That was a landmark victory
for the Clemson program, the school’s first bowl
game and the school’s first ever win over a top
20 team. Boston College was ranked 11th in the
nation entering the game. Clemson won 6-3
behind 115 yards rushing from Charlie Timmons
and four pass deflections in the fourth quarter by
Clemson legend Banks McFadden.
•This will be the 17th meeting between
Clemson and Boston College. Only Miami (FL)
has played Boston College more among ACC
teams entering.
•Two of Clemson’s victories in the series
took place during undefeated Tiger seasons.
Clemson won 26-19 in 1948 on the way to a
perfect 11-0 season, and won 35-14 in 1950 on
the way to a 9-0-1 season.
• In 1983, in Boston, the Eagles
gained a 31-16 win behind Doug Flutie. Clemson
had a 16-3 lead with 25 minutes left in the
game, but the Eagles went on a 28-0 run to end
the contest behind Flutie. Flutie was 20-36 for
223 yards and two touchdowns against a Clemson
defense that featured All-American William
Perry. The Eagles gained 504 yards of total
offense on the night, 281 rushing and 223 passing.
It was Clemson’s only loss in 1983 (9-1-1).
•The two teams tied in a 1982 game
in Death Valley. The game was televised by
CBS on a regional basis, the first CBS broadcast
from Clemson Memorial Stadium. Clemson
had a 14-0 lead at intermission, but sophomore
quarterback Doug Flutie led Boston College back
to take a 17-14 lead. The Tigers tied the game
in the fourth quarter, on a field goal by Donald
Igwebuike, who played soccer and football for
the Tigers that fall. Igwebuike then had another
attempt from 43 yards with eight seconds left,
but the kick missed and the game ended in a 17-
17 tie.
Clemson won the total offense battle
370-343. The Tigers had 218 yards rushing led
by Cliff Austin, who had 20-94. Flutie was 18-
35 for 242 yards and a touchdown. Clemson’s
Homer Jordan was 13-25 for 152 yards. Frank
Magwood led Clemson receivers with 103 yards
on six catches, the only 100-yard receiving game
of his Clemson career.
*Clemson had just two losses and two
ties over a three-year period from 1981-83. One
of the losses and one of the ties came against
Boston College in that 1982-83 period.
.•The 2005 game at Clemson was an overtime
meeting, a 16-13 Boston College victory, was
the first between the two schools as an ACC
matchup. The game was tied 10-10 at the end
of regulation. The two teams played another
overtime affair last years, a 34-33 Boston College
victory.
•Clemson has not beaten Boston
College since 1958, a 34-12 victory at Clemson.
Boston College has a 4-0-1 lead in the last four
games that have been played since that Tiger
victory.
•The two teams played three games at
famed Fenway Park in Boston, the home of the
Boston Red Sox. Clemson won the first meeting
there in 1941 by a 26-13 score. The same two
teams met at Fenway the following year, and
Boston College won 14-7. The two teams played
to a 14-14 tie in 1953 at Fenway. So the series
stands at 1-1-1 in games played at Fenway Park.
The two teams also played at Braves Field in
Boston, then the home of the National League’s
Boston Braves (now the Atlanta Braves). Clemson
had a 3-1 advantage in games played at
Braves Field all between 1942-52.
Two Straight Overtime Decisions
Clemson and Boston College have
gone to overtime each of the last two years and
both games have ended in Eagles victories.
Those losses to Boston College kept Clemson
out of the ACC title game each year. The way
the tie breakers fell each of the last two years,
had Clemson scored just one more point in regulation
against the Eagles, Clemson would have
been Atlantic Division Champions each year.
Boston College won the last meeting
between the two teams at Death Valley by a
16-13 score in overtime. Then the Eagles won
last year in Boston by a 34-33 score in double
overtime. This is not the only Clemson series vs.
an ACC team in which back-to-back games went
to overtime. In 2004 and 2005, Clemson split
consecutive overtime games with Miami (FL).
Clemson won the 2004 game in the Orange
Bowl by a 24-17 score in one overtime, then in
2005 the Hurricanes beat Clemson, 36-30, in
three overtimes.
2006 at Boston College
Boston College 34, Clemson 33 (2 OT)
Ryan Ohliger kicked a walk-off extra
point after the Tigers had their extra point blocked
in the second overtime to lift Boston College to a
34-33 win over #18 Clemson at Alumni Stadium
on September 9.
The Tigers had leads of 10-0 and 17-7
in the first half and never trailed in regulation, but
Boston College fought its way back thanks in part
to the 213 kickoff return yards by freshman Jeff
Smith, including a 96-yard return for a touchdown
on the opening kickoff of the second half.
Clemson out-gained the Eagles 479-322,
but the Tigers were kept in bad starting field position
during the last three quarters, while Boston
College had good starting field position thanks to
Smith. Both teams converted 50 percent of their
third-down conversion attempts as well.
Will Proctor was 25-40 for a career high
343 yards and two scores. His favorite target was
Chansi Stuckey, who had 11 catches for 124 yards.
C.J. Spiller added three catches for 82 yards, and
had 171 all-purpose yards. Clemson had eight
plays of 20 yards or more, while the Eagles had
none.
James Davis rushed for 93 yards and two
scores on 24 carries. L.V. Whitworth led Boston
College with 78 yards on the ground on 19 carries.
