Boston College Athletics
Four Downs: Clemson
November 01, 2020 | Football, #ForBoston Files
It's not a moral victory, but the emotion was real.
Great sporting events cause us to lose our emotions. We run the gamut from happy to sad and anxious to frustrated, and it all lingers long after the game's completion. We're exhausted, but we're left with a sense of wonder. We try to unpack it, but it's hard to quantify or appropriately discuss what we witnessed. We reason it, but we also accept a supernatural unbelievability that melts away everything we know about the present day.
Saturday's game between Boston College and No. 1-ranked Clemson was great according to that standard. The four-hour marathon left us sleepy, yet somehow we would have sustained more if there was another quarter to play. Our emotions drained, but we could have summoned another level if Phil Jurkovec had another shot or if the defense had to stop Travis Etienne one more time.Â
That stalemate is ultimately what stamps the 34-28 final score. For four quarters, BC and Clemson engaged in a stalemate. They hit each other with big plays and equally-intense aggression. Big players exploded at the right moment. Coaching staffs and fans walked out of Memorial Stadium both elated and stung, and players simply dealt with the sheer exhaustion of a battle-hardened atmosphere.
This game had everything. An upstart Boston College team did the unthinkable and slugged Clemson right in its mouth, in its home stadium. The Eagles shocked the Tigers and engaged in a pound-for-pound first quarter, and they played the quarter of their lives. They marched through Death Valley and hit explosive play after explosive play. They outsmarted Clemson's players and outcoached Dabo Swinney, and they did the unthinkable by putting the Tigers on the ropes with a 28-10 lead in the second quarter.
Clemson, though, responded with a champion's courage. The Tigers adjusted at halftime and slowly took BC out of its game plan. They flipped the field and imposed their will, and they controlled the flow of the game. They clawed back and hunted the visitors, then took the lead and clamped the door shut. They tipped the scales in the end and, despite wounds and welts, improved upon an already-perfect record.
"I'm proud of our guys, in a game where nobody gave us a chance to even be on the same field as them," Hafley said. "Our guys came out with confidence, they came out believing in each other, they came out believing in their coaching staff. Our coaches did an unbelievable (job) with the game plan. We took it to the No. 1 team in the country. I give credit to Coach (Dabo) Swinney, their staff, and their players. We knew they weren't going to roll down in the second half, and they didn't."
Neither team could truly feel disappointed with its performance, but neither team could feel good, either. The winner, a heavy favorite, beat back its toughest challenge in two years, while the underdog could only salvage a moral victory. That belied the pregame prediction, but it wasn't enough for either team, both of which felt it could have done more, even after it gave its all.
In other words, it was just another Saturday in college football.
Here's what else we learned from Saturday's game:
*****
First Down: Boston College's first half
Boston College proved an ability to drag Clemson over the past couple of years, and I thought the intelligent move required building on that mentality. Phil Jurkovec ultimately killed that on the first drive, proving, once again, that I don't know anything about football.
Jurkovec attacked the Clemson defense on the first play with a 35-yard pass to Zay Flowers. He moved 13 yards to CJ Lewis and carried a 15-yard rush into the red zone before he threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Flowers on the fourth play of the drive. In total, BC went 74 yards on four plays in under two minutes, and flummoxed the Tigers with an early 7-0 lead.
Following a Clemson response to tie the game at 7-7, Jurkovec battered the Tigers on the first play of his second drive with a 48-yard pass to Jaelen Gill. After a run and an incompletion brought BC's first third down conversion, Jurkovec slipped away from a defender for a 12-yard run to the sticks. A pass interference play later, David Bailey rushed into the end zone for a second score.
In total, BC went 149 yards on its first 10 plays and used under four minutes of game time to score two touchdowns. It created Clemson's first two deficits of the entire season and rocked Memorial Stadium into silence.
"I thought Coach Cignetti called a really good game," Jeff Hafley said of his offensive coordinator, Frank Cignetti. "If you look in that first half, against one of the best defenses in the country, against one of the best defensive coordinators in the country, they couldn't stop our offense. That's impressive from the staff, impressive from the players. It was incredible to put up 28 points in the first half against Clemson."
