September 23, 2017 Week 4 · Regular Season Belt defended

Clemson defends the belt, 34–7, at home over Boston College.

Home · Defending Holder

ClemsonAP No. 2 34

Away · Challenger

Boston College 7

AP poll, week 4: Boston College unranked at Clemson No. 2 · No. 1 that week: Georgia. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

Clemson came in 257 days into reign #298, which began with a win over Alabama, with 3 defenses already behind it; this was its 4th defense. Clemson went on to defend it 2 more times before Syracuse took it on October 13, 2017, 277 days after the reign began.

For Boston College this was its 8th shot at the belt; it had never held the belt. It still hasn’t: 9 attempts in all, every one of them a loss or a tie.

It was the 2nd of 2 belt games between the two; going in, Clemson led the belt series 1–0; all-time Clemson leads 2–0.

AI-Written

Recap

Clemson dominated Boston College from start to finish, controlling the line of scrimmage and methodically building a decisive lead. After a scoreless first quarter marred by Boston College's missed 43-yard field goal attempt, Clemson struck first with Kelly Bryant's 11-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. The Tigers' defense was suffocating, with Trayvon Mullen picking off Anthony Brown late in the second quarter and Lukas Denis adding an interception in the third. Boston College managed only one touchdown, AJ Dillon's 1-yard run in the third quarter, but Clemson answered with a relentless second-half assault: Adam Choice scored from 6 yards out, then Travis Etienne broke loose for a stunning 50-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, and Bryant added two more rushing touchdowns in the final moments to seal the 34-7 victory.

Kelly Bryant's 11-yard TD run in Q2 - Clemson's first score after controlling early field position
Trayvon Mullen's interception of Anthony Brown in Q2 - defensive turnover that stalled Boston College's best offensive chance
Travis Etienne's 50-yard TD run in Q4 - broke the game open late and exemplified Clemson's dominant rushing attack
AJ Dillon's 1-yard TD run in Q3 - Boston College's only touchdown, highlighting the Tigers' defensive dominance

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

ClemsonBoston College

Total yards482238

Rushing yards34297

Passing yards140141

First downs2712

3rd down conv.8/164/16

Turnovers22

Penalties–yards2–102–20

Time of possession34:5625:04

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 10:12	Clemson	+25 yd	Kelly Bryant pass complete to Hunter Renfrow for 25 yds to the Clem 44 for a 1ST down
Q1 8:37	Boston College	+37 yd	Anthony Brown pass complete to Tommy Sweeney for 37 yds to the Clem 43 for a 1ST down
Q1 7:52	Boston College	-1 yd	Anthony Brown run for a loss of 1 yard to the Clem 39 Anthony Brown fumbled, recovered by BC Anthony Brown
Q1 0:29	Boston College	+43 yd	Colton Lichtenberg 43 yd FG MISSED
Q2 11:00	Clemson	+3 yd	Kelly Bryant run for 3 yds to the Clem 40 Kelly Bryant fumbled, forced by Lukas Denis, recovered by Clem Taylor Hearn for a 1ST down , return for 12 yds to the Clem 40 for a 1ST down
Q2 7:16	Clemson	+11 yd	Kelly Bryant run for 11 yds for a TD, (Alex Spence KICK)
Q2 7:16	Clemson	+33 yd	Alex Spence kickoff for 63 yds , Michael Walker return for 33 yds to the BC 35
Q2 1:19	Boston College	+0 yd	Anthony Brown pass intercepted Trayvon Mullen return for no gain to the Clem 21
Q3 11:11	Clemson	-6 yd	Kelly Bryant pass intercepted Lukas Denis return for 6 yds to the BC 34
Q3 10:13	Boston College	+33 yd	Anthony Brown pass complete to Jeff Smith for 33 yds to the Clem 33 for a 1ST down
Q3 6:35	Clemson	+27 yd	Will Spiers punt for 56 yds , Michael Walker returns for 27 yds to the Clem 37
Q3 3:30	Boston College	+1 yd	AJ Dillon run for 1 yd for a TD, (Colton Lichtenberg KICK)
Q3 3:30	Boston College	+26 yd	Maximilian Schulze-Geisthovel kickoff for 63 yds , Travis Etienne return for 26 yds to the Clem 28
Q4 12:05	Clemson	+23 yd	Kelly Bryant pass complete to Diondre Overton for 23 yds to the BC 6 for a 1ST down
Q4 11:59	Clemson	+6 yd	Adam Choice run for 6 yds for a TD, (Alex Spence KICK)
Q4 13:02	Clemson	+12 yd	C.J. Fuller run for 12 yds to the BC 30 C.J. Fuller fumbled, forced by Kevin Bletzer, recovered by Clem Milan Richard for a 1ST down
Q4 11:59	Clemson	+24 yd	Alex Spence kickoff for 64 yds , Michael Walker return for 24 yds to the BC 25
Q4 5:41	Clemson	+50 yd	Travis Etienne run for 50 yds for a TD, (Alex Spence KICK)
Q4 5:41	Clemson	+22 yd	Christian Groomes kickoff for 63 yds , Michael Walker return for 22 yds to the BC 24
Q4 4:26	Boston College	+56 yd	Mike Knoll punt for 53 yds , Ray-Ray McCloud returns for 56 yds to the BC 24
Q4 2:50	Clemson	+4 yd	Kelly Bryant run for 4 yds for a TD, (Alex Spence PAT MISSED)
Q4 2:22	Boston College	+0 yd	Darius Wade pass intercepted A.J. Terrell return for no gain to the BC 41
Q4 2:50	Clemson	+21 yd	Christian Groomes kickoff for 61 yds , Michael Walker return for 21 yds to the BC 25
Q4 0:52	Clemson	+10 yd	Travis Etienne run for 10 yds for a TD, (Alex Spence KICK)

