Boston College Football

The Boston College Eagles' stud running back Andre Williams was a long shot for the Heisman Trophy coming into Week 14, but after a nine-rush, 29-yard, one-touchdown performance against the Syracuse Orange on Saturday, Williams' chances are gone. That's not the stat line he'd hoped for, and the Eagles lost a heartbreaker 34-31.

What's even worse, the senior left the game in the third quarter with an apparent injury and never returned.

The injury didn't look terribly serious as Williams jogged off the field into the locker room, but no official word has been released on the severity.

Williams came into the game as the nation's leading rusher with 2,073 yards. He has also scored 17 touchdowns this season. Though he has put up amazing statistics, his team's mediocre record is perhaps the biggest impediment Williams faces for serious consideration.

Boston College is just 7-5 and 4-4 in the ACC. When a star player plays on a team like that, he needs to have a season that is far and away better than any of his closest competitors. 

Williams hasn't done that. He does have a 324-yard edge on the Washington Huskies' Bishop Sankey in the race for the nation's rushing title, but the latter put up a 200-yard performance on Friday against Washington State in the Apple Cup.

That is the kind of game that could have helped Williams stand out.

Players like Jameis Winston of Florida State, A.J. McCarron of Alabama and even Arizona's running back Ka'Deem Carey are at least comparable statistically, and their teams are more highly regarded.

With such stiff competition surrounding him, Williams needed to finish the season with a big game. Obviously, he didn't do that. The six-foot, 227-pound senior is a load and obviously has a future at the next level. 

His season isn't over. He still has a bowl game and senior all-star games to look forward to in an effort to boost his stock for the NFL draft. That'll have to do because the Heisman dream is dead.

Leading the nation with 2,073 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns through 11 games, Boston College senior running back Andre Williams has emerged as a top contender for the Heisman Trophy.

While collegiate stardom does not always lead to professional success, NFL scouts should certainly be taking notice of Williams’ breakout senior season. Williams has already surpassed his rushing total from his first three seasons at BC (1,562 yards in 31 games), and he has rushed for a whopping 897 yards and six touchdowns in his last three games alone.

To an extent, that production speaks for itself. Throughout his senior season, Williams has shown that he can be a workhorse back and consistently gain yards on a heavy workload. For an NFL team looking for a physical, between-the-tackles runner who can reliably handle a heavy load of carries throughout a game and season, Williams could be the right fit.

Duplicating that production at the next level, however, will be a tougher task. Williams has the size (6’0", 227 lbs.) and the strength to hold up against bigger, stronger NFL defenders. Whether he has the speed and open-field running ability to break long runs against NFL defenses, however, is more questionable.

How Williams Could Fit In an NFL Offense

NFL teams should know what they are getting in Williams. Whether it be on first or second downs or in short-yardage or goal-line situations, Williams is a strong back who consistently fights for, and often gets, extra yards.

He is a true downhill, north-south runner, a description that carries with it both positive and negative connotations.

To tackle Williams, a defender needs proper technique and positioning. He frequently runs through arm tackles and low tackles, as he takes on contact authoritatively and has both the upper- and lower-body strength to run through contact without losing speed.

The above example from Boston College’s game earlier this year versus Clemson (video courtesy of ACC Digital Network) shows Williams running strongly through contact. First, he does a great job of lowering his shoulder to run straight through Clemson safety Robert Smith’s low tackle attempt approximately five yards upfield.

Then, he finished the run by brushing through an arm tackle and past a pack of three defenders before being brought down after a 17-yard gain.

Williams isn’t exactly Earl Campbell as a power back, so you shouldn’t expect him to bowl over NFL defenders like that very often, but one of his best traits is that he consistently finishes forward through tackles.

Once he gets going in the open field, he almost always drives through tackles as he goes to the ground, falling forward to gain an additional 1-3 yards through contact rather than being driven back. That is an important trait for a between-the-tackles runner to have, especially in situations where converting first downs are crucial and driving forward can be the difference between a conversion or a failure.