BC eventually opted out of the track meet in the second quarter and switched into a more conventional, drawn-out offensive mindset, but it kept chugging along with a 15-play, 75-yard drive to score a touchdown in about eight minutes worth of time highlighted by a John Tessitore trick play on fourth down on Clemson's 23.Â
The Eagles trotted out its field goal unit but split tight end Danny Dalton out wide as a receiver. Holder John Tessitore snuck up under center, and kicker Aaron Boumerhi followed him. Tessitore hard counted the snap, and Clemson jumped offsides for a five yard mark off - and a BC first down. On the next play, Jurkovec threw a down-and-out to CJ Lewis in the end zone, and he bobbled into a circus catch for the score and a 28-10 lead.
The points reeled Clemson, and the Tigers trailed by 15 into the break after a quick, half-ending drive resulted in a field goal. In the second half, BC continued bleeding the clock, but the calls didn't work as effectively. It shortened the game and kept Clemson off the field, which was the ultimate goal, but mental mistakes and an inability to finish ultimately cost the Eagles in the fourth quarter stretch run.
That said, I haven't seen an ACC team walk into Death Valley and attack Clemson in some time, and I don't highly recommend it for most teams. Boston College, though, showed what happens when the intimidation of Howard's Rock and the run down the hill has no impact.
*****
Second Down: DJ Uiagalelei
BC's offense motored, but Clemson never really faded into the rearview mirror because of DJ Uiagalelei. He burned the BC defense in the first quarter with 11 completions on 13 attempts, and his swing pass to Etienne on the first drive hit the running back in stride for a 35-yard score. He struggled a little bit in the second quarter, but he rallied in the third quarter to score a 30-yard touchdown run and to throw a highly-difficult, back shoulder pass to Amari Rodgers for what amounted to the game-tying score.
"It didn't matter that Trevor Lawrence didn't play," Jeff Hafley said. "They have great players. They have a great (offensive line), they have the best running back, in my opinion, in the country. They have receivers who are going to get drafted, and they have a great defense. We never even talked about Lawrence not playing. It was about us getting better by playing good offense, defense, and special teams."
Uiagalelei proved himself in the confines of the offense, but he never really put the Eagles away for good. He botched an exchange at the BC goal line after a 67-yard drive over six minutes, and Brandon Sebastian sprinted 97 yards for a score. He also twice failed to punch in scoring drives against the BC end zone, first after the interception when he completed five consecutive passes, including a 33-yard pass to Etienne and second at the end of the half when the Tigers stalled out on the BC 33 yard line.
"I think if they scored a touchdown, it would have (swung momentum)," Hafley said. "I'm proud of the defense for stopping them there. Anytime you can stop that offense with that firepower and make them kick a field goal causes momentum, and we had that going into the half. Our kids were fired up in the locker room. We knew what this team was all about. We knew it was nowhere near over. If you look at them, they've scored almost 80 points in some games, 60 in others, so I felt really good going into halftime."
Outside of those minor mistakes, Uiagalelei forcibly commanded the offense. He finished with 342 yards on 30-of-41 passing with two touchdowns and added the one rushing touchdown as he became the seventh true freshman to ever start for Clemson. He joined Deshaun Watson and Lawrence as the only players to win that start, and he posted the seventh 300-yard game by a true freshman all-time, a list marked five times by Lawrence.Â
"He's a big kid," Hafley said. "I saw him in high school when I was recruiting a teammate of his. I probably saw him throw about four times. He's got a big time arm. He's a good kid, and he's got a bright future. I would have loved to rattle him a bit more, but they did a good job protecting and executing. Hat's off to him, he's going to be a really good football player."
*****
HAF-time Hits
-I have watched about a dozen quarterbacks start for Boston College over the past decade, but I honestly don't think I enjoy anyone more than Dennis Grosel. He processes information quickly and digests questions into easily-understandable answers, the kind of player who almost sounds like a coach. He played with more heart than anyone last year, and he pressured Phil Jurkovec for the starting position right up until the final week of this year's training camp.
Grosel entered Saturday's game after Jurkovec fell on the football at the tail end of a third down run and completed a first down pass through traffic to Hunter Long. It was the perfect Grosel play in a spread formation, and the snap, step and throw through traffic spoke to his surgical precision. He exited the game afterwards, but in the fourth quarter of a one possession game against the No. 1 team in the nation, it was a moment worth remembering.
