Clemson defense proves Boston College not ready for primetime

Clemson passed their toughest test with flying colors as the Tigers defense proved Boston College isn’t ready for primetime just yet.

Clemson remained undefeated after a 27-7 win at Boston College where Chestnut Hill was hyped with College GameDay in attendance. The home-field advantage didn’t help the Eagles much in this game against No. 2 Clemson who showed how far they have to go to get on their level still.

The excitement levels reached a new high after Michael Walker returned a punt 74 yards to give Boston College an early 7-3 lead, but it was all Clemson after that. Those would be the only points that Boston College would score on the night the defense absolutely dominated en route to clinching the ACC Atlantic for the fourth straight year.

Clemson had four sacks, 10 tackles for loss and a punt return of their own from Amari Rogers on a night BC star running back AJ Dillon couldn’t get going.

Dillon is one of the nation’s top backs despite being at less than 100 percent but he was limited to 39 yards on 16 carries against the vaunted Clemson defense. The Eagles only had nine rushing yards for the game for an average of .3 yards per carry.

That’s a recipe for a loss.

Boston College wasn’t much better in the passing game as they became one-dimensional. The Eagles had 104 yards passing and were a dismal 3-16 on third down. Again, that’s a recipe for a loss.

The Eagles did win the turnover battle, which is one thing you have to do to stand a chance against Clemson. They even got a special teams touchdown and had the GameDay buzz hanging in the stadium, but it didn’t matter against this defense.

Clemson didn’t do a lot offensively. Then again, they were coming off a 77-point offensive explosion vs. Louisville last week. They only ran for 129 yards after they had a trio of ball carriers top the 100-yard mark against Louisville. Trevor Lawrence threw for 295 yards and a touchdown with Hunter Renfrow his top target with eight grabs for 80 yards.

On a chilly night in Chestnut Hill, Clemson showed Boston College how far they still have to come to be remotely close to being on their level.