While it is great that Williams seeks out contact and is strong through it, he has to be because he rarely makes defenders miss in the open field.

While he does a solid job of making cuts into holes at the line of scrimmage, his open-field moves are limited. He can sometimes power through defenders as demonstrated above, or buy time with a stiff-arm, but he is not going to juke out NFL defenders laterally.

Though his lack of lateral agility is a limiting factor, it does not necessarily show up in his game frequently because he plays to his strengths. Bigger concerns as far as his projected success at the next level are his speed and his ability to contribute to the passing offense.

Williams has reportedly been clocked at 4.39 seconds in the 40-yard dash, according to Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated, but it will be a surprise if he actually runs that speed at the NFL Scouting Combine, as it does not show up on tape. He does not consistently show that he can run away from defenders and beat defenses with his speed.

Nonetheless, he displays decent acceleration in the open field, and most importantly, because of his style of play, he has shown that he can maintain his speed and acceleration through contact. There are many successful between-the-tackles runners in the NFL whose 40-yard dash times are closer to 4.6 or 4.7 than they are to 4.4, and if that is the case for Williams, it shouldn’t necessarily hurt his draft stock.

Williams’ limited ability to contribute on passing downs, on the other hand, is likely to hurt his draft stock.

While Williams leads the nation with 320 carries, a sign of how frequently he is on the field for BC, he has not caught a single pass in 11 games. He is often taken off the field in obvious passing situations in favor of freshman Myles Willis, who has carried the ball just 38 times this season.

He is an adequate pass protector, but he is not likely to be good enough in that capacity for an NFL team to warrant keeping him on the field over a back who can add more than Williams as a receiver. In Williams’ case, his limited open-field running ability makes him an ineffective receiving option, and it will likely keep him off the field in many passing situations at the next level.

The ideal situation for Williams in the NFL would be one where he has an immediate opportunity to compete for first- and second-down carries, but where he is paired with a complementary back who is smaller, quicker and a more skilled receiver.

Projecting How Williams Stacks Up Among NFL Backs, Draft Prospects

NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks recently compared Williams to Washington running back Alfred Morris, a second-year downhill runner who has had a fantastic start to his NFL career, rushing for 2,583 yards in his first 27 games.

Morris has more elusiveness than Williams, while Williams is slightly bigger than Morris (5’10”, 218 lbs.). But Brooks’ point is that Williams could be a similar type of back to Morris as a downhill, physical runner who does his best work between the tackles.

If Williams can have similar production to Morris to start his NFL career, the team that drafts him will be ecstatic. There are still improvements he must make to his game, however, to have the same consistency of success Morris has started his career with.

Williams' vision as a runner has room to improve, as he tends to run into his own blockers more of than he should. He also sometimes misses running lanes by seeing holes a split-second too late.

Another area of Williams’ game that could see some scrutiny is ball security. While fumbling has not been a major issue for him this year, especially considering his volume of carries, a three-fumble game against North Carolina State—even in a performance where he ran for 339 yards—was concerning.

One of those fumbles was a turnover, which are never considered to be acceptable. Another came at the end of a 65-yard run, with Williams literally being a step away from a touchdown before the ball was knocked free out of his hand by a faster defensive back, N.C. State’s Juston Burris, who caught up to him.

As you can see in the above video from Draft Breakdown, Williams caught a break on this play when his teammate, wide receiver Alex Amidon, recovered the ball in the end zone. Nonetheless, any continued fumbling issues in his final two games of the season could adversely affect his draft stock.

Another underappreciated but important skill of Morris, who was looked at as a potential fullback coming out of Florida Atlantic in 2012, is his ability to serve as a run-blocker for Washington quarterback Robert Griffin III.

This aspect of Morris’ game, which increases his value to the Washington scheme, is a developing area of Williams’ game as well. The latter has flashed the ability to be a solid run-blocker for his quarterback, such as when he sprung Eagles quarterback Chase Rettig for a 19-yard run on a 3rd-and-11 versus Virginia Tech.

Williams’ ability to run block, even if limited, increases his value to offenses who frequently use multiple running threats out of the backfield or on reverses.

Overall, if not as good as Alfred Morris, he has the skill set to at least be as good as a solid early-down rotational back, such as Stevan Ridley of the New England Patriots or BenJarvus Green-Ellis of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Williams is likely to only be as good as the offensive line in front of him. Like Ridley and Green-Ellis, he has limited speed and quickness and is not going to break many big plays, but he can run through contact, extend runs between the tackles and fall forward consistently.

Ridley was a third-round pick, Morris was a sixth-round pick and Green-Ellis was an undrafted free agent. Though Morris has certainly exceeded expectations, Williams projects to go somewhere between the range of Ridley and Morris, though he would most appropriately be valued as an early Day 3 pick.

He has the potential to be a early-down back who leads a rotation, and a very productive one at that, but he remains a limited player at a position declining in value. He could turn out to be a great value pick in the middle rounds and a perfect addition to a rotation that needs to add physicality and reliability at the position, but his limited burst, open-field quickness and receiving ability should knock him out of the early rounds.

Nonetheless, Williams projects as the No. 2 running back of the senior draft class, only behind another big, physical but more explosive runner in Ohio State’s Carlos Hyde. That class could be augmented by a number of talented underclassmen, however, including Washington’s Bishop Sankey, Baylor’s Lache Seastrunk and Arizona’s Ka’Deem Carey.

All screenshots were taken by the author with illustrations added first-hand.

Dan Hope is an NFL/NFL draft Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow @Dan_Hope

With the 2013 college football season rapidly approaching, fans are craving any and every taste of what is to come in what should be an invigorating year.  As we inch closer to the action kicking off on August 29, I'll release schedule analysis for a new ACC school every other day. For now, let's take a look at the Boston College Eagles:

Outlook

Aug. 31 - Villanova

Sept. 6 - Wake Forest

Sept. 14 - at Southern California

Sept. 21 - Open

Sept. 28 - Florida State

Oct. 5 - Army

Oct. 12 - at Clemson

Oct. 19 - Open

Oct. 26 - at North Carolina

Nov. 2 - Virginia Tech

Nov. 9 - at New Mexico State

Nov. 16 - N.C. State

Nov. 23 - at Maryland

Nov. 30 - at Syracuse

It seems like a lifetime ago when Boston College was a consistently solid program piling up bowl appearances year after year.  Now, after collecting only six wins over the last two seasons, the team is in the hands of new head coach Steve Addazio, who will attempt to steer the ship back in the right direction.

For a school that finished 2-10 just a year ago, that won't be an easy task with six road games in 2013.  The Eagles also face the burden of playing Florida State and Virginia Tech in Chestnut Hill, where the atmosphere in recent years has been far from hostile.

Chase Rettig does provide reason for optimism, though, and Alex Amidon comes back as a player with both experience and all-conference talent.  Whether or not that's enough will determine if this team is destined to be bowl-bound at season's end.

Best-Case Scenario

Boston College surpasses 2012's win total in just five games after Addazio coaches his team to wins over Villanova and Temple, just like he did last year at Temple.  In addition, Rettig serves as the glue to the offense while new faces at receiver become acclimated to game-day action.

Steele DiVitto leads a defense that brings back most of its starters, and Addazio's aggressive approach breathes some life into this team.  More importantly, leadership plays a role in the team's success, and the remaining four-year players from the 2010 class make this a tough veteran group.

Despite the seniors who step up, the lack of depth and talent prevents this group from competing for an Atlantic Division title.  However, winning games at both Maryland and Syracuse take this team a long way, and the Eagles are bowling once again with an 8-4 record.

Worst-Case Scenario

The lack of depth on this team haunts Boston College throughout the year, and with few options in the receiving corps, defenses key in on Amidon and shut down the Eagles passing game.  Because of this, Andre Williams is unable to do much on the ground, and the Eagles struggle to put up points.

Because of a 2-4 start, morale is low at the midway point of the season, and the Eagles lose motivation after a seventh loss against N.C. State that knocks them out of bowl contention.  The team limps its way to Maryland and Syracuse but can't steal a win from either one.

Three wins on the year is better than last season, but it still leaves Addazio with a disappointed fanbase.

Bottom Line

Win three of the first five, and find a way to beat your division opponents not named Florida State and Clemson.  If Boston College can do these two things, it will not only earn the team a bowl bid, but it will give this group an excellent shot at winning seven or eight games.

Winning three of the four non-conference matchups shouldn't be too difficult, and if Rettig has another 3,000-yard season, it's possible that this team could win three out of Syracuse, Maryland, N.C. State and Wake Forest.

No matter what happens, expect Boston College to be a better football team in 2013.

Also check out:

Schedule analysis for Wake Forest

Schedule analysis for NC State

Schedule analysis for Maryland

Schedule analysis for Syracuse

Follow me on Twitter at @MarkCCarroll

The second-leading running back in the NCAA, Nevada's Stefphon Jefferson, has elected to forgo his senior year and has declared himself eligible for the NFL draft.

Jefferson, a 5'11", 210-pound junior led the nation in rushing for most of the 2012 season. His production was just astonishing as he was mostly unstoppable. 

For the season, Jefferson had 375 carries for 1,883 yards and averaged 5.0 yards per carry. He scored 24 rushing TDs. His longest run was 63 yards. Jefferson averaged 144.8 yards per game. He also doubled as a receiver with 22 receptions for 170 yards and one TD.

For his career at Nevada, Jefferson had 448 carries for 2,338 yards and 30 TDs.

Despite these stats, Jefferson does not even appear on ESPN's draft page, while NFLDraftScout.com ranks him as only the sixth-best RB in the draft.

Most "experts" think he might be drafted in the later rounds or sign as a free agent.

The NFL draft experts are dead wrong, again. Jefferson is a superb RB who ran through some pretty decent defenses. Against Cal, Jefferson had 147 yards and three TDs. Against USF he ran for 135 yards. Against MWC champion San Diego State he ran for 108 yards and one TD. He torched Boise State for 139 yards and two TDs and had a huge day against Arizona rushing for 180 yards and two TDs.

Can someone explain to me how a guy who led the nation in rushing for most of the year and racked up 327 yards and five TDs against two Pac-12 teams isn't even on ESPN's draft board?

The last time the draft "experts" overlooked a Nevada player, it was a fellow by the name of Kaepernick. 

Just as the San Francisco 49ers benefited from the "experts" overlooking Kaepernick, someone in the NFL will pick up one heck of an overlooked running back in Stephon Jefferson. He definitely belongs in the early rounds. He is not a late-round-caliber player. 

Boston College has fired its head coach, Frank Spaziani, after an awful 2-10 season.

ESPN's Joe Schad reported the news:

BC confirms Frank Spaziani out

— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) November 25, 2012

The news is far from surprising. Spaziani began the season on the hot seat, and his job security has been a popular topic all year, and deservedly so.

Boston College struggled to merely be competitive this year, and that just continued a downward trend for the program since Spaziani took over head-coaching duties in 2009.

Spaziani had a strong rookie year by leading the Eagles to an 8-5 record. It has been a series of diminishing returns since.

The next season the Eagles were 7-6. They followed that up with a 4-8 effort last season and then this dismal campaign in 2012.

Considering this trend, Boston College was left with little choice but to part ways with its coach.

It is now time for the Eagles to jump head first into the coaching-search pool, and it will not be an easy job to sell. 

Boston College is at a crossroads. They can either roll the dice and lure an up-and-comer looking for his first taste of coaching major college football, or they can open up their pocketbooks and try to land a big name—and they will have to open up their pocketbooks wide. 

To land a big-name coach, the Eagles will have little to offer other than money, meaning they would have to overpay to find some star power at the head-coaching position. 

Either way, the search is on.

With just three weeks left in  the regular season, it is money making time in college football. This is a chance for teams to make a strong late push