CLEMSON, SC – Freshman DJ Uiagalelei, the replacement for Trevor Lawrence, who is home due to COVID-19, threw for 342 yards and two touchdowns and No. 1 Clemson rallied from 18-points down in the first half to beat Boston College 34-28.
The Tigers (7-0, 6-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) were down found themselves trailing 28-10 in the second quarter and went into the interval 28-13 behind.
However, the nation’s top ranked side rallied in the second half to keep Boston College scoreless and powered home to victory.
Clemson’s Travis Etienne became the ACC’s all-time rushing leader and his second touchdown put the Tigers ahead for good.
Etienne ran for 84 yards, pushing him to 4,644 in his four seasons and past North Carolina State’s Ted Brown (4,602) as the ACC’s all-time leader.
The Tigers star running back also took seven catches for 140 yards and a score, while Cornell Powell caught 11 passes for 105 yards in the win.
Clemson was missing several key players, including Lawrence, who was out after testing positive for coronavirus. Starting linebackers James Skalski and Mike Jones Jr. were also missing because of injuries, the hosts managed to secure its 28th straight win over ACC opponents, the 10th straight over the Eagles and 27th in a row at home.
Phil Jurkovec went 12 of 24 on passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns for Boston College (4-3, 3-3).
Boston College was well set claim the upset of the college football season, but failed to connect offensively in the second and instead, fell to 1-5 all-time against No. 1 teams and 2-32 in their history against teams ranking in the top five.
FIRST HALF LEAD FOR BOSTON COLLEGE
No. 1 Clemson is in an unusual position at the moment, as it trails Boston College 28-13 in the ACC clash at home inside the Memorial Stadium.
The Tigers, who are currently undefeated on the season, are without star quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who misses the game after testing positive for COVID-19 earlier in the week.
http://gty.im/1228892852Phil Jurkovec found Zay Flowers with an 11-yard pass to give Boston College the lead early in the game, but Travis Etienne answered back for Clemson when he scored on a 35-yard pass from D.J. Uiagalelei, the true freshman who replaces Lawrence at quarterback.
David Bailey scored from a close range rush and then Brandon Sebastian returned an Etienne fumble 97 yards to give the Eagles a big lead with 12:14 to play in the first half, before B.T. Potter trimmed the deficit for the Tigers with a 33 yard field goal about four-minutes later.
Boston College increased its lead with 1:02 to play in the second quarter when the visitors extended a drive by forcing an early jump on Clemson on a fourth down on a fake field goal attempt.
Jurkovec, who was excellent in the first half, then completed the 15 play drive by finding CJ Lewis, who took an awkward catch inside the end zone.
B.T. Potter put away a 50 yard field goal to trim the lead from 18 points.
Clemson has won 35 straight regular season games coming into this encounter. The Tigers have also won 27 consecutive games against ACC opponents.
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