-Speaking of moments, how about Joe Tessitore's reaction on television when his son, John, ambled up to the line near the end of the first half? He almost forgot he was calling a football game, and I'm pretty sure it took everything in him to keep it together when John caught Clemson offsides. It was an awesome family, fatherly moment to witness.
-This week's #ForTheBrand player of the game: Grant Carlson's back-to-back punts to the one-yard line. They were ultimately negated by penalties, but the football gods returned the favor with a Clemson penalty on his third kick.
-I really wished this game was in Boston this week because I know Clemson would have absolutely hated the conditions after four inches of Friday snow dropped overnight Saturday temperatures below 20 degrees. It completely coated the ground and obliterated any foliage, and rakes temporarily went back into sheds in favor of snow shovels. It was almost as crazy as those freak storms last April, and I couldn't help but wonder how the Tigers would have adjusted. Snow cold is a different kind of cold. It seeps into your bones and freezes your breath more than the raw rain, and it lingers long after you crank the heat and take a hot shower. It would've been worse than the bone-chilling cold of 2018. Oh well.
-My grandfather loved James Bond movies. He owned every movie on VHS tape and kept them organized above his television, and he watched them when he couldn't find anything on television on weekends. The gadgets, the action and the cars were the best, and the storylines were simple enough for a man who didn't speak English as his first language. Sean Connery was very clearly his favorite Bond, though he never said no (or never said never again? Sorry that was for me) when different actors acted in the role.
I remember spending my spring break in college with my grandparents in Florida, and one of my last memories from that era was watching Casino Royale with Daniel Craig in the auditorium/theater of their gated complex. We went home afterwards and talked about Bond until my grandmother yelled at us to quiet down, at which point we started laughing.Â
Connery died this week at 90 years old. Movies age a little bit differently for everyone, but their cinematic history is a big part of my personal experience and growth, shaken not stirred.
Â
*****
Third Down: Travis Etienne
DJ Uiagalelei's command of the offense owed a large piece to Travis Etienne's presence. The dual-threat running back was a legitimate threat from the moment he stood on the field, and he finished with a resounding 224 yards and two touchdowns while becoming the ACC's all-time leading rusher in the fourth quarter.
"On defense, our game plan was going to take away (Etienne)," Jeff Hafley said. "We've seen that guy take over games, so we were going to do everything we could to stop the back. I had it written on my call sheet, 'Stop No. 9.'"
That's exactly what BC did in the first half when it held Etienne to less than 30 yards in the first half. He officially fumbled the botched exchange on Brandon Sebastian's touchdown when he grabbed at the ball and missed, and he failed to rev his full motor against both Isaiah McDuffie and Max Richardson.Â
The duo tackled him eight times in the first half alone while acting as spies, and they blanketed him in coverage with only two notable exceptions. Yet Etienne still found his way onto the stat sheet with seven catches for 140 yards and three explosive plays, including the one touchdown, and 84 yards on 20 carries and a score. He also added 40 yards on kickoff returns.
"We pressured (Uiagalelei) a bunch, but they did a good job protecting," Hafley said. "We tried to rattle him, we tried to get after him on third down. But again, it was, 'Stop No. 9, stop No. 9, stop No. 9.' If DJ beat us, then hats off to him."
*****
Fourth Down: Context
BC last beat a ranked team in 2018 and last defeated a team ranked in both the Associated Press and the Coaches Poll in 2014. It has not defeated a top five opponent since the Notre Dame green jersey game in 2002, and Saturday's loss dropped the program to 1-5 all-time against No. 1 overall teams.
In the majority of those games against top-ranked teams, BC lost by one score or less. In 1991, Miami won by five en route to a national championship, a margin eclipsed only by 2014's three-point loss to Florida State. In 2001, BC was one possession away from tying the game when Miami ran back an interception for a touchdown (thanks a lot, Ed Reed). This year's Clemson game fits right into that with a six-point loss.
On pure numbers, it creates an underdog mentality for Boston College against ranked teams because the Eagles haven't won those games with regularity in the past. Context, though, reminds everyone that eras are different, and the way teams played are hard to compare with one another.
