Clemson football faces tricky road test vs. Boston College in Week 11

Clemson football travels to Chestnut Hill for a potentially tricky road tilt against Boston College in a game that will decide the ACC’s Atlantic division.

There isn’t much standing in the way of Clemson and a fourth consecutive berth into the College Football Playoff, but Saturday night’s road tilt at Boston College is the biggest, and potentially only, stumbling block in the Tigers’ path.

Since a near miss at home against Syracuse in a game freshman Trevor Lawrence was knocked out of due to injury, Dabo Swinney’s team has been outright untouchable in the four games since. They have throttled overmatched conference opponents Wake Forest, NC State, Florida State, and Louisville with a combined score of 240-36, winning all of them by at least 34 points. The latest bludgeoning was a 77-16 embarrassment of Louisville that should have come with a parental guidance warning.

After this week, Clemson welcomes Duke and South Carolina to Death Valley, and then will face whoever comes out of the Coastal Division cluster. It’s unlikely any of those teams can put up a serious challenge to Swinney and company, so if someone is going to knock off Clemson before the playoff, it’ll have to be Boston College.

The Eagles enter at 7-2, and currently sit at No. 17 in the latest playoff rankings. One of their two losses was an out-of-conference road loss to Purdue, so at this moment they control their fate in the Atlantic Division race. If they can knock off Clemson this weekend, and then finish up with wins over Florida State on the road and Syracuse at home, then Steve Addazio could improbably lift his team into the conference championship game.

A frigid environment would probably provide Boston College the best chance at an upset, but the forecast is currently clear for the weekend, which means if the Eagles are going to pull the stunner, they’ll have to do it on an even playing field.

Here’s how you can watch Saturday night’s Atlantic Division showdown between Clemson and Boston College:

Date: Saturday, Nov. 10
Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
Location: Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Venue: Alumni Stadium
TV: ABC
Live Stream: WatchESPN | FuboTV

Keys to Victory

Clemson will need more from its quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, in order to leave Chestnut Hill victorious this week. Lawrence threw for just 59 yards and an interception last week against Louisville, and the Tigers still racked up 77 points. Boston College isn’t going to just lay over and play dead and allow Travis Etienne and company to rack up nearly 500 yards rushing like the Cardinals did. Boston College’s defensive line, led by Zach Allen and Wyatt Ray, will provide a tough challenge for the Clemson offensive line as they attempt to take away the run and force Lawrence to beat them with his arm. He’s obviously more than capable of doing so, but if they can put him in third-and-long situations, the Eagles can pin their ears back and look to cause some chaos.

Boston College’s defense will need to stand tall in the redzone and force Clemson to kick some field goals to maintain competitiveness as well. Addazio’s bunch ranks 12th in the nation in redzone defense, giving up scores on just 72.7 percent of opposing redzone trips. They’re also adept at forcing turnovers, ranking in a tie for fifth in the nation with 21 takeaways this season. The path to an upset of this magnitude is for Boston College to force numerous Clemson turnovers, and then capitalize on them.

Betting Odds

Odds courtesy of OddsShark.com

Point Spread: Clemson -20
Over/Under: 58

Prediction

I just don’t see Boston College having enough offense to pull off this upset. The Eagles are a running team, led by supremely talented sophomore A.J. Dillon, but it’s going to be tough for him to find running lanes against the most talented defensive line in the country, with mammoth defensive tackles Christian Wilkins and Dexter Lawrence plugging up holes in the middle. Dillon ran for nearly 1600 yards as a freshman last season, but managed just 57 yards in a 34-7 loss to Clemson last September.

Look for Clemson to shut down the run, and then for Trevor Lawrence to hit some big plays down the field in the second half to Tee Higgins and Justyn Ross to allow for a comfortable win.

Final Score: Clemson 38, Boston College 14