to the John Mackey Award watch list after earning All-ACC third-team honors last season. The John Mackey Award is given to the collegiate tight end who best exemplifies the play, sportsmanship, academics, and community values of NFL Hall of Fame tight end John Mackey.
• Long led Boston College with 509 receiving yards and 18.2 yards per reception in 2019. He finished the season with 28 receptions and two receiving touchdowns. His 72-yard touchdown reception at Louisville was the longest reception of his career a year ago.

McDuffie and Richardson on the Tackle
• Boston College linebackers Isaiah McDuffie and Max Richardson rank 3-4 nationally in total tackles in 2020. McDuffie is third in the country with 59 tackles while Richardson is fourth with 58 stops.
• The last BC player to lead the country in tackles was Luke Kuechly with 191 stops in 2011. He led the country in tackles in 2010 as well (183) and was second in tackles in 2009 (158).
• McDuffie's 34 solo tackles are tied for the national lead while Richardson is tied for 21st in solo stops.

Boston College Athletics

Related News

Players Mentioned

Anthony Brown

Zay Flowers

Phil Jurkovec

Hunter Long

Isaiah McDuffie

Max Richardson

Kobay White

Related Videos