That's why the disappointment and frustration clashes with both optimism and hope. It's not a moral victory because BC wanted to win this game, but there is brightness in hanging with the No. 1 team in the nation after struggling to score any points against the Tigers over the past three years. The Eagles went into Death Valley and played to win in a place where intimidation reigns supreme.
I'm hesitant to call it a moral victory though because the players wanted that one. A moral victory, to me, implies that not winning is the ceiling, and I think BC is heading for a larger, loftier goal. This game is fuel, and embracing the bitterness of a loss - any loss, but especially the emotional ones - will only better serve the team's ability to pull up to its next game against a top-ranked team.
"I know it hurts, and there are no excuses because they beat us," Jeff Hafley said. "They played a really good game. I give credit to them, but I'm proud of this team. Anyone who watched this team play, anyone who watched the confidence of this team can see how much these kids love each other. Anyone watching should see what is coming. I said it all along, it's going to take time, and it's going to be hard. But we're coming and they're coming. We'll get the best out of them, and we'll stick together."
*****
Point After: Let the rivalry week trash talk begin!
Syracuse hung with Clemson last week, but a hangover ensued this week when it never got its motor running against Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons led that game 10-0 in the first and went into the halftime locker room with a 17-7 advantage, but the 21-point third quarter salted the Orange away in a 38-14 rout. It was the Orange's sixth loss of the season and cast a pall over a team that is still only two years removed from a 10-win season.Â
I love a good rivalry and being from the Northeast, so needless to say, I love the Boston College-Syracuse rivalry. An old Big East matchup, it reignited when the Orange joined the ACC, and records really don't seem to matter when they play each other. I have a number of Boston-based friends who went to Syracuse, and I know this one tops their list with me, just as it does to me with them. The media world, especially, is dotted with Syracuse graduates, and this week always seems to ratchet things up a bit.Â
That's right, Bill Spaulding, let the good-natured trash talk begin!
Boston College and Syracuse will kick off at 2 p.m. on Saturday from the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York. It can be seen as part of the ACC's Regional Sports Network coverage, locally in Boston on NESN.
Saturday's game between Boston College and No. 1-ranked Clemson was great according to that standard. The four-hour marathon left us sleepy, yet somehow we would have sustained more if there was another quarter to play. Our emotions drained, but we could have summoned another level if Phil Jurkovec had another shot or if the defense had to stop Travis Etienne one more time.Â
That stalemate is ultimately what stamps the 34-28 final score. For four quarters, BC and Clemson engaged in a stalemate. They hit each other with big plays and equally-intense aggression. Big players exploded at the right moment. Coaching staffs and fans walked out of Memorial Stadium both elated and stung, and players simply dealt with the sheer exhaustion of a battle-hardened atmosphere.
This game had everything. An upstart Boston College team did the unthinkable and slugged Clemson right in its mouth, in its home stadium. The Eagles shocked the Tigers and engaged in a pound-for-pound first quarter, and they played the quarter of their lives. They marched through Death Valley and hit explosive play after explosive play. They outsmarted Clemson's players and outcoached Dabo Swinney, and they did the unthinkable by putting the Tigers on the ropes with a 28-10 lead in the second quarter.
Clemson, though, responded with a champion's courage. The Tigers adjusted at halftime and slowly took BC out of its game plan. They flipped the field and imposed their will, and they controlled the flow of the game. They clawed back and hunted the visitors, then took the lead and clamped the door shut. They tipped the scales in the end and, despite wounds and welts, improved upon an already-perfect record.
"I'm proud of our guys, in a game where nobody gave us a chance to even be on the same field as them," Hafley said. "Our guys came out with confidence, they came out believing in each other, they came out believing in their coaching staff. Our coaches did an unbelievable (job) with the game plan. We took it to the No. 1 team in the country. I give credit to Coach (Dabo) Swinney, their staff, and their players. We knew they weren't going to roll down in the second half, and they didn't."
Neither team could truly feel disappointed with its performance, but neither team could feel good, either. The winner, a heavy favorite, beat back its toughest challenge in two years, while the underdog could only salvage a moral victory. That belied the pregame prediction, but it wasn't enough for either team, both of which felt it could have done more, even after it gave its all.
In other words, it was just another Saturday in college football.
