CHESTNUT HILL - Chase Rettig was good, but Tajh Boyd was simply better as the No. 17 ranked Clemson Tigers clawed apart the Boston College Eagles' defense on the way to a 45-31 win Saturday afternoon inside Alumni Stadium.
"[Clemson] has a very good football team. They certainly deserved to win," said BC coach Frank Spaziani. "[We're] disappointed, but not discouraged. We scored [31] points, and we have to do better than that on defense. We did some good things on both sides of the ball a couple times, but not enough on defense."
Rettig again topped 300 yards passing, completing 25-of-43 passes for 341 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions, but the BC (1-3, 0-2 ACC) defense was unable to contain Boyd. Boyd finished with 367 passing yards, three touchdowns and one pick. Clemson ( 4-1, 1-1 ACC) outgained Boston College, 577-420.
"I thought they did a good job playing some man coverage down the stretch," said Rettig. "I thought they did a pretty good job, and we just have to keep working. This is a situation we're going to be in a lot this year, I feel like, so we jsut have to go with that mindset into practice and make it happen on the field."
Boston College opened the scoring with on a 30-yard touchdown run from Andre Williams at 10:16 of the first quarter after the Eagles held the Tigers to a three-and-out on their opening drive. Clemson would answer with three straight scores, a 28-yard field goal from Chandler Catanzaro (7:17, first quarter) followed by a six-yard Boyd touchdown rush (3:02, first) and a 15-yard scoring pass from Boyd to Sam Cooper (14:56, second quarter).
The Eagles scored back-to-back touchdowns on Rettig's three-yard pass to Jonathan Coleman (7:49, second quarter) and a 31-yard strike from Rettig to Alex Amidon (4:12, second quarter) to re-take the lead. Clemson ended the first half with a four-yard touchdown pass from Boyd to Brandon Ford with 23 seconds left.
Two touchdowns to open the third quarter essentially put the Eagles out of reach. Roderick McDowell scored on a 16-yard rush and Andre Ellington scored on a one-yard rush to put the Tigers firmly in control, 38-21. Rettig found Amidon for another touchdown pass, this time for 42 yards at the end of the third quarter, pulling BC within ten points.
Boyd's 35-yard pass to Deandre Hokpins sealed the deal one minute into the fourth quarter. Boston College was only able to answer with a 39-yard field goal from Nate Freese with 9:18 remaining.
"We knew we had to score some points," Spaziani said. "They were tough to stop."
Amidon had another huge day, picking up 193 receiving yards on eight catches for BC. Williams rushed for 61 yards on 22 carries and Spiffy Evans grabbed four footballs for 70 yards. Deandre Hopkins had 197 receiving yards and Ellington rushed for 124 yards for Clemson.
"Those Clemson players are very good players and they've done it to a lot of people," Spaziani said. "I don't think we were too complicated. If anything we tried to make sure we were fundamentally sounds and not be too vanilla but also get our guys lined up and let recognition go. We just didn't make enough plays."
Boston College heads to neighboring New York to take on Army next Saturday.
AUDIO: Frank Spaziani | AUDIO: Chase Rettig