BC Football: Boston College Game Notes on the Clemson Game

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For just the third time in Boston College history, two teams ranked in the AP Top 20 will square off at home as the No. 17/14 Eagles host No. 2/2 Clemson Saturday at 8 p.m.
The game will be broadcast by ABC with Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit and Maria Taylor on the call.
Coverage on the Boston College IMG Sports Network begins at 7:30 p.m. with Jon Meterparel, Pete Cronan and Scott Mutryn. Fans can listen to the game locally on WEEI 93.7 FM.
The 357th installation of College GameDay will air live on ESPN from 9 a.m. – noon ET from Boston College. The 10-time Emmy award-winning traveling road show is hosted by Rece Davis, who is joined by Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, David Pollack and Maria Taylor, as well as contributors Chris “The Bear” Fallica, Jen Lada, Tom Rinaldi and Gene Wojciechowski.
This is GameDay’s third trip to Boston College and the first time since 2009.
In a series that began in 1940, Boston College and Clemson meet for the 28th time Saturday.
The Tigers lead the series 16-9-2 and have won seven consecutive games against the Eagles.
Boston College is 6-8-1 all-time at home against the Tigers. The last time BC defeated the Tigers was at Alumni Stadium in 2010, 16-10.
BC’s longest winning streak in the series is four games. The most points scored in the series for BC were 40 in 1949 while the largest margin of victory for the Eagles was a 15-point win in 1983 (31-16).
The current seven-game winning streak is the longest in the series for Clemson. The Tigers’ highest point total was 56 in 2016 in Chestnut Hill and it also set the largest margin of victory (46 points) in series history.
For the 11th time, Boston College and Clemson will play for a trophy. The BC Gridiron Club established the O’Rourke-McFadden Trophy in 2008.
The trophy features a leather helmet replica of those used by Charlie O’Rourke of Boston College and Banks McFadden of Clemson, when they competed against each other in the 1940 Cotton Bowl.
The Boston College Gridiron Club also presents a replica leather helmet to the MVP of the winning school.
Since BC joined the ACC in 2005, six of the 13 games have been decided by seven points or less. Clemson is 9-4 in ACC play against BC.
The series began in the Cotton Bowl on January 1, 1940. The Tigers defeated the 11th-ranked Eagles 6-3 as Charlie Timmons rushed for 115 yards.
The 1983 win by BC featured 28 unanswered points as Doug Flutie threw for 223 yards and two TDs to hand Clemson its only loss of the year (9-1-1).

Comin’ To Your City

This is road show 357 for College GameDay Saturday at Boston College. It was this weekend in November, 25 years ago, that GameDay had its first road show. On November 13, 1993, College GameDay broadcast from South Bend for No. 1 Florida State at No. 2 Notre Dame. The Irish won that game 31-24.
This is GameDay’s third trip to BC and the first time since 2009.
The Eagles lost to Florida State in the show’s first trip to BC in 2005, then beat the Seminoles in 2009.
Each of the last four games GameDay has attended have been decided by at least 14 points. This has continued a trend. 17 of the last 25 regular season road shows have originated from a game that was decided by double-digits.
This is the 12th time GameDay will originate from the site of a team outside the Top 10 hosting No. 2.
The previous 11 home teams went 1-10, with the only win being No. 11 Auburn’s 27-17 win over No. 2 Florida in 2006.

Ranked vs. Ranked

For the first time since the ACC Championship Game in 2007, a ranked BC team will face another ranked team Saturday between the 14th-ranked Eagles and second-ranked Tigers. In 2007, the sixth-ranked Virginia Tech Hokies defeated No. 12 BC 30-16 to win the ACC Championship.
Saturday’s ACC showdown is just the seventh game all-time at Boston College featuring two ranked teams. It’s the first game against two ranked teams at Alumni Stadium since No. 20 BC’s 38-16 win over No. 21 Maryland on Nov. 18, 2006.

Ranked vs. Ranked Home Games

Game Result

No. 20 BC vs. No. 21 Maryland (11/18/06) W, 38-16

No. 17 BC vs. No. 8 Florida State (9/17/05) L, 28-17

No. 25 BC vs. No. 14 Syracuse (11/12/94) W, 31-0

No. 11 BC vs. No. 5 West Virginia (11/26/93) L, 17-14

No. 21 BC vs. No. 5 Miami (9/4/93) L, 23-7

No. 12 BC vs. No. 19 West Virginia (9/24/83) L, 27-17

Strong Start

Boston College is 7-2 to start the season, the best start by a BC team since the 2007 squad opened the year 8-1.
This year’s 7-2 record marks just the fourth time since 2000 BC has started 7-2 or better.

Among the Nation’s Best

Boston College is ranked 17th in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 and 14th in the Amway Coaches poll.
It is just the 18th time in AP Poll history BC has been ranked in multiple weeks during the same season.
In 83 years of the AP Poll, BC has been ranked in just 23 of those seasons (28%).
The Top 20 ranking is the highest for BC since being ranked No. 2 in 2007.
It is just the 20th time in 83 seasons BC is ranked in the AP Top 20 this week.

Top Five Team at the Heights

Boston College has not defeated an opponent ranked in the Top Five since a 14-7 win at No. 4 Notre Dame on Nov. 2, 2002.
Clemson is the highest-ranked opponent to play at Alumni Stadium since No. 2 Miami defeated the Eagles 33-14 on Sept. 20, 2003. It is just the sixth time a team ranked No. 1 or No. 2 has played at BC.
A win Saturday vs. No. 2 Clemson would be against the highest-ranked opponent since a 41-39 win at No. 1 Notre Dame on Nov. 20, 1993.
Boston College is 2-29 all-time against teams ranked in the Top Five, including an 0-12 mark at home against opponents ranked within the Top Five.

BC is 31-106-1 all-time against ranked competition.

Beating a Ranked Opponent

Boston College’s 27-14 win over then No. 25 Miami was the first victory over a ranked team since 2014. Prior to the Miami win, the last win over a ranked opponent was a 37-31 victory over Southern California in 2014.

Taking Down the Canes and Hokies

Last Saturday’s 31-21 win at Virginia Tech marked just the second time in 16 seasons BC has victories over Miami and Virginia Tech in the same season. The only other year BC defeated both the Hurricanes and Hokies was 2007. The previous week, the Eagles defeated No. 25 Miami 27-13.
Boston College’s 335 points through nine games are the most in program history in the first nine games of a season, surpassing the 312 points scored in the first nine games of 1984. BC finished the 1984 campaign 10-2 overall as Doug Flutie won the Heisman Trophy and the Eagles defeated Houston 45-28 in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Day.
BC opened the 2018 season with 40+ points in its first three games, the first time in 120 seasons of football at the Heights the Eagles scored 40+ in the first three games.
Boston College has scored at least 40 points in an ACC game five times. Four of those five are in BC’s past 10 conference games.
The Eagles joined the ACC in 2005, and the other game of 40+ points was 2009 against NC State.
Over the last 16 games, BC has eclipsed the 500-yard mark in total offense six times.
Boston College rolled up 598 yards of total offense in the 55-21 victory against UMass on Sept. 1. The Eagles topped that mark with 610 yards of total offense in the 62-14 victory over Holy Cross on Sept. 8.
BC went over 500 yards of total offense for the 10th time under head coach Steve Addazio in the victory at Wake Forest. The Eagles finished the 41-34 win over the Deacs with 524 yards of total offense.