Boston College Preview

Boston College vs. Clemson, 9/19, 12:00pm, Death Valley

Tigermax:

Clemben's on the shelf right now without a functional computer or means to purchase a new one, but maybe he trudges down to the local library to post a few thoughts before the game starts. Since he has a natural aversion to reading, I'm not holding my breath.
Clemben edit: yes I'm not going to the public library but apparently I can tediously use my phone. I'm not convinced bc can do it this year-without Herzlich and breaking in three new linebackers plus two NFL D lineman gone..that's a tall order for a new coach. But I am less encouraged seeing miami smack georgia tech around. I hope we can run on them but I am worried about the BC oline even though the qb position is a mess. I think they can keep it close and play a field position game with their good special teams but if it comes down to it I like our rookie qbover theirs.

I've already mentioned how important this game is to Clemson. A loss and you're 0-2 in the conference, and to have a shot at winning the division (not a guarantee mind you, just a chance) you need to finish 5-1 in conference play. Granted, you can make a convincing argument that GT and BC make up two-thirds of our more difficult ACC games (with FSU rounding out the list), but asking the team to win three road games at NC State, Coral Gables, and Maryland as well as beat either WF or FSU is still an extremely tall order. In other words, lose tomorrow and the season's effectively over, at least as far as BCS hopes go. There's still the biennial beatdown to administer in Columbia and a Florida-based bowl to play for, but it would be quite the downer to shift focus in that direction with the season just getting underway.

On the other hand, a win puts us at 1-1 and gives us some space to breath--a 4-2 record still leaves you right in contention. With this much on the line, shouldn't be any problems motivating the team, particularly with our motivator extraordinaire at the helm.

So what about Boston College? I've watched a bit of them this year, and it looks like they are moving farther and farther away from the Tom O'Brien grind-it-out years and into a West Coast-style offensive scheme. The good news: this plays to one of the supposed strengths of our defense, the CB position. The bad news: BC features yet another heavy OL, and could very well push us around at the point of attack, as we have seen for several years. It also means I'm not expecting much pressure on the pass. A west coast offense with lots of time is going to carve you to pieces, excellent CBs or not. I'll be looking to see if we can at least keep the running game from developing in the early going, building off of what we saw last week. That would leave us a little more free to drop an extra man back in coverage.

On offense, Clemson's running game last week looked the best I've seen in a while against a decent defense. The question is, can we look anywhere near as impressive against arguably the best defense in the league? I know a lot of people were down on the Eagles coming into the season: they lost some names on defense and they had the whole bizarre Jagodzinski situation. Also, shutting down Kent State and Northeastern doesn't mean an awful lot in gauging a team's talent. But overlooking all this, BC is still big and still disciplined on both sides of the ball. That's spelled trouble in the past for us and I expect it will be trouble again on Saturday. I'm afraid we'll be relying on the big play, hoping some of our superior skill players can break off a few large gains to set up scores.

I was going to "boldly" predict a close Tigers win at the end here, but after reading what I just wrote I'm more convinced than ever that this game is essentially a push, possibly tilting towards the the home-field Tigers. I think we clearly have the edge on overall talent, but I'm afraid its concentrated in areas that play towards BC's strengths. Should be a great game and constantly reminding myself how much is on the line will keep me on the edge of my seat.

GO TIGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (yes, extra exclamation points to help the team. just tryin' to do my part)