By Will Vandervort.

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Sometimes you need a little luck and Clemson got lucky in Saturday’s 17-13 victory at Boston College.

“We were lucky,” Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables said afterwards.

The Tigers were lucky because Boston College quarterback Tyler Murphy had running back Tyler Rouse wide open down the near sideline on a wheel route that earlier worked for a 26-yard touchdown pass to Sherman Alston in the second quarter.

This one should have worked, too. But Rouse dropped the ball with 1:07 to play.

“I was rushing (the quarterback) and when I turned around I saw a guy running wide open and he dropped the ball,” Clemson defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said. “Things have not always gone our way around here, but it did tonight.

“Hey, it’s part of the game and it was just something that happens in football.”

Clemson (5-2, 4-1 ACC) was fortunate a few plays later, too. On fourth down-and-15 from the Clemson 31 after a five-yard penalty for illegal substitution, Murphy missed fired on a pass to Shakim Phillips who appeared to be running wide open down the middle of the field.

“It’s just good to be lucky,” Venables said.

Clemson deserved to be a little lucky because for the most part it was the better team. The defense held Boston College’s powerful running game, which ranked fourth in the country coming in at 315.7 yards per game, to a season-low 120 yards.

Murphy, who averaged 118.7 yards per game on the ground, was held to a season-low 55 yards as well. He had just four yards on 11 carries and was sacked five times.

“That’s two weeks in a row we have really played strong, stout defense,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said.

The Tigers held the Eagles to 263 total yards—the third straight week an opponent failed to get 265 yards of offense—and 2 of 14 on third down conversions. In the last 13 quarters, opponents are just 6 of 45 on third down against Clemson.

“That was a big win on the road and I’m proud of our team and I’m proud of our staff,” Swinney said. “That’s four wins in a row and that is two really gutsy hard-fought, character type wins these last two weeks.”

Though Clemson scored just 17 points for a second straight week, the offense played much better than it did against Louisville, especially when they needed to the most.

After Boston College took a 13-10 lead on a six-yard touchdown catch by tight end Josh Bordner with 10:59 to play, quarterback Cole Stoudt engineered an 82-yard drive that was capped by C.J. Davidson’s 32-yard touchdown with 9:35 to play.

The key play of the dive came on third down-and-10 from the Clemson 18. That’s when Stoudt found wide receiver Mike Williams up the far side for a 32-yard gain to midfield.

“It was a huge play. To know Cole had a lot of confidence in me and came to me on that play, it feels good,” Williams said. “I had to go up and make the play. It was third down. It was one of the biggest plays of the game.”

It got the Tigers rolling as well as Davidson ran for six yards on the next play and Stoudt found Williams again for 12 more yards and a first down to the 32. On the next play, Davidson found a hole off the left side of the line and he was determined not let a BC defender catch him.

“When I saw the secondary, it was just a hit-it-and-get it type of thing,” Davidson said. “I just took advantage of it and I knew the safeties were not going to beat me to the end zone. I got there and it was a special moment.”

Williams finished the game with eight catches for 128 yards, while Stoudt completed a career-high 29 of 45 passes for 285 yards. Davidson had five carries for 39 yards as the Tigers rushed for 113 overall and finished the game with 398 overall.

BC’s defense was allowing just 289.8 yards a game coming in.

The Eagles (4-3, 1-2) had a chance to win the game when Murphy scrambled for 43 yards to the Clemson 38. It was the only time the elusive quarterback made a significant run on the Clemson defense all day.

An eight-yard scramble on second down from the 37 positioned BC in a third-down-and-one situation. The Eagles tried to catch the Tigers’ napping as they ran a play-action pass and threw the ball down the middle of the field to tight end Bordner. But safety T.J. Green was in position to make the play and batted the ball away at the last second inside the Clemson five.

BC did pick up a first down on the next play, but Rouse dropped the first-down pass, two more of Murphy’s passes fell incomplete and then he missed the wide open Phillips on fourth down to allow the Tigers to escape Chestnut Hill with a victory.

“We were lucky,” Venables said. “You don’t need to remind me. I might need a therapist.”