Boston College Athletics
Eagles Show Their Fight, Spirit in Defeat
November 03, 2020 | Football, #ForBoston Files
The loss served notice to the rest of the ACC that a maroon and gold wave is coming.
The ideal heavyweight boxing bout ends with two fighters standing toe-to-toe in the middle of the ring. They pound away at each other and deliver heavy blows until the final bell, at which point they stand in respect for one another. Viewers all clamor for one more round, but points are tallied to raise someone's arm. A winner is crowned at someone else's expense, but everyone walks away with admiration.
On Saturday, that type of fight unfolded at Clemson's Memorial Stadium when Boston College went the distance against the No. 1-ranked Tigers. The Eagles stood in the center of the ring, a Chuck Wepner battler against Clemson's Muhammad Ali. They knocked the Tigers down and absorbed heavy shots. They ultimately lost to the reigning champion, the all-time great, 34-28, but they taught the favorite lessons in spirit and heart while themselves learning what true greatness requires from a football team.
"The cool part about our team is that we believed we could win the game," BC head coach Jeff Hafley said. "I promise you, on Saturday morning, nobody thought we could win when everyone on TV said we would lose by 28 points. Our guys and our coaches thought we could win. We don't talk about it publicly, but that's special. They played with that belief, and it showed."
BC entered the game as a prohibitive underdog and faced odds long enough to spell out an equally-long day in Death Valley. It had previously lost twice, including a blowout by Virginia Tech, while Clemson hadn't so much as been challenged in averaging within a field goal of 50 points per game to the tune of a plus-35 average margin of victory.
It didn't matter that Clemson lost starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence to a positive COVID-19 diagnosis on Thursday night because it could easily replace the presumptive No. 1 overall draft pick with the No. 1 overall recruit. The defense was without starting linebackers, but the system could rotate fast, physical tacklers right into the lineup.Â
BC had an upstart mentality, but nobody took it seriously. The Eagles, after all, failed to score more than a touchdown against the Tigers in each of the last three seasons. They dragged games into the fourth quarter and never came out swinging against a team with that much superior firepower. Trying to impose anything on Clemson, let alone in Death Valley, was a bad idea and a mistake waiting to happen.
The Eagles forced their game flow, though, and never bent an inch. They punched Clemson off the opening kickoff in a way that shocked the Tigers. They responded, but BC never gave in. The visitors overwhelmed before the home team dug into its championship resources. The Tigers won, but the Eagles didn't really lose, even though the scoreboard said otherwise.
"Earlier in the week, I said the game would come down to possessions," Hafley said. "Clemson averaged seven possessions in the first half and 14 overall (in its prior games). If you give a team that many possessions with as explosive and well-coached as they are, then they're going to score 50 points like they do in every game. (But) they had five possessions in the first half and 11 total in the game (against BC). That's off by about five possessions that they're used to having. That's a lot of points, the way that they go."
Clemson found a fifth gear and exposed the reality of the chasm separating it from the rest of the ACC, but BC learned the gap isn't as big as it once believed. The Eagles never went away and forced the Tigers to punch until the final whistle, and they kept churning on both sides of the ball.
"Travis Etienne is the best running back in college football, and he had 84 yards rushing," Hafley said. "They had 31 rushes for 106 yards. Our defense played so well against the run, and we fought hard...There were 10 minutes left in the game, and we were losing. (But) they didn't score a point. We stopped them and went on that long drive where we crossed (midfield). We were going into score to go up, but we didn't get it on fourth down. Then we stopped them again. We stopped them on a four-minute offense, and we stopped Travis Etienne with that offensive line. We stopped them on 3rd-and-1, which nobody had done all year."
The BC program under Hafley is still maturing, but it took a massive step forward against Clemson. It delivered a message through the sadness that the Eagles are on the verge of a breakthrough, and it served a notice to the rest of the ACC, especially to the Atlantic Division, that Boston College is hungry for a new era, that the Northeast is ready to usurp the Southern blue bloods.
"We gave the ball back to our offense to go down the field with a chance to beat (Clemson)," Hafley said. "Twice in the fourth quarter, we had a chance to beat the No. 1 team in the country. I showed the guys the bad plays like I always do, but there weren't that many. Against a team like that, when you have a bad play, they make you pay because it's an explosive group. They're so fast on offense and defense, but we played a really good game.
"They played like they loved one another, and they played so hard," he said. "You get angry that you came up short, but the process was right. I'm so confident in the team and players, and now we have to prepare again to get to that point on Saturday (against Syracuse). I was so fired up to watch the tape. I was so proud of these guys."
Boston College and Syracuse will kick off on Saturday at 2 p.m. from the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York. The game can be seen as part of the ACC's Regional Sports Network coverage, locally in Boston on NESN.
On Saturday, that type of fight unfolded at Clemson's Memorial Stadium when Boston College went the distance against the No. 1-ranked Tigers. The Eagles stood in the center of the ring, a Chuck Wepner battler against Clemson's Muhammad Ali. They knocked the Tigers down and absorbed heavy shots. They ultimately lost to the reigning champion, the all-time great, 34-28, but they taught the favorite lessons in spirit and heart while themselves learning what true greatness requires from a football team.
"The cool part about our team is that we believed we could win the game," BC head coach Jeff Hafley said. "I promise you, on Saturday morning, nobody thought we could win when everyone on TV said we would lose by 28 points. Our guys and our coaches thought we could win. We don't talk about it publicly, but that's special. They played with that belief, and it showed."
BC entered the game as a prohibitive underdog and faced odds long enough to spell out an equally-long day in Death Valley. It had previously lost twice, including a blowout by Virginia Tech, while Clemson hadn't so much as been challenged in averaging within a field goal of 50 points per game to the tune of a plus-35 average margin of victory.
It didn't matter that Clemson lost starting quarterback Trevor Lawrence to a positive COVID-19 diagnosis on Thursday night because it could easily replace the presumptive No. 1 overall draft pick with the No. 1 overall recruit. The defense was without starting linebackers, but the system could rotate fast, physical tacklers right into the lineup.Â
BC had an upstart mentality, but nobody took it seriously. The Eagles, after all, failed to score more than a touchdown against the Tigers in each of the last three seasons. They dragged games into the fourth quarter and never came out swinging against a team with that much superior firepower. Trying to impose anything on Clemson, let alone in Death Valley, was a bad idea and a mistake waiting to happen.
The Eagles forced their game flow, though, and never bent an inch. They punched Clemson off the opening kickoff in a way that shocked the Tigers. They responded, but BC never gave in. The visitors overwhelmed before the home team dug into its championship resources. The Tigers won, but the Eagles didn't really lose, even though the scoreboard said otherwise.
"Earlier in the week, I said the game would come down to possessions," Hafley said. "Clemson averaged seven possessions in the first half and 14 overall (in its prior games). If you give a team that many possessions with as explosive and well-coached as they are, then they're going to score 50 points like they do in every game. (But) they had five possessions in the first half and 11 total in the game (against BC). That's off by about five possessions that they're used to having. That's a lot of points, the way that they go."
Clemson found a fifth gear and exposed the reality of the chasm separating it from the rest of the ACC, but BC learned the gap isn't as big as it once believed. The Eagles never went away and forced the Tigers to punch until the final whistle, and they kept churning on both sides of the ball.
"Travis Etienne is the best running back in college football, and he had 84 yards rushing," Hafley said. "They had 31 rushes for 106 yards. Our defense played so well against the run, and we fought hard...There were 10 minutes left in the game, and we were losing. (But) they didn't score a point. We stopped them and went on that long drive where we crossed (midfield). We were going into score to go up, but we didn't get it on fourth down. Then we stopped them again. We stopped them on a four-minute offense, and we stopped Travis Etienne with that offensive line. We stopped them on 3rd-and-1, which nobody had done all year."
The BC program under Hafley is still maturing, but it took a massive step forward against Clemson. It delivered a message through the sadness that the Eagles are on the verge of a breakthrough, and it served a notice to the rest of the ACC, especially to the Atlantic Division, that Boston College is hungry for a new era, that the Northeast is ready to usurp the Southern blue bloods.
"We gave the ball back to our offense to go down the field with a chance to beat (Clemson)," Hafley said. "Twice in the fourth quarter, we had a chance to beat the No. 1 team in the country. I showed the guys the bad plays like I always do, but there weren't that many. Against a team like that, when you have a bad play, they make you pay because it's an explosive group. They're so fast on offense and defense, but we played a really good game.
"They played like they loved one another, and they played so hard," he said. "You get angry that you came up short, but the process was right. I'm so confident in the team and players, and now we have to prepare again to get to that point on Saturday (against Syracuse). I was so fired up to watch the tape. I was so proud of these guys."
Boston College and Syracuse will kick off on Saturday at 2 p.m. from the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York. The game can be seen as part of the ACC's Regional Sports Network coverage, locally in Boston on NESN.
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