Steve Addazio and the Boston College Eagles played tough. They always do. They’re well coached and full of grit.

The Eagles will ultimately always give you all they have. They play sound football, paying attention to all the little details throughout the course of the game. They personify the city of Boston and pay homage to its people with the way they play.

We, as a society, love the story of the underdog. The heroic efforts of a little guy slaying a giant and standing tall in the face of adversity. Yeah this isn’t one of those stories.

Unfortunately for the Eagles they had to face off against the Tigers of Clemson, who did what they came to do, win a ballgame and check off the second of their season goals.

It wasn’t a perfect game but my what a way this program has come. The concern used to be about just winning the game, at this point the conversation steers towards the “by how much” column.

Dabo Swinney in his post-game presser talked about his seniors and upper classmen ability to focus on the task at hand. As well as they’ve played this season you see that there is no sense of complacency amongst this team. They’re hungry and it showed in the way they performed defensively.

They dominated for four quarters, from the D-line to the secondary, they had one color on their mind and it was green for “Go”. A.J. Dillon is undisputedly one of the best running backs in all of college football, he gets high praise and rightfully so. They kept that man to 39 yards on 16 carries.

The defense played lights out and the only points scored came from a punt return. That elite defense showed up in a big way in front of the entire country. I’m sure with some of those highlights that were displayed there were some sweaty palms from players next in line to face Clemson.

The offense had some big plays against the fundamentally sound Eagles. That was bold for a reason.

Big plays sometimes happen for numerous reasons, the defense could be playing out of place, missing assignments, or just having mental busts occur.

None of those reasons were why Clemson hit some big ones. The Tigers had to earn every yard on that football field and that they did.

Trevor Lawrence had a few throws that resembled sitting on your favorite beach watching the sunset. Tee Higgins had a couple catches that left you scratching your head and asking, “How?” Amari Rodgers, week after week, shows you how vital he is to this Clemson football team. It seems he is always in striking distance.

General Lawrence and his army are in sync and there is not a more exciting thing to see than players hitting their stride.

Duke will be a well-coached football team as well. David Cutcliffe has made the Blue Devils worth paying attention to on film. I expect nothing less than these guys putting their best foot forward. But, as BC knows, sometimes your best just won’t be good enough.