Clemson’s best path Saturday is humility. The film says the Tigers can win with structure—efficient early downs, clean pockets, and a defense that squeezes the run. The trap is assuming that structure will appear on its own. Boston College lives in the gray areas that turn “should win” into four-quarter stress: tempo shifts, red-zone grit, and hidden yards. Clemson has seen this movie before—think 2016 Pitt, 2017 Syracuse, 2021 NC State—when a few situational cracks became the whole story.
1) Situational Football: Third Downs, Red Zone, and Pace
The quickest way to invite an upset is to extend the opponent’s drives and settle for threes.