By Will Vandervort.
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Clemson defensive back Garry Peters was impressed with what he saw from the nation’s top-ranked defense last week in Louisville, but he doesn’t believe the Cardinals are the best defense he has seen this year.
“They were very impressive,” the senior said, “but in the end I still feel our defense is the best in the nation in my opinion. Louisville was very impressive, but going against Boston College this week – it will be exciting again to see another good defense and see how they match up against our defense.
“Our goal is to try to go out there on that field and be the best defense on Saturday.”
Clemson (4-2, 3-1 ACC) will need its defense to be just that, again, if it hopes to escape Chestnut Hill, Mass., with a victory today. The 22nd-ranked Tigers come to the 3:30 kick with a defense carrying the offense after budding star quarterback Deshaun Watson broke his finger last week and is expected to miss the next three games.
Without Watson, the Tigers struggled to move the ball as Louisville held Clemson to 228 total yards and no offensive touchdowns. Clemson ran for just 72 yards and were 2-for-17 on third down.
“For us it’s going to be about execution,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said. “We got to be able to run the football. We got to finish drives with points.”
That will be hard to do against an Eagles’ defense that might be just as good as Louisville. Boston College (4-2, 1-1) ranks eighth in the nation in total defense, ninth against the run and 18th in pass defense.
“These guys are typical BC as far as just big, strong, physical guys,” Swinney said. “They have Mihalik in there; he’s 6’9”. I’ve watched him the last few years. He has gotten better and better. He’s just physically grown into that frame. He is an excellent player.
“No. 87, Moore and No. 90 – I can’t really say a lot of these guys’ names, I’m not going to mess them up. But 97, 93, they are big, strong guys that do a great job at the point of attack. They play in a lot more man coverage than I’ve seen them play in years past. I think this is probably the best secondary they’ve had. Linebackers are flying around making plays. They’re not as big as they’ve been. In the past they’ve had 6’3″, 6’4″ guys at linebacker. These are more 6’1″, 6’2″ guys. But they’re just as physical, really doing a good job for them. This is an excellent group.”
Swinney’s defense isn’t too bad either. The Tigers rank sixth in the nation in total defense, 11th in run defense and 17th against the pass.
“They’re certainly one of the finer teams in the country without a doubt,” Boston College head coach Steve Addazio said. “They’re absolutely one of the best defensive teams with some real star power players. They have future NFL players with Vic Beasley, who’s also impossible to block on the edge, and Stephone Anthony, their Mike linebacker, is sensational. Their nose guard, (Grady Jarrett), is sensational. They have a bunch of really good players.”
In the last five games, Clemson’s defense is allowing just 55 yards per game on the ground. They rank second in the country in tackles for loss and third in third-down conversation defense.
“Our confidence level is so high because we feel like we can stop anyone,” Peters said. “They may get a first down and they may get a little yardage, but it is so hard for them to do that over-and-over. We try to wear them down. We try to be competitive and continue to be consistent out there and that is our main goal.”
That goal this week is shutting down Eagles’ quarterback Tyler Murphy, who leads all FBS quarterbacks with 711 rushing yards and eight touchdowns this season. Murphy has been a nightmare for opposing defensive coordinators and it will be Clemson’s job to do something no one else has been able to do – stop him and an offense that is averaging 315.7 rushing yards a game.
“Obviously, he is a feature guy and everything goes through him and through his legs,” Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. “What they have been doing, they have been doing really, really well.”
So the question is can Clemson’s self-proclaimed top defense prove it is good enough to stop it?