The Notes: No. 4 Clemson 59, Boston College 7
Clemson gained 674 yards and reached 600 yards of offense for the third time this season to match the 2012, 2017 and 2018 squads for the most in a single season in school history.
Clemson outgained Boston College, 674-177. The 497-yard differential is Clemson’s biggest since a 558-yard advantage against Kent State on Sept. 2, 2017. It was Clemson’s largest yardage differential against an ACC opponent since the conference’s founding in 1953, surpassing a 464-yard advantage against Wake Forest in 2000.
The game marked the sixth time that Clemson has outgained an ACC opponent by 400 yards. Five of those six contests have come under Head Coach Dabo Swinney.
Clemson has now produced at least 550 yards in three straight games for the first time since contests against Virginia, Georgia Tech and The Citadel in 2013.
Clemson’s season-high 59 points were its most against Boston College in the 29-game all-time series between the two schools, surpassing 56 scored in a 56-10 win in 2016. Clemson’s 674 yards were also its most in series history, surpassing the 576 yards produced against the Eagles in 2012.
Clemson has now reached 45 points in three consecutive games for the first time since the Duke, Maryland and NC State games in November 2012.
Clemson rushed for 302 yards and has now rushed for at least 275 yards in three straight games for the first time in the Dabo Swinney era and the first time since the Wake Forest, Virginia and Duke games in 2000.
The 300-yard rushing performance was Clemson’s third of the season and its 18th of the Swinney era. Clemson is 18-0 in those contests.
Clemson exceeded 300 passing yards and 300 rushing yards for the fifth time under Head Coach Dabo Swinney. It was Clemson’s first such game since last year’s contest against South Carolina.
Clemson scored on its first six drives of the game — every drive of the first half. It marked Clemson’s first time scoring on the first six drives of a game since Sept. 17, 2016, against South Carolina State.
Clemson produced a season-high 36 first downs, the program’s most since recording 38 first downs against South Carolina in 2018.
Clemson has now rushed for multiple touchdowns in nine consecutive games for the first time since the first nine games of the 2018 season.
Clemson has now produced more passing yards than its opponent in 11 consecutive games, dating to last season, for the first time since an 18-game streak across the 2015-17 seasons.
Clemson held Boston College to 177 total yards, the fewest allowed by Clemson this season and the fewest allowed by the Tigers since keeping Boston College to 113 yards last season. Clemson has allowed only 290 yards to Boston College in the last two seasons.
One week after Boston College rushed for 429 yards against an NC State squad that had entered the week as the conference’s top rushing defense, Clemson held Boston College to 97 rushing yards. Boston College entered the week averaging 278.3 rushing yards per game, sixth in the country and first in the ACC.
Clemson became the fourth team since 2000 to hold each of its first eight opponents of a season to 300 or fewer total yards, joining 2006 LSU, 2011 Alabama and 2012 Alabama.
By holding Boston College to 80 passing yards, Clemson has now held six consecutive opponents below 200 passing yards for the first time since a nine-game stretch in games 3-11 of the 2008 season.
Clemson held Boston College to 6-of-18 (33 percent) passing. Clemson has now held three consecutive opponents to a completion percentage under 50.0 percent for the first time since keeping Georgia Tech, Boston College and Miami below 50 percent in October 2015.
Clemson recorded two sacks and has now recorded multiple sacks in 16 consecutive games for the first time since the 2012-13 seasons. It is Clemson's third multi-sack streak of 16 games or more since 1980 (18 from 1991-92, 17 from 1998-99). Clemson extended the streak against a Boston College offense that entered the week having surrendered only three sacks in seven games this season.
Clemson forced 11 punts and allowed only 10 first downs.
Clemson did not turn the ball over and played its first turnover-free game of the season. It was the program’s first game with no giveaways since last year’s College Football Playoff National Championship Game against Alabama.
Clemson won the turnover margin in a third consecutive game for the first time since a five-game streak across the final three games of the 2018 season and the first two games of 2019. Clemson improved to 52-3 when winning the turnover margin since 2011.
Clemson held the ball for 33:46 and finished a third straight game with an advantage in time of possession for the first time since games 3-6 of the 2017 season.
Running back Travis Etienne rushed 16 times for 109 yards and tied his career-high with three rushing touchdowns. He also caught three passes for 33 yards.
The performance represented Etienne’s fifth career game with three rushing touchdowns.
Etienne has now rushed for 100 yards in three consecutive games for the first time this season and the first time since the South Carolina, Pitt and Notre Dame games last season.
Etienne recorded his 13th career 100-yard rushing game to pass Andre Ellington and C.J. Spiller (12 each) for sole possession of fourth on Clemson's all-time leaderboard for career 100-yard rushing games. He is now four games shy of Wayne Gallman's school career record of 17 from 2014-16.
Etienne (46) now sits one rushing touchdown shy of James Davis' school record for career rushing touchdowns (47 from 2005-08).
Etienne (49) tied Davis for third on Clemson’s all-time leaderboard for total touchdowns and sits behind only C.J. Spiller (51) and Travis Zachery (50) on the list.
With 18 points in the game, Etienne tied running back James Davis (294 from 2005-08) for seventh on Clemson's all-time scoring list. Etienne already ranks fourth on the list among non-kickers.
During the game, Etienne (3,999) passed Wayne Gallman (3,902) for ninth in career all-purpose yards in school history. He is now one all-purpose yard shy of becoming the ninth player in Clemson history to record 4,000 career all-purpose yards.
The game was Etienne’s second multi-touchdown rushing game of the season, joining the season opener in which he rushed for three touchdowns against Georgia Tech. It was his 13th career game with multiple rushing touchdowns, tying Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor for the second-most in the country since Etienne entered college football in 2017.
Etienne recorded all three touchdown runs in the first half, scoring on plays of three, four and five yards.
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence completed 16-of-19 passes for 275 yards with three touchdowns. He also rushed eight times for 42 yards.
Lawrence has now thrown a touchdown pass in 18 consecutive games and has thrown a touchdown in 22 of his 23 career contests.
Lawrence has now thrown at least three touchdown passes in three consecutive games for the first time in his career. He is the first Clemson quarterback to do so since Tajh Boyd in 2013.
As a team, Clemson has now thrown three or more touchdowns in three straight games for the first time since games against Virginia, Georgia Tech and The Citadel in 2013.
With the performance, Lawrence (5,089) joined Tajh Boyd, Deshaun Watson, Charlie Whitehurst, Woodrow Dantzler, Cullen Harper and Nealon Greene as the only Clemson players all-time to throw for 5,000 career yards.
With three touchdown passes, Lawrence (53) passed C.J. Spiller (52) for fifth in school history in career total touchdown responsibility.
Lawrence opened the game 9-for-9 for 139 yards to seven different receivers prior to his first incompletion in the second quarter.
Wide receiver Diondre Overton recorded a career-high 119 yards on three receptions for a school-record-tying three touchdowns. It represented his first career 100-yard receiving game, surpassing his previous career high of 75 yards set against Florida State in 2018.
For his performance, Overton earned the Leather Helmet Award, presented annually by the Boston College Gridiron Club to the most valuable player of the Clemson-Boston College game.
Overton recorded the seventh three-touchdown receiving performance in school history, matching Dreher Gaskin (vs. Auburn on Nov. 21, 1953), Tony Horne (vs. Texas-El Paso on Oct. 4, 1997), Rod Gardner (vs. North Carolina on Oct. 21, 2000), DeAndre Hopkins (vs. Ball State on Sept. 8, 2012, and vs. Duke on Nov. 3, 2012) and Mike Williams (vs. South Carolina on Nov. 28, 2016) for the school record in single-game touchdown receptions.
Overton recorded a 22-yard touchdown reception from Lawrence in the first quarter. It was his first touchdown catch since Oct. 7, 2018, at Wake Forest.
Overton added his second touchdown of the day on a career-long 63-yard reception in the third quarter, giving him his first multi-touchdown day of his career.
Overton scored his third touchdown of the day on 34-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Chase Brice in the fourth quarter.
Wide receiver Amari Rodgers added his third touchdown reception of the season on a 19-yard pass from Lawrence in the second quarter.
With 36 receiving yards in the game, wide receiver Tee Higgins (1,869) passed Brian Wofford (1,857) to enter the Top 15 in school history in career receiving yards.
Defensive end Logan Rudolph recorded a 39-yard fumble return for touchdown in the third quarter for his first career touchdown.
The fumble return for touchdown by Rudolph was Clemson’s first since Tanner Muse on Oct. 13, 2017 at Syracuse. (Note: Clemson recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown with no return at Georgia Tech on Sept. 22, 2018.)
The fumble recovery was the first of Rudolph’s career. The fumble was forced on a sack by linebacker Chad Smith, his second forced fumble of the season.
Clemson opened the scoring on a 23-yard field goal by kicker B.T. Potter on Clemson’s first possession. With the field goal, Clemson pushed its record when scoring first to 45-0 since 2015.
Clemson held a 17-0 lead after the first quarter. In that quarter, Clemson produced 12 first downs on only 15 plays.
Clemson led, 38-7, at halftime. Clemson has now won 73 of its last 75 games when leading at halftime.
Clemson accrued 24 first downs in the first half. In 2012, Clemson produced only 20 first downs in the midst of producing a school-record 487 first-half yards against Duke that year.
Prior to the game, Clemson inducted former linebacker Levon Kirkland into the Clemson Ring of Honor. Kirkland was a two-time All-American and three-time first-team All-ACC selection as an outside linebacker between 1988-91. He was a second-team AP All-American and finalist for the Butkus Award as a junior in 1990, a unit that led the nation in total defense, prior to being a first-team All-America selection as a senior by the American Football Coaches Association, Sporting News and Walter Camp Foundation in 1991.
Offensive Line Coach Robbie Caldwell coached his 500th career game. Per a survey of sports information directors around the country, Caldwell is believed to join Northwestern Defensive Coordinator Mike Hankwitz as the only active FBS coaches to reach the 500-game mark.
Captains for the contest were offensive tackle Tremayne Anchrum, running back Travis Etienne, defensive tackle Nyles Pinckney and safety K’Von Wallace.