Here's what else we learned from Saturday's game:
*****
First Down: Boston College's first half
Boston College proved an ability to drag Clemson over the past couple of years, and I thought the intelligent move required building on that mentality. Phil Jurkovec ultimately killed that on the first drive, proving, once again, that I don't know anything about football.
Jurkovec attacked the Clemson defense on the first play with a 35-yard pass to Zay Flowers. He moved 13 yards to CJ Lewis and carried a 15-yard rush into the red zone before he threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Flowers on the fourth play of the drive. In total, BC went 74 yards on four plays in under two minutes, and flummoxed the Tigers with an early 7-0 lead.
Following a Clemson response to tie the game at 7-7, Jurkovec battered the Tigers on the first play of his second drive with a 48-yard pass to Jaelen Gill. After a run and an incompletion brought BC's first third down conversion, Jurkovec slipped away from a defender for a 12-yard run to the sticks. A pass interference play later, David Bailey rushed into the end zone for a second score.
In total, BC went 149 yards on its first 10 plays and used under four minutes of game time to score two touchdowns. It created Clemson's first two deficits of the entire season and rocked Memorial Stadium into silence.
"I thought Coach Cignetti called a really good game," Jeff Hafley said of his offensive coordinator, Frank Cignetti. "If you look in that first half, against one of the best defenses in the country, against one of the best defensive coordinators in the country, they couldn't stop our offense. That's impressive from the staff, impressive from the players. It was incredible to put up 28 points in the first half against Clemson."
BC eventually opted out of the track meet in the second quarter and switched into a more conventional, drawn-out offensive mindset, but it kept chugging along with a 15-play, 75-yard drive to score a touchdown in about eight minutes worth of time highlighted by a John Tessitore trick play on fourth down on Clemson's 23.Â
The Eagles trotted out its field goal unit but split tight end Danny Dalton out wide as a receiver. Holder John Tessitore snuck up under center, and kicker Aaron Boumerhi followed him. Tessitore hard counted the snap, and Clemson jumped offsides for a five yard mark off - and a BC first down. On the next play, Jurkovec threw a down-and-out to CJ Lewis in the end zone, and he bobbled into a circus catch for the score and a 28-10 lead.
The points reeled Clemson, and the Tigers trailed by 15 into the break after a quick, half-ending drive resulted in a field goal. In the second half, BC continued bleeding the clock, but the calls didn't work as effectively. It shortened the game and kept Clemson off the field, which was the ultimate goal, but mental mistakes and an inability to finish ultimately cost the Eagles in the fourth quarter stretch run.
That said, I haven't seen an ACC team walk into Death Valley and attack Clemson in some time, and I don't highly recommend it for most teams. Boston College, though, showed what happens when the intimidation of Howard's Rock and the run down the hill has no impact.
*****
Second Down: DJ Uiagalelei
BC's offense motored, but Clemson never really faded into the rearview mirror because of DJ Uiagalelei. He burned the BC defense in the first quarter with 11 completions on 13 attempts, and his swing pass to Etienne on the first drive hit the running back in stride for a 35-yard score. He struggled a little bit in the second quarter, but he rallied in the third quarter to score a 30-yard touchdown run and to throw a highly-difficult, back shoulder pass to Amari Rodgers for what amounted to the game-tying score.
"It didn't matter that Trevor Lawrence didn't play," Jeff Hafley said. "They have great players. They have a great (offensive line), they have the best running back, in my opinion, in the country. They have receivers who are going to get drafted, and they have a great defense. We never even talked about Lawrence not playing. It was about us getting better by playing good offense, defense, and special teams."
Uiagalelei proved himself in the confines of the offense, but he never really put the Eagles away for good. He botched an exchange at the BC goal line after a 67-yard drive over six minutes, and Brandon Sebastian sprinted 97 yards for a score. He also twice failed to punch in scoring drives against the BC end zone, first after the interception when he completed five consecutive passes, including a 33-yard pass to Etienne and second at the end of the half when the Tigers stalled out on the BC 33 yard line.
"I think if they scored a touchdown, it would have (swung momentum)," Hafley said. "I'm proud of the defense for stopping them there. Anytime you can stop that offense with that firepower and make them kick a field goal causes momentum, and we had that going into the half. Our kids were fired up in the locker room. We knew what this team was all about. We knew it was nowhere near over. If you look at them, they've scored almost 80 points in some games, 60 in others, so I felt really good going into halftime."
