DJ Uiagalelei alluded defenders up the middle for 40 yards before he stumbled and fell to the turf, 13 yards away from pay dirt. It did not matter one bit, because the Clemson Tigers quarterback completed the job using his arm on the next play.
“I thought for a second I’d be gone,” Uiagalelei said after leading No. 5 Clemson to a 31-3 blowout win over Boston College on Saturday night. “And then reality hit.”
Uiagalelei passed for 220 yards and three scores, running for 69 additional yards to lead Clemson (6-0, 4-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) to a dominating second half. He would have scored on a third-and-3 from the Clemson 47 with about five minutes remaining in the game, if he could have stayed upright. Instead, he found a wide-open Brannon Spector in the middle of the end zone to put an exclamation point on it.
“Forty yards? Wow!” offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter said, giving his quarterback a high-five in the postgame news conference.
The Tigers found the end zone on consecutive drives, turning a game that was squared at three before the half, into a runaway. Meanwhile, the Boston College Eagles (2-4,1-3) went three-and-out and punted the ball away four times in five series, with only halftime putting a stop to the streak.
Wide receiver Beaux Collins had four receptions for 58 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown. He also hauled in a 20-yard throw to set up Uiagalelei’s 38-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Joseph Ngata to end a five-play, 73-yard drive that pushed the Tigers lead to 14, 17-3, early in the third quarter.
Quarterback Phil Jurkovec completed less than 50 percent of his passes, 19 of 40 for 188 yards, spending the lion’s share of the game running for his life behind an Eagles patchwork offensive line.
“The defense controlled the night,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “They just controlled the night. They kept them out of the end zone.”
Boston had a bunch of fight and grit to stay competitive with the Tigers for the first 30 minutes of the game. The Eagles led in almost every category at the break, except for where it counts, converting red zone opportunities. But Clemson was able to flex their muscles in the second half and display why they are the fifth-ranked team in the nation. Clemson should hold on to their No. 5 ranking very easily.
A week after trailing North Carolina State 10-6 in the late stages of the first half, in what ended up being a double-digit victory 30-20, Clemson could only manage a 3-3 tie until the final 60 seconds of the opening half against the Eagles.
The Tigers forced the Eagles inside their own 10, and then forced a punt. Antonio Williams fielded the ball near the 50-yard line and ran it back 20 yards to the BC 28. Running back Will Shipley ran it from the 1 to make it 10-3.
Boston College could not find their rhythm to start the second half, going three-and-out, and then Clemson picked up the pace, following a 20-yard pass to Collins with a 38-yard score to Ngata that made it 17-3.
Boston’s only significant drive of the third quarter brought them to the Clemson 22, but Etinosa Reuben blocked Connor Lytton’s field goal attempt. Uiagalelei guided the Tigers to the red zone, and he connected with Collins on the first play of the final frame to make it a three-touchdown game, 24-3.
Clemson got pressure on Jurkovec all night, sacking him on four occasions and hurrying him on 13 other plays. They also forced two fumbles; Boston recovered one, but Payton Page jumped on the loose ball after Barrett Carter and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. jarred it loose in the fourth quarter.
The Tigers took over on the Eagles 23-yard line, but came away empty handed when Clemson Potter’s 42-yard field goal attempt went wide left.
Boston College started the 2022 season with a brand-new offensive line, and had five different starting lineups in its first five games.
The Eagles donned their special uniforms with red bandanna trim in the memory of Welles Crowther, a former BC lacrosse player who died helping to rescue people from the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Crowther was identified by those he saved by the red bandanna he always had with him. The uniforms had bandanna patterns in the numbers and along the stripe on their pants. Instead of the players’ names, the backs of the jerseys all said “FOR WELLES.” Crowther’s mother was also in attendance.
“This game is bigger than anything, more than anybody knows,” cornerback Jason Maitre said.
BC fell below .500, 4-5 in the annual tribute game. The Eagles have not beaten a ranked team at all since beating No. 9 Southern California in the first Red Bandanna Game in 2014.
Clemson travels to Tallahassee to face the Florida State Seminoles on Saturday.
Boston College has a bye week before playing at Wake Forest on October 22.
