Clemson, S.C. — It is Game Day in Death Valley where Clemson looks for a win against Boston College. The Tigers hope to stay in the race for another ACC Championship.
Clemson fans will enjoy Homecoming in God’s Country.
Location: Memorial Stadium (Death Valley)
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m.
Television: ACC Network
Announcers: Dave O’Brien, Time Hasselbeck, Kelsey Riggs
2021 Record: Clemson 2-2, Boston College 0-0
ACC Record: Clemson 1-1, Boston College 0-0
Series History: Clemson leads series 19-9-2
Last Meeting: Clemson won 34-28 on October 31, 2020
CLEMSON TO HOST BOSTON COLLEGE FOR THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR
Clemson will return to Death Valley this week when the Tigers face the Boston College Eagles on Saturday, Oct. 2. Kickoff at Memorial Stadium is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.
As the result of scheduling quirks in the pandemicadjusted 2020 season, Clemson and Boston College will meet in Death Valley in a third consecutive year for the first time in series history. The Eagles will join Duke (1986-88), Virginia (1972-74) and Wake Forest (1957-59 and 1983-85) as the only ACC programs ever to face Clemson in Death Valley in three consecutive seasons.
Last week, NC State outlasted Clemson, 27-21, in a double-overtime heartbreaker. Clemson surrendered its first offensive touchdown of the season with five seconds remaining in the first quarter, ending a streak
of 194:55 to open the season without a touchdown surrendered by the defense.
Clemson’s defense helped keep the Tigers in the game despite spending an immense amount of time on the field and despite losing starters Bryan Bresee and James Skalski to injury during the contest. NC State ran 96 plays to Clemson’s 49, a 47-play difference that was Clemson’s largest play deficit in records back to 1950, surpassing minus-40 play differentials against North
Carolina in 1970 and against Boston College in 1983. Not including two untimed possessions in overtime, NC State held the ball for 41:48, four seconds shy of the longest time of possession by a Clemson opponent
since North Texas held the ball for an opponent-record 41:52 against the Tigers in 2010.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR THIS WEEK
– Clemson attempting to win a 31st consecutive home game to extend its school record for both the longest home winning streak and longest home unbeaten streak in school history (as well as extend the nation’s longest
active home winning streak). Of the 135 players on Clemson’s 2021 roster, 130 have never experienced a home loss in their Clemson careers. Five sixth-year “super seniors” on Clemson’s 2021 roster were on the 2016 team that recovered from a home loss to Pitt by winning the national championship that season.
– Clemson (30) attempting to tie 1890-93 Yale, 1990-95 Texas A&M and 2001-05 Boise State (31 each) for the 18th-longest home winning streak in FBS history.
– Clemson and Boston College meeting in Death Valley in three consecutive years for the first time in series history. The Eagles will join Duke (1986-88), Virginia (1972-74) and Wake Forest (1957-59 and 1983-85) as the only ACC programs ever to face Clemson in Death Valley in three consecutive seasons.
– Clemson attempting to improve to 20-9-2 all-time against Boston College, dating to the teams’ first meeting in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Day in 1940.
SERIES HISTORY VS. BOSTON COLLEGE
Clemson holds a 19-9-2 lead in its series with Boston College dating to the programs’ first meeting in the 1940 Cotton Bowl.
Early in the series, the two teams played three games at famed Fenway Park in Boston, the home of the Boston Red Sox. Clemson won its first game there in 1941 — just 13 days after Ted Williams finished his .406 season
for the Red Sox — by a 26-13 score. The teams met at Fenway again the following year, and Boston College won, 14-7. The two teams played to a 14-14 tie in 1953 at Fenway, evening the series’ all-time record at Fenway
Park at 1-1-1.
The two teams also played at Braves Field in Boston, then the home of the National League’s Boston Braves. Clemson had a 3-1 advantage in games played at Braves Field, all between 1942-52. Clemson has a 9-6-1 lead
in the series in games played in Boston or Chestnut Hill. The Tigers have won 12 of the 13 games played against Boston College since Dabo Swinney became Clemson’s head coach on an interim basis on Oct. 13, 2008, including his first win as a head coach on Nov. 1, 2008. Clemson’s only loss to the Eagles in the Swinney era as head coach came on the road in 2010.
O’ROURKE-McFADDEN TROPHY
This year’s matchup represents the 14th time that Clemson and Boston College will play for the O’RourkeMcFadden Trophy, which the Boston College Gridiron Club began sponsoring in 2008. Clemson has won 12 of
the 13 years the trophy has been awarded.
The trophy features a leather helmet replica of those used by Charlie O’Rourke of Boston College and Banks McFadden of Clemson when they competed against each other in the 1940 Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. In
addition to the trophy presentation, the Boston College Gridiron Club presents a replica leather helmet to the MVP of the winning school in the locker room.
C.J. Spiller won the award for the 2008 game when he had 242 all-purpose yards, and Clemson kicker Richard Jackson won the award for the 2009 game. He kicked six field goals in the Clemson victory, the only kicker at the
FBS level to kick six field goals in a game in 2009.
TCI Predictions
Robert – Clemson 34, Boston College 20
Sam – Clemson 17, Boston College 16
Davis – Clemson 20, Boston College 17
Gavin – Clemson 27, Boston College 14