Some coaches may understandably have reservations about a matchup in which their team’s weaknesses could be exploited. Such a scenario is possible for Clemson on Saturday when the Tigers travel to Boston College looking to further strengthen their …
Some coaches may understandably have reservations about a matchup in which their team’s weaknesses could be exploited.
Such a scenario is possible for Clemson on Saturday when the Tigers travel to Boston College looking to further strengthen their grip on the ACC’s Atlantic Division against an Eagles team that has a projected next-level talent at quarterback and some difference-making weapons at his disposal out wide. It’s got Clemson’s secondary, one that’s had its fair of struggles in coverage in the first five games, on alert once again.
Yet Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said he’s excited about the duel between Boston College’s passing game and his defense despite the fact the Tigers are allowing more passing yards than anyone in the ACC to this point (263.3 yards per game). Clemson rebounded from its worst performance on the back end against Wake Forest two weeks ago to limit NC State to less than 9 yards per completion, but Swinney said Saturday’s game will be a different kind of challenge to find out if the Tigers’ suddenly youthful secondary can continue to mature.
“This will be a huge challenge,” Swinney said. “There’s a lot of conflict because there’s a ton of play-action and boots. Move the pocket. Sometimes (the quarterback) will come all the way out and throw it back. Sometimes it’s a quick set. But a lot of hard play action. Layered routes. Cross-country routes.
“We have to be very disciplined with our eyes on the back end because if you start peeking, you’re in trouble. I’m excited to see us play because I think this is the type of game we need to grow up a little bit on the back end.”
Senior quarterback Phil Jurkovec is back at the controls of Boston College’s offense after missing most of last season with an injury. Widely viewed as a bonafide NFL prospect, the 6-foot-5, 214-pounder is completing 64% of his passes with 10 touchdown passes, though he’s also been prone to turnovers (six interceptions).
While Clemson’s linebacker and safeties could often be challenged in coverage by personnel groupings in which the Eagles have two and even three tight ends on the field simultaneously, slowing Boston College down through the air starts with containing the Eagles’ All-ACC receiver, Zay Flowers, which, as Louisville found out last week, is easier said than done.
Flowers hauled in five passes for 151 yards and two scores in Boston College’s 34-33 win over the Cardinals en route to ACC Receiver of the Week honors. He also had a 22-yard run to set up another touchdown on a double pass that Louisville had defended, but the 5-foot-10 speedster pulled the ball down and made something out of nothing.
Flowers has caught at least five passes and had at least one rush attempt in all but one of the Eagles’ games this season. In Boston College’s rout of Maine early last month, he had just one catch – a 51-yard score.
Clemson had done as good a job as anyone of keeping Flowers at bay throughout his career. He’s combined for just six catches for 74 yards in the Tigers’ last two meetings with Boston College and has yet to find the end zone against Clemson, but now, Swinney reiterated, isn’t the time for Clemson to let its collective guard down against a player Boston College will line up at various positions to try to continue taking advantage of his playmaking ability.
“Where’s Waldo? You’ve got to find No. 4,” Swinney said, referring to Flowers’ jersey number. “He’s as good a player as there is in college football. This kid is a great, great, great player. It’s not real complicated. They’re going to get him the ball 10 or 15 times.”
Exactly who will be available in Clemson’s secondary this time around is still unknown. Sheridan Jones (stinger) and Malcolm Greene (undisclosed) both missed the NC State game with injuries, and fellow cornerbacks Fred Davis and Jeadyn Lukus didn’t play any defensive snaps against the Wolfpack as part of a coach’s decision based on how Swinney said they’ve performed in recent practices and games.
Swinney said he liked the way Davis and Lukus responded early in the week, adding they will be needed moving forward. At safety, R.J. Mickens and Tyler Venables are also dealing with injuries. Asked about Clemson’s injury situation Wednesday, Swinney said the Tigers are “still evaluating everybody” and deferred to the travel roster Clemson will release before the game Saturday.
“I don’t care if a guy is out here or there. I don’t care,” Swinney said. “We’ve had guys that have played. We’re not perfect, but are we better and are we improving? That’s what you need to see.”
Part of Boston College’s play-action game means establishing a running game Clemson has to respect, though whether the Eagles can do that consistently against the nation’s No. 2 run defense remains to be seen. Swinney said it’s up to his defense to win the early downs to elicit more predictability from Boston College on third down.
But regardless of what it looks like, Swinney is expecting his secondary to be tested early and often come Saturday night.
“It’s easy to watch the tape from our first few games (on defense) and go, OK, we need to exploit this,’” Swinney said. “That’s called professional courtesy, right? Let’s see if these boys have fixed it. We’re going to get our chance to show that we’ve grown a little bit, and that’s really what I want to see really from this point forward.”
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