Outside of those minor mistakes, Uiagalelei forcibly commanded the offense. He finished with 342 yards on 30-of-41 passing with two touchdowns and added the one rushing touchdown as he became the seventh true freshman to ever start for Clemson. He joined Deshaun Watson and Lawrence as the only players to win that start, and he posted the seventh 300-yard game by a true freshman all-time, a list marked five times by Lawrence.Â
"He's a big kid," Hafley said. "I saw him in high school when I was recruiting a teammate of his. I probably saw him throw about four times. He's got a big time arm. He's a good kid, and he's got a bright future. I would have loved to rattle him a bit more, but they did a good job protecting and executing. Hat's off to him, he's going to be a really good football player."
*****
HAF-time Hits
-I have watched about a dozen quarterbacks start for Boston College over the past decade, but I honestly don't think I enjoy anyone more than Dennis Grosel. He processes information quickly and digests questions into easily-understandable answers, the kind of player who almost sounds like a coach. He played with more heart than anyone last year, and he pressured Phil Jurkovec for the starting position right up until the final week of this year's training camp.
Grosel entered Saturday's game after Jurkovec fell on the football at the tail end of a third down run and completed a first down pass through traffic to Hunter Long. It was the perfect Grosel play in a spread formation, and the snap, step and throw through traffic spoke to his surgical precision. He exited the game afterwards, but in the fourth quarter of a one possession game against the No. 1 team in the nation, it was a moment worth remembering.
-Speaking of moments, how about Joe Tessitore's reaction on television when his son, John, ambled up to the line near the end of the first half? He almost forgot he was calling a football game, and I'm pretty sure it took everything in him to keep it together when John caught Clemson offsides. It was an awesome family, fatherly moment to witness.
-This week's #ForTheBrand player of the game: Grant Carlson's back-to-back punts to the one-yard line. They were ultimately negated by penalties, but the football gods returned the favor with a Clemson penalty on his third kick.
-I really wished this game was in Boston this week because I know Clemson would have absolutely hated the conditions after four inches of Friday snow dropped overnight Saturday temperatures below 20 degrees. It completely coated the ground and obliterated any foliage, and rakes temporarily went back into sheds in favor of snow shovels. It was almost as crazy as those freak storms last April, and I couldn't help but wonder how the Tigers would have adjusted. Snow cold is a different kind of cold. It seeps into your bones and freezes your breath more than the raw rain, and it lingers long after you crank the heat and take a hot shower. It would've been worse than the bone-chilling cold of 2018. Oh well.
-My grandfather loved James Bond movies. He owned every movie on VHS tape and kept them organized above his television, and he watched them when he couldn't find anything on television on weekends. The gadgets, the action and the cars were the best, and the storylines were simple enough for a man who didn't speak English as his first language. Sean Connery was very clearly his favorite Bond, though he never said no (or never said never again? Sorry that was for me) when different actors acted in the role.
I remember spending my spring break in college with my grandparents in Florida, and one of my last memories from that era was watching Casino Royale with Daniel Craig in the auditorium/theater of their gated complex. We went home afterwards and talked about Bond until my grandmother yelled at us to quiet down, at which point we started laughing.Â
Connery died this week at 90 years old. Movies age a little bit differently for everyone, but their cinematic history is a big part of my personal experience and growth, shaken not stirred.
Â
*****
Third Down: Travis Etienne
DJ Uiagalelei's command of the offense owed a large piece to Travis Etienne's presence. The dual-threat running back was a legitimate threat from the moment he stood on the field, and he finished with a resounding 224 yards and two touchdowns while becoming the ACC's all-time leading rusher in the fourth quarter.
"On defense, our game plan was going to take away (Etienne)," Jeff Hafley said. "We've seen that guy take over games, so we were going to do everything we could to stop the back. I had it written on my call sheet, 'Stop No. 9.'"
