Tigers building trust in each other in pursuit of next goal of topping the division

Getting the experience now, while it may result in more of those penalties, Maguire says is a “good sign for later in the season.”

by Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Wed Oct 05 13:08:03 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON - Clemson is in control of its division destiny and that’s exactly where middle linebacker Keith Maguire and the Tigers want to be heading to Boston College Saturday (7:30 p.m./ABC).

Maguire said that the past two games have been two big wins, going against No. 21 Wake Forest and No. 10 NC State. They have put Clemson in a good position as they “keep working toward that ACC Championship,” said Maguire.

Losing to NC State that season is ultimately what took Clemson out of the battle for the division and the ACC Championship. Wake Forest is the reigning champion, making these past two games even more important. However, going against an unranked team in BC does not mean Clemson will take them lightly.

“Every game is just as important,” Maguire said. “As soon as you lose one, you’re not in control of your own destiny.”

Next up for Clemson is Boston College, who they narrowly beat last season 19-13. While Boston College has been dealing with some injuries, including having some former defensive linemen start as offensive linemen, they still have a number of playmakers who could give the Clemson defense some problems.

“They have a lot of good guys, a lot of veteran guys, especially at quarterback (graduate student Phil Jurkovec), and (senior) wide receiver Zay Flowers,” said Maguire.

Flowers contributed greatly to the Eagles’ win versus Louisville last week, with five receptions for 151 yards and two touchdowns. That accounted for just under half of Jurkovec’s passing yards as he had a total of 304 passing yards and three touchdowns. The rest of the receiving yards came primarily from redshirt senior Jaelen Gill, who had four receptions for 97 yards. He is actually ranked No. 38 in the country, and third in the ACC, for yards per reception with an average of 18.6 this season.

Maguire does note that when his offense performs, it definitely helps the flow of the game and takes pressure off of the defense. Clemson is currently averaging 41 points per game, as well as an average of 46 points in away games, with a small sample size of two. Still, he notes that there is always room to improve. One place where there is room for improvement is in regard to penalties.

They committed a number of penalties in two top-25 wins over the last two weeks. Through the first three games, Clemson averaged five penalties a game. Against Wake Forest, they recorded 10 penalties and had another nine against NC State. Eleven of the 19 penalties in the past two games were committed by the defense. This could be due to the amount of inexperience at some of the positions, as the Clemson defense has been dealing with injuries of their own.

Getting the experience now, while it may result in more of those penalties, Maguire says is a “good sign for later in the season.”

“We know when we're going to really need our depth – we can we know that we can rely on each other and show that what we've been doing – we can do it consistently,” Maguire said.