'Where's Waldo?': Tigers facing a different atmosphere this week at BC

Swinney speaks to the media Tuesday.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Oct 04 12:56:09 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON – Clemson plays a different type of opponent in a different type of atmosphere this week.

Last week was a Top Ten matchup, a night game in a sold-out Death Valley against a hated rival that likes to spread the field. This week, the game is at Alumni Stadium in Boston on what could be a cold, windy night against an opponent known for pro sets and physicality.

Clemson takes on Boston College Saturday night at 7:30 pm (ABC).

"It's a different style of play this week, a lot of max-pro shots, layered routes, cross country routes, motions and bunch sets,” head coach Dabo Swinney said during his Tuesday press conference. “Where's Waldo? You have to find No. 4 (wide receiver Zay Flowers). He's as good as there is in college football. He is a great, great player. They will get him the ball 10 or 15 times. We have our hands full with him. No. 1 (WR Jaelen Gill) and No. 2 (WR Joseph Griffith) are great players. They have big, talented tight ends. I'm very impressed with their running backs. No. 24 (RB Pat Garwo III) is a great, physical, downhill player. Their quarterback has made some big throws downfield. We have to play with a lot of discipline against these guys.

"They're big and strong up front on defense. That No. 6 (DE Donovan Ezeiruaku) who was a freshman last year, he is twitchy and athletic. All their linebackers are back. They have three starters back in the secondary. They're well-coached and know how to execute. We have to play with precision. We need to be a little bit more precise in our details. We have a lot of little things to clean up. BC has a good, veteran group on defense.”

The stadium probably won’t be sold out, and Swinney said the Tigers will have to bring their own juice.

"This is one of those games where we will have to play well to have a chance to win on the road which is where we are over the next couple of weeks,” he said. “We have to really bring a sense of urgency and energy and juice each and every week."

The Eagles are facing challenges along an offensive line that has been decimated by injury.

“They have had a lot of personnel changes up front. When you don't have a lot of continuity up front, there are challenges,” Swinney said. “Every week it was musical chairs up front as you saw with us last year. This year our challenges have been on the defensive line, but fortunately we have more depth there. Most people can't deal with that on the offensive line. There aren't many teams out there with 10 starters on the offensive line. They played a really good game last week. They battled and were physical. They had huge, explosive, plays."

Defensive tackle Bryan Bresee (kidneys) is out for the game against the Eagles.

"He's not going to play this week. He's doing really good,” Swinney said of Bresee. “Everything is great, but they have a protocol in place for him. They will condition him this week and push him everyday. He started that yesterday. All of his numbers are where they need to be. If everything goes well, as they anticipate, he'll be back next week. He's practicing. He's doing more cardio stuff. He's more with the trainers."

Defensive end Xavier Thomas is practicing but Swinney didn’t know if Thomas would travel.

“He practiced last week. I've been saying it every week. He's right there,” Swinney said. “It's just Tuesday, so today will be a big day. He was day to day last week. He didn't really feel quite there. His foot has healed well. He's been working on his conditioning a little bit too."