That's exactly what BC did in the first half when it held Etienne to less than 30 yards in the first half. He officially fumbled the botched exchange on Brandon Sebastian's touchdown when he grabbed at the ball and missed, and he failed to rev his full motor against both Isaiah McDuffie and Max Richardson.Â
The duo tackled him eight times in the first half alone while acting as spies, and they blanketed him in coverage with only two notable exceptions. Yet Etienne still found his way onto the stat sheet with seven catches for 140 yards and three explosive plays, including the one touchdown, and 84 yards on 20 carries and a score. He also added 40 yards on kickoff returns.
"We pressured (Uiagalelei) a bunch, but they did a good job protecting," Hafley said. "We tried to rattle him, we tried to get after him on third down. But again, it was, 'Stop No. 9, stop No. 9, stop No. 9.' If DJ beat us, then hats off to him."
*****
Fourth Down: Context
BC last beat a ranked team in 2018 and last defeated a team ranked in both the Associated Press and the Coaches Poll in 2014. It has not defeated a top five opponent since the Notre Dame green jersey game in 2002, and Saturday's loss dropped the program to 1-5 all-time against No. 1 overall teams.
In the majority of those games against top-ranked teams, BC lost by one score or less. In 1991, Miami won by five en route to a national championship, a margin eclipsed only by 2014's three-point loss to Florida State. In 2001, BC was one possession away from tying the game when Miami ran back an interception for a touchdown (thanks a lot, Ed Reed). This year's Clemson game fits right into that with a six-point loss.
On pure numbers, it creates an underdog mentality for Boston College against ranked teams because the Eagles haven't won those games with regularity in the past. Context, though, reminds everyone that eras are different, and the way teams played are hard to compare with one another.
That's why the disappointment and frustration clashes with both optimism and hope. It's not a moral victory because BC wanted to win this game, but there is brightness in hanging with the No. 1 team in the nation after struggling to score any points against the Tigers over the past three years. The Eagles went into Death Valley and played to win in a place where intimidation reigns supreme.
I'm hesitant to call it a moral victory though because the players wanted that one. A moral victory, to me, implies that not winning is the ceiling, and I think BC is heading for a larger, loftier goal. This game is fuel, and embracing the bitterness of a loss - any loss, but especially the emotional ones - will only better serve the team's ability to pull up to its next game against a top-ranked team.
"I know it hurts, and there are no excuses because they beat us," Jeff Hafley said. "They played a really good game. I give credit to them, but I'm proud of this team. Anyone who watched this team play, anyone who watched the confidence of this team can see how much these kids love each other. Anyone watching should see what is coming. I said it all along, it's going to take time, and it's going to be hard. But we're coming and they're coming. We'll get the best out of them, and we'll stick together."
*****
Point After: Let the rivalry week trash talk begin!
Syracuse hung with Clemson last week, but a hangover ensued this week when it never got its motor running against Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons led that game 10-0 in the first and went into the halftime locker room with a 17-7 advantage, but the 21-point third quarter salted the Orange away in a 38-14 rout. It was the Orange's sixth loss of the season and cast a pall over a team that is still only two years removed from a 10-win season.Â
I love a good rivalry and being from the Northeast, so needless to say, I love the Boston College-Syracuse rivalry. An old Big East matchup, it reignited when the Orange joined the ACC, and records really don't seem to matter when they play each other. I have a number of Boston-based friends who went to Syracuse, and I know this one tops their list with me, just as it does to me with them. The media world, especially, is dotted with Syracuse graduates, and this week always seems to ratchet things up a bit.Â
That's right, Bill Spaulding, let the good-natured trash talk begin!
Boston College and Syracuse will kick off at 2 p.m. on Saturday from the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York. It can be seen as part of the ACC's Regional Sports Network coverage, locally in Boston on NESN.
Players Mentioned
RB
/ Football
K
/ Football
P
/ Football
TE
/ Football
WR
/ Football
WR
/ Football
QB
/ Football
QB
/ Football
TE
/ Football
LB
/ Football
LB
/ Football
DB
/ Football
K/P
/ FootballWomen's Basketball: Head Coach Kate Popovec-Goss on ACCPM (April 2, 2026)
Friday, April 03
#22 Baseball Defeats #6 North Carolina (April 2, 2026)
Friday, April 03
Kate Popovec-Goss Introductory Press Conference
Thursday, April 02
Football: Bill O'Brien Media Availability (April 1, 2026)
Wednesday, April 01
