Clemson trounces Boston College 41-10
Dabo Swinney has spent many years dusting off the orange pants only when a championship is at stake.
Clemson’s fans, players and coaches didn’t spend all offseason dreaming about bringing home the O’Rourke-McFadden Trophy, which since 2008 has been given to the winner of the Clemson-Boston College game.
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But when you’re 2-3 you take your victories and trophies where you can get them. So the Tigers took the orange britches to New England, where they trounced the Eagles 41-10 to get their trophy.
A .500 record and a 2-2 ACC mark is certainly not where anyone thought Swinney’s 17th team would be at the halfway point of 2025.
But a trip to two hills, Chapel and then Chestnut, certainly put this team and this offense in a better mental space than when last seen at Death Valley during a horrific defeat to Syracuse.
Through four games, the Tigers scored a total of 79 points and had 10 touchdowns.
In the first half alone against Boston College and North Carolina, the Tigers totaled 69 points and nine touchdowns.
Not a whole lot to write home about in the second half of both games, as Clemson reached the end zone just once over those 60 minutes (a Keith Adams rush with 24 seconds left against the Eagles).
But when this team returns home to face SMU, at least Cade Klubnik will have some good vibes and rhythm to look back on.
Against the Eagles and Tar Heels, he completed 44 passes on 54 attempts for 532 yards with five touchdowns and an interception.
After leading the Tigers to scores on their first six possessions Saturday, he looked a little wobbly in the third quarter in throwing a red-zone interception on a poor decision.
And then he created some anxious moments on the next possession in the red zone when he took off and ran for the end zone and was crunched awkwardly by three Boston College defenders before limping off the field.
Swinney said Klubnik suffered an ankle injury but could’ve returned.
Christopher Vizzina replaced him and threw an end-zone interception on a fourth-down heave. Vizzina played the rest of the game but attempted just three passes. He ran four times for 19 yards.
The Tigers’ big-play bonanza in the first half continued at Boston College after they sliced up the Tar Heels before halftime. Clemson had six pass plays of 20 yards or more in the first 30 minutes, including a 38-yard touchdown strike to Bryant Wesco on a perfect opposite-hash throw to the end zone by Klubnik.
Wesco finished with 106 receiving yards on five catches. Antonio Williams had 85 yards on seven receptions.
Adams led the Tigers in rushing with 49 garbage-time yards on seven carries. Adam Randall had 36 yards on 10 carries, and Klubnik rushed for 48 yards and a touchdown on nine attempts.
The defense was quite shaky early, allowing Boston College to consume 123 yards on 17 plays on its second and third possessions. The Eagles (1-5, 0-4 ACC) got a field goal and then a touchdown to cap a 10-play, 75-yard drive that was aided by two Clemson penalties on one play when the Tigers were trying to come up with a third-down stop inside their 10-yard-line.
The turning point for the defense came on Boston College’s fourth possession, when the Eagles were driving once again — from their 25 all the way to the Clemson 22, trying to slice into a 24-10 Tigers advantage.
On second-and-9, Clemson defensive coordinator Tom Allen got aggressive after playing quite a lot of zone previously. He sent Sammy Brown on a field-side blitz, and Brown got to Dylan Lonergan as he tried to pass.
Brown jarred the ball loose and T.J. Parker recovered.
Two plays later, Klubnik found tight end Josh Sapp for a 32-yard catch-and-run down the Clemson sideline.
And then came Klubnik’s touchdown strike to Wesco that made it 31-10 with 1:23 left in the half.
And that was pretty much it.
Clemson was then happy to take advantage of some colossally bad clock management by Bill O’Brien, getting the ball back and moving into position for three more points when Nolan Hauser grooved a 50-yard field goal as time expired.
Boston College’s second-half possessions went like this: Punt, punt, punt, interception, turnover on downs, end of game.
Clemson out-rushed the Eagles 226-85. The Tigers produced 137 of those yards on the ground after halftime.
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Allen’s defense had five sacks and seven tackles for loss. Boston College was 3-for-12 on third downs.
Lonergan threw for 117 yards on a 12-of-19 clip. His replacement, Shaker Reisig, was 3-of-10 passing for 19 yards and an end-zone interception by Ricardo Jones.
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Turbo Richard rushed for 75 yards on 18 carries, and Lewis Bond had seven catches for 70 yards.
The last time Boston College beat Clemson was in 2010.
So that’s 13 straight for Swinney against the Eagles, this time while sporting the orange pants.
Another championship. So to speak.
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