To this point, Boston College has played just two road games this season.
The Eagles first got a road-win at Rutgers (30-16) back on Sept. 21 and later lost a heartbreaker at Louisville on Oct. 5, 41-39. Now, perhaps the Eagles’ toughest task of the season comes Saturday when it visits Clemson’s Death Valley.
No disrespect to Louisville or Rutgers but playing at Clemson will be whole different experience for a Boston College team that is coming off a 45-24 win over NC State last week.
“Now they have to do that on the road in a really unique venue. That will be different for some of these young guys. That is just the facts,” Boston College head coach Steve Addazio said.
Death Valley will be without a doubt the most intimidating environment the Eagles (4-3, 2-2 ACC) have played in to this point in the season or maybe all year. BC does visit Notre Dame on Nov. 23, which will be a similar experience.
To this point, Clemson (7-0, 4-0 ACC) has averaged 80,655 fans for its first four home games and with it being homecoming on Saturday, officials are expecting close to another sellout. Boston College played in front of just 32,217 people at Rutgers and 46,007 at Louisville.
“You are going into an environment that is going to be right up on you and is going to be really, really loud and all of that,” Addazio said. “There is going to be a lot going on and that will be a process for them as well.
“Although Louisville had a little bit, that was not quite the same as going into Clemson. So, this is part of the journey. Offensively, this will be the first real crowd noise game we have been in this year.”
Addazio was pleased with the way his offense, and especially sophomore quarterback Dennis Grosel, handled itself at Louisville after starter Anthony Brown went down with a season-ending knee injury. However, the BC coach knows handling the crowd and the environment at Death Valley is a totally different beast and the Tigers’ No. 3 nationally ranked defense does not make it any easier.
“We handled it in Louisville, and I am not worried about (the offense), but it is a factor,” Addazio said. “You watch the tape. Teams come in there and you can see them struggle communicating a little bit. Now the good thing for us is that everything is signaled and there is not a lot of talking going on anyway, so it does not affect us quite as much.”
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