BC surrendered 500-plus yards for the second consecutive week and is still searching for its first victory since the opener against Fordham.
“It starts with me,” said BC coach Bill O’Brien. “I just told the team this. I’m the head coach. I can’t figure out how to get this team to play. I can’t get the coaching staff to coach it right. It’s on me. I’ve got to do a better job of coaching the team.”
The Tigers (3-3, 2-2) built a 10-0 edge early on a 46-yard field goal from Nolan Hauser and an 8-yard touchdown run from Adam Randall. Luca Lombardo, one of the few bright spots on the BC roster at the moment, trimmed the deficit to 10-3 through 1 with a 46-yard field goal.
Clemson extended the margin to 17-3 on a 2-yard TD trot from Peter Woods, then Turbo Richard responded with a 2-yard score for the Eagles to slice it to 17-10. Clemson scored once again on a 6-yard rush from Klubnik.
BC had a chance to trim it to seven late in the half, but the Eagles’ bad habits crept back into the picture at the wrong time. Quarterback Dylan Lonergan fumbled the ball in Clemson territory, and the Tigers capitalized with a 38-yard TD reception from Bryant Wesco Jr.
“Whenever you have turnovers, especially turnovers late in the half where you’re driving, it’s hard to overcome,” said BC wide receiver Lewis Bond.
The Eagles could have punted the ball away in the final seconds of the half; instead, they threw an incompletion on fourth and 6 from their own 43 with 12 seconds left. Hauser burned them with a 50-yard field goal to make it 34-10 at halftime.
“I tried to burn as much time,” O’Brien said. “I was going to use a timeout, try to take some time off the clock, thinking that maybe they couldn’t get it back. Really the turning point was the strip-sack, the fumble. We were going to cut the lead there to 24-17 there if we scored. It was a big swing. I could have handled that better than I did.”
Clemson scored on every drive, racked up 333 yards, and averaged 8.3 yards per play, as Boston College surrendered 31-plus points in the first half for the second consecutive week.
After a scoreless third quarter, highlighted by interceptions from KP cost and Max Tucker, Charlie Comella recovered a fumble to give the Eagles ideal field position. But, backup QB Shaker Reisig threw an interception in the end zone as BC squandered yet another opportunity.
“He’s young, he’s good,” Bond said of the freshman Reisig. “He’s going to get better with experience. It’s just getting the reps with him. He’s a good young player.”
The Eagles couldn’t convert in the second half despite chances to chip away.
“Those guys fought. They were fighting,” O’Brien said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for the guys in that locker room. Nobody quit. Everybody played hard. We had chances to score on offense. We just didn’t get it done.”
Keith Adams Jr. scored from 1 yard out with 29 seconds left to punctuate a resounding win for the Tigers.
A once-raucous crowd featured predominantly orange jerseys by that point, as the Eagles disappeared once more in front of the BC faithful. Next up is UConn at home this coming Saturday – a must-win game for a program that’s falling apart.
“They fought,” O’Brien said. “I think you can take a lot from that. These guys will fight. They’re good BC guys. They’re going to fight. They know that it’s not good right immediately, but they’re not going to quit.”
Trevor Hass can be reached at trevor.hass@globe.com. Follow him on X @TrevorHass.
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