On their second drive, the Tigers drove
48 yards in eight plays, capped by Proctor’s 22-
yard strike to Tyler Grisham down the sideline for
a touchdown. It was his first career touchdown,
and put the Tigers ahead, 10-0.
Boston College responded with a 53-
yard drive to cut the Tiger lead to three points. A
pass interference penalty gave the Eagles a first-
and-goal, then Matt Ryan found Kevin Challenger
in the end zone for a nine-yard touchdown pass.
The Eagles put together a long drive
and had first-and-goal at the Tiger two. But Michael
Hamlin forced a fumble, and Gaines Adams
scooped up the ball and returned it 14 yards. Two
players later, Spiller took a swing pass, avoided
several Eagles, and raced 82 yards for a touchdown.
It was his first career touchdown, as it gave
the Tigers a 17-7 lead.
A 35-yard field goal by Ohliger late in the
first half cut the Tiger lead to seven. Then Smith
took the opening kickoff of the second half 96 yards
to tie the score. It was the first kickoff return for a
score against the Tigers since 2002.
In the fourth quarter, Ohliger missed a
field goal, then Clemson drove 80 yards to take the
lead. The drive was highlighted by a 24-yard pass
to Rendrick Taylor on third-and-12. Davis carried
over from one yard with 8:20 left.
Boston College took the ball down the
field on its ensuing drive to tie the score. The drive
was not without controversy, however. Ryan’s
pass to the Tiger 14 was caught simultaneously
by Challenger and Hamlin, but Hamlin wrestled
the ball away and came up with the ball. The play
was ruled an interception, but the replay booth
overturned the call. Four plays later, Ryan scored
on a one-yard quarterback sneak with 4:59 remaining
in the game.
Boston College took over first in the first
overtime. But the Tiger defense came up big on
a third-down play and forced Ohliger to make a
35-yard field goal.
On Clemson’s first play, Proctor hit
Stuckey down the sideline for 22 yards to the Eagle
three. But on the next play, Spiller was dropped
for a loss of four yards on a run around the end,
and the Tigers settled for a Dean field goal.
Clemson took over first in the second
overtime and was quickly backed up to the Eagle
41 for a second-and-26. But Proctor completed
back-to-back passes to Stuckey for 20 yards, and
Davis carried over from one yard two plays later.
However, Jolonn Dunbar blocked the extra point.
It took Boston College five plays to go
25 yards to tie the score, capped by Whitworth’s
six-yard scoring run. Ohliger’s extra point sent the
Tigers home in defeat.
Clemson vs. Boston College for Atlantic Division Championship
Clemson and Boston College will play for the Atlantic Division
Championship this evening at Memorial Stadium. It will be a landmark
victory for he winner. Clemson has not won an ACC Championship since
1991 and Boston College has just one conference co-championship to its
credit. They were co-champions of the Big East in 2004.
The Eagles were an independent for much of their history. An
independent through the 1990 season, they joined the Big East Conference
in 1991 and remained in that league through the 2004 season. They
became a member of the ACC in 2005. The closest Boston College has
come to an outright league title was in 2004, their last year in the Big East.
Entering the final game of that regular season, they had to beat Syracuse
at home on the Saturday after Thanksgiving to claim the Big East
Championship. But, The Orangemen pulled off the 43-17 victory, allowing
Pittsburgh to go to a BCS Bowl as the Big East Champion.
Clemson has not won an ACC Championship since 1991 when
a defense led by future NFL players Levon Kirkland, Chester McGlockton
and Brenton Buckner, led the nation in rushing defense. The Tigers were
9-1-1 in the regular season that year and had a 6-0-1 record in the ACC,
good enough for the league championship.
Clemson has more ACC Championships than any other school
with 13 titles. Clemson also won the Southern Conference in 1940 and
1948, giving the program 15 conference championships.
The winner of the Clemson vs. Boston College game will face
the winner of the November 24 contest between Virginia and Virginia Tech
in the ACC title game in Jacksonville on December 1 at 1:00 PM.
Clemson can not clinch an ACC championship by defeating
Boston College, but it can clinch the Division title and advance to the ACC
Championship game.
Battle of Top 25 Teams at Clemson
This will be just the 19th battle of top 25 teams in the history of
Clemson Memorial Stadium. Clemson is 15th in AP and 16th in USA Today,
while Boston College is 18th in both polls entering Saturday’s Game. It is
actually the second game this year in which two top 25 teams have met at
Clemson. On October 6, Virginia Tech was ranked 14th in US Today and
15th in AP , while the Tigers were ranked 22nd in both polls. Virginia Tech
won that game, 41-23.
Clemson Memorial Stadium dates to the 1942 season. Clemson
has an 11-7 record in those previous 18 games involving top 25 teams,
including a 31-7 over Georgia Tech last year. Prior to last year, Clemson
had not won a battle of top 25 teams in Clemson Memorial Stadium since
2000 when 16th ranked Clemson defeated 25th ranked South Carolina.
Prior to last year Clemson had not won a battle of top 20 teams in Death
Valley since 1991.
This will be just the sixth top 25 meeting at Death Valley since
Tommy Bowden became Clemson’s head coach in 1999. He won the
aforementioned games with South Carolina in 2000 and last year’s Georgia
Tech game, and suffered a triple overtime loss to Miami in 2005, a
41-27 loss to Florida State in 2001 and the loss to Virginia Tech earlier this
year.
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