It wasn’t pretty, but Clemson headed into halftime at Alumni Stadium with a 10-3 lead over Boston College.
In Chestnut Hill, Clemson came firing out of the gate and drove the football down the field at will. That was until Beaux Collins dropped a would-be touchdown pass from D.J. Uiagalelei, forcing Clemson to then settle for a 35-yard field goal off the foot of B.T. Potter.
A change at punt returner changed Clemson’s first-half fortunes.
With the offense bogged down since the first possession, Antonio Willaims returned a punt 20 yards, setting up shop inside the Boston College 30-yard line. The true freshman receiver out of Dutch Fork (Irmo, S.C.) was sent out to replace Will Taylor, who muffed a punt earlier in the second quarter.
Williams’ return helped set up a Will Shipley one-yard score.
On Clemson’s second offensive possession, Uiagalelei was intercepted by Josh DeBerry. He never saw the Boston College defensive back, who made the leaping grab, as Uiagalelei evaded pressure and looked for Collins on the sideline.
The turnover didn’t end up costing Clemson as Connor Lytton’s 35-yard field goal missed wide left. Though, he would later connect on a 27-yarder to tie things up at 3 in the beginning of the second quarter.
What did end up hurting Clemson in the first half, though, was the play of Zay Flowers. The senior receiver, who is one of the better skill players in the conference, hauled in three receptions for 47 yards in the game’s first 30 minutes.
It’s worth noting that none of Tyler Venables, R.J. Mickens or Sheridan Jones traveled to Boston College for Saturday’s contest. The trio of injuries left Clemson rather thin in the secondary, which forced the Tigers to start true freshman Toriano Pride, Jr. at corner.
With Clemson’s defensive line unable to bring him down, Phil Jurkovec stepped up and made some big-time throws in the face of pressure. The Eagles’ senior quarterback completed 12-of-24 passes with 135 yards in the first half.
Clemson brought its fair share of pressure, but the Tigers did not come away with a sack of Jurkovec in the game’s first 30 minutes. However, Clemson came away with eight quarterback hits, with senior defensive tackle Tyler Davis recording three of his own.
Perhaps one of the biggest plays of the half was when Clemson sophomore defensive back Nate Wiggins broke up a would-be touchdown connection from Jurkovec to Jaden Williams. On the ensuing play, following an Eagles’ timeout, Barrett Carter pressured Jurkovec into making an off-platform throw, which was broken up by Jeramiah Trotter, Jr.
Those two pass breakups prevented Boston College from finding paydirt in the first half.
A telling stat from the game’s first 30 minutes was the Tigers were forced to punt four times, totaling just 131 first-half yards. Clemson also went 1-for-6 on third down, compared to Boston College going 2-for-8.
The Eagles will receive the second-half kickoff.
Dear Old Clemson is excited to announce a limited edition football and poster signed by Clemson’s Avengers.
Now there is a new way you can support Clemson student-athletes. Purchase collectibles from Dear Old Clemson and the proceeds with go to support Clemson student-athletes. Visit Dear Old Clemson to find out how you can help!