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

Clemson

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Kelly Bryant	17/26	140	5.4	0	2	34.5

Boston College

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Anthony Brown	14/30	133	4.4	0	1	30.3
Darius Wade	1/2	8	4.0	0	1	0.0

Rushing

Clemson

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Travis Etienne	9	113	12.6	2	50
Kelly Bryant	22	106	4.8	2	14
Tavien Feaster	20	73	3.7	0	11
Adam Choice	6	26	4.3	1	6
C.J. Fuller	1	12	12.0	0	9
Taylor Hearn	0	12	0.0	0	12

Boston College

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
AJ Dillon	18	57	3.2	1	12
Jon Hilliman	9	33	3.7	0	14
Travis Levy	3	8	2.7	0	10
Thadd Smith	2	6	3.0	0	7
Anthony Brown	2	-7	-3.5	0	0

Receiving

Clemson

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	LONG
Hunter Renfrow	6	53	8.8	25
Deon Cain	3	25	8.3	10
Diondre Overton	1	23	23.0	23
Milan Richard	3	19	6.3	9
Cornell Powell	1	13	13.0	13
Trevion Thompson	1	9	9.0	9
Ray-Ray McCloud	2	-2	-1.0	1

Boston College

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	LONG
Jeff Smith	4	58	14.5	33
Tommy Sweeney	4	52	13.0	37
Jon Hilliman	4	24	6.0	11
Kobay White	2	11	5.5	8
Michael Walker	1	-4	-4.0	0

Show more stats (7 more categories)

Defense

Clemson

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Kendall Joseph	12	4	0	1	0	0
Tanner Muse	9	1	0	1	1	0
Tre Lamar	8	1	0	0	0	1
Trayvon Mullen	7	6	0	0	0	1
Christian Wilkins	6	1	0	0	0	1
Jalen Williams	5	3	0	0	0	0
J.D. Davis	5	1	0	0	0	0
Austin Bryant	4	2	1	2	0	3
Dorian O'Daniel	4	2	0	1	0	0
Clelin Ferrell	4	0	0	0	1	3
Ryan Carter	3	2	0	0	0	0
Isaiah Simmons	3	2	0	1	1	0
Jabril Robinson	3	0	0	0	0	1
Dexter Lawrence	3	0	0	0	0	0
Van Smith	2	1	0	0	0	0
James Skalski	2	1	0	0	0	0
Nyles Pinckney	2	1	0	0	0	0
A.J. Terrell	2	1	0	0	1	0
Albert Huggins	2	0	0	0	0	0
Shaq Smith	2	0	0	0	0	0
C.J. Fuller	1	1	0	0	0	0
Hunter Renfrow	1	1	0	0	0	0
Austin Spence	1	1	0	0	0	0
Xavier Kelly	1	1	0	0	0	0
Cornell Powell	1	0	0	0	0	0
Darien Rencher	0	0	0	0	1	0

Boston College

Player	TOT	SOLO	SACKS	TFL	PD	QB HUR
Lukas Denis	13	9	0	0	0	0
Ty Schwab	11	7	1.5	1.5	0	0
Isaac Yiadom	8	6	0	1	2	0
Harold Landry	8	3	0	1	0	0
Zach Allen	8	3	0	0	0	0
Max Richardson	7	4	0	0	0	0
John Lamot	7	0	0	0	0	0
Ray Smith	6	5	0	0	0	0
Kevin Bletzer	6	3	0.5	0.5	2	0
Will Harris	6	3	0	0	0	0
Kamrin Moore	4	2	0	0	0	0
Noa Merritt	4	0	0	0	0	0
Wyatt Ray	2	0	0	0	0	1
Mike Knoll	1	1	0	0	0	0
Taj-Amir Torres	1	1	0	0	0	0
Mike Palmer	1	1	0	0	0	0
Kevin Cohee	1	0	0	0	0	0
Jack Kenny	1	0	0	0	0	0
Mehdi El Attrach	1	0	0	0	0	0

Fumbles

Clemson

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
C.J. Fuller	1	0	0
Kelly Bryant	1	0	0

Boston College

Player	FUM	LOST	REC
Anthony Brown	1	0	0

Interceptions

Clemson

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Trayvon Mullen	1	0	0
A.J. Terrell	1	0	0

Boston College

Player	INT	YDS	TD
Isaac Yiadom	1	21	0
Lukas Denis	1	6	0

Kick Returns

Clemson

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Travis Etienne	1	26	26.0	26	0

Boston College

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Michael Walker	5	102	20.4	33	0

Kicking

Clemson

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Alex Spence	0/0	0.0	0	4/5	4

Boston College

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Colton Lichtenberg	0/1	0.0	0	1/1	1

Punt Returns

Clemson

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Ray-Ray McCloud	2	54	27.0	56	0

Boston College

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Michael Walker	3	53	17.7	27	0

Punting

Clemson

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Will Spiers	6	289	48.2	0	0	56

Boston College

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Mike Knoll	9	381	42.3	0	0	53

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 400937470) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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