Tigers find rhythm late, beat Boston College comfortably for 12th straight win

Will Shipley scores Clemson's first touchdown.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Oct 08 23:09:31 GMT-04:00 2022

CHESNUT HILL, MA – It took a while for No. 5 Clemson to find its rhythm Saturday night, but scored three second-half touchdowns and routed Boston College 31-3 at Alumni Stadium in front of 42,138 fans.

Clemson improves to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the ACC while Boston College falls to 2-4 overall and 1-3 in league play. The Tiges travel to Tallahassee next week for a night game at Florida State (7:30 p.m./ABC).

Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei rebounded from an early interception to finish 18-for-32 for 220 yards and three touchdowns through the air while adding 12 carries for 69 yards on the ground. Phil Mafah had seven carries for 36 yards. Antonio Williams had five receptions for 29 yards while Beaux Collins had four catches for 58 yards.

Boston College had 30 rushes for just 34 yards, and quarterback Phil Jurkovec was 19-40 for 188 yards. Clemson’s defense had four sacks on the night, including two sacks by Xavier Thomas in his first action of the season. Clemson also had 11 tackles for loss.

With the win, Clemson extends the nation's longest active winning streak to 12, the sixth winning streak of 12 or more games in program history. Clemson also won its 12th consecutive game against Boston College, dating back to 2011. That is its second-longest active streak against an ACC opponent, trailing Clemson’s 14-game active winning streak against Wake Forest.

Clemson improves to 33-4 in true road games since 2015. Clemson also won a 37th consecutive game against unranked opponents when ranked in the AP Top 5, the longest active streak in college football.

"I had no illusions this would be an easy task tonight. This is not an easy place to play," head coach Dabo Swinney said. "Jeff (Hafley) does a heck of a job. Boston College had guys banged up, but played their butts off. Our defense was the story of the game. They were outstanding. Thought the defense played their most complete and best game of the season for four quarters. They swarmed all night. Think we had 13 hurries. Just kind of so-so offensively. A lot we can improve on that we'll see on tape."

The Tigers took the opening drive and marched 54 yards in nine plays. On third down, Uiagalelei dropped a perfect throw in the lap of wide receiver Beaux Collins, but Collins couldn’t haul it in and the Tigers settled for a 35-yard field goal from BT Potter.

The Tigers gained just 49 yards on their next 17 plays, but and Boston College failed to capitalize on two of three trips into Clemson territory. One drive saw a missed field goal, one saw a field goal, and another saw a turnover on downs at Clemson 28. Heading into the four minutes of the half the score was tied a 3-3.

Boston College was forced to punt from its own 12 with 3:45 to play and Antonio Williams returned it 20 yards to the Boston College 28. For the first time all night the offense seemed determined to run the football, and six plays out of seven were on the ground as Will Shipley finished off the short drive with a one-yard touchdown run. Clemson 10-3 at intermission.

Boston College was forced into a 3-and-out to start the second half, and following a punt the Tigers took over at their own 27. A big third-down throw from Uiagalelei to Collins covered 21 yards, and one play later Uiagalelei threw a deep ball to Joseph Ngata in the end zone for a 38-yard touchdown and a 17-3 lead early in the third quarter.

Clemson took over at its own 28 late in the third quarter and promptly put together another scoring drive. The drive started with a 25-yard pass to Davis Allen up the right sideline, and four plays later Phil Mafah ran for 17 yards to the Boston College 12. The first play of the fourth quarter saw Uiagalelei hit a wide-open Collins in the endzone for a 10-yard scoring pass. With 14:57 to play Clemson led 24-3.

The Tigers forced yet another Boston College punt – after the Eagles traveled into Clemson territory – and took over at their own 12 with just over six minutes to play. The drive was crisp and covered the 88 yards in just six plays, including a 24-yard pass to Brannon Spector and a 40-yard run by Uiagalelei. Uiagalelei then found Spector in between three defenders and rifled a 13-yard scoring pass to make it 31-3 with just over four minutes to play.

Clemson-BC box