Eagles ready for clash with No. 2 Clemson
Boston College hits the big time Saturday night when it hosts second-ranked Clemson.
The game, played with the ACC’s Atlantic Division top spot on the line, has attracted ESPN’s College GameDay, coming to Chestnut Hill for the third time.
“Still remember people laughing saying ‘why BC’ when I’m committed,” tweeted BC star AJ Dillon. “Trust in the process, we aren’t done yet!”
The Eagles — ranked 17th in the AP poll — are headed for a bowl game for the fifth time in coach Steve Addazio’s six years running the program. They are coming off wins over Miami and Virginia Tech, the latter on the road last week. They have won three straight ACC games for the second straight season.
Still, despite a 7-2 record and a 4-1 mark in the conference, the Eagles are 17 1/2-point underdogs to undefeated Clemson.
“I expect the atmosphere here will be sensational,” Addazio told his regular Monday media session. “We are expecting a full stadium and a crowd that will be in their seats early, and creating a great home-field advantage, which I’m sure it will be.”
Dillon, who missed 2 1/2 games with an ankle sprain earlier this season, left Saturday’s win after running for 96 yards with an undisclosed injury. Monday, asked for an update, Addazio said, “Not really. Not really.”
He added: “I saw him yesterday and was bouncing around, a good smile on his face. He’s dinged up. It is what it is. It is not going to significantly change one way or another. The question then becomes how well can he handle that, but I would assume with these kind of injuries, you’re not going to feel exactly the way you should feel until you get to a bowl game and have a few weeks.
“So I think this is ongoing, and certainly a fair question will be does it feel good enough by game time to play on it? We will have to see each day with that.”
As far as this game, Addazio said, “We are going to play and go after Clemson with everything we have. We are going to play with great courage and on the attack. That’s a mandate. We are going to play very aggressive, very hard and we are going to let it all hang out. We are not going to worry about anything.”
With Dillon hurting, Travis Levy ran for a career-high 75 yards and scored his first two college rushing touchdowns in the win at Virginia Tech.
Anthony Brown overcame a dreadful first half to lead BC to a powerful third quarter that led to only the third win in 33 tries under Addazio that a BC team rallied from a halftime deficit. The loss was the first in 21 games for Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente when his teams led at the break.
Brown finished 15-of-26 for 177 yards and a touchdown and now faces a defense that has 32 sacks in its nine wins.
