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Chuck Culpepper
Reporter who covers national college football, college basketball, tennis, golf and international sports.
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – No. 2 Clemson, having sprouted into a sustainable college football giant, behaved as such in the 38-degree test Saturday night. It declined to occur in seizures, manned its way through a 27-7 win in a ballyhooed bout with No. 17 Boston College, reached 10-0 this season, reached 50-4 over the past four and reached 82-11 over the past seven.
Further, it looked as if, barring something freaky or even creepy, it will appear in a fourth consecutive College Football Playoff, where it pretty much keeps a home with a mailbox, a picket fence and maybe even some house pets. To get there, it must beat Duke (7-3) at home, South Carolina (5-4) at home and whoever turns up in the ACC championship game, a game it knows it will play by virtue of its win here.
Against a Boston College team with Clemson most of the football details. It led the total yardage 123-6 after the first quarter, 216-23 at halftime, 265-49 after three quarters and 424-113 at the end. When a special teams play at Alumni Stadium's only real turbulence, Clemson quickly handled that potential saga as well.
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Midway through the first quarter, Clemson punter Will Spiers took a snap, which was up and down again, ending up 43 yards upfield. When Boston College returns to the field Michael Walker is in the process of doing something with it.
When Walker eluded the Tigers and headed right, then went storming down the sideline for a 74-yard touchdown, the bulk of the 44,500 made the place shake, and the Eagles led 7-3.
So Clemson just started being Clemson.
By now, it has a small crowd of players who can make it better. Those include catching footballs while lying down (as the overeating Higgins Tee did ounce) or executing world-class fakes (as towering freshman quarterback Trevor Lawrence did often but twice in particular).
It looked so flawlessly unperturbed after the Eagles' touchdown that it took nine plays to go 70 yards to gain the last lead it would need, with Lawrence's going to the right side to Higgins hogging half the yardage. Eventually it reached the 2-yard line in the first quarter of the world and close to stalling.
Fourth, Coach Dabo Swinney opted against 7-6, and soon Lawrence faked the handoff to Christian Wilkins, the defensive tackle whose "hurry" had ended Brown's night. Lawrence flipped the ball over the hand of Boston College linebacker Connor Strachan in the shallow part of the end zone, into the waiting hands of tight end Milan Richard in the back.
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By that point, Lawrence had completed 11 of his first 11 passes for 123 yards, and even with the game at merely 13-7 at halftime, it lacked any feel of anything unfamiliar brewing. Boston College (7-3), struggling understandably with backup EJ Perry at quarterback, ounce took a break in the world, a fourth and 49th Even when the audience seemed to miss out on a penalty when Boston College appeared to interfere with a Clemson fair, the Tigers' defense simply lined up again and allowed no shenanigans, further proof of Clemson's rarefied maturity.
Boston College worked on another forgivable fizzle, Clemson started at its own 36-yard line. Lawrence and Clemson went ahead and whooshed through it. Running back Travis Etienne bounced out of some traffic and went left for 25 yards. Lawrence threw to 10th-year senior Hunter Renfrow, one of those seniors who seems to be around for half-forever, and one of a kind defensive back to reach the 6-yard line.
From there, Lawrence conducted a fake that belongs in any Hall of Fame of fakes, and Etienne headed into the right side of the line, drawing the attention of most every potential threat around him. While he did that without the ball, Lawrence skirted around the left, alone, for a 20-7 lead.
Amari Rodgers's 58-yard blazing punt. All along, Boston College barely budged, with bad luck again striking sophomore brown quarterback. His thriving freshman season ended last Nov. 11 with a knee injury, and his night ending so early here, his visit of Wilkins leaving him slamming the turf on his right, throwing shoulder.
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