BC's defense: given up one sustained TD drive this year

Oct 12, 2015, 10:30 AM

For a 3-3 team, their defense is incredibly good. The problem is that they've played some pretty bad teams, so it's hard to see exactly how good they are. But here are the number points that their DEFENSE has given up, and the number of yards they've allowed in their six games this year. I'm emphasizing "defense" because they've given up two other TDs that weren't against their defense.

Maine:
3 points, 91 yards

Howard:
0 points, 11 yards

FSU:
7 points (FSU also got a defensive score), 217 yards

NIU:
7 points (NIU also got a kick return for TD), 153 yards
NIU's one touchdown was a 4-yard drive

Duke:
9 points, 228 yards

Wake:
3 points, 142 yards
The FG drive went -2 yards

So they have actually given up four TDs this year, but one was on defense, one was on special teams, and one was a four-yard drive after a big interception return. FSU is the only team that put together any kind of drive against them. Duke's 228 yards is actually the most they've given up all year, which is unbelievably good.

Now let's tell the whole story. Howard might be the worst team...in FCS. Maine is also FCS. Wake and Duke both struggle on offense, and FSU hasn't been all that impressive on offense either. NIU is down from where they've been.

This will be a great test for the BC defense, because Clemson's offense is on a completely different level than anything they've seen this year except for FSU. It seems like we're better on offense than FSU at this point, but I wouldn't say that it's an order of magnitude difference. I expect us to struggle on offense and would be impressed if we broke 20 against them. Their defense hasn't given up double digits to anyone (though they gave up 14 to two teams because of a fumble return and a KO return).

BC's offense is a train wreck. They're not going to enjoy Dodd, Lawson, Alexander, Kearse, et al. I see that Clemson is favored by 17. The oddsmakers might want to put the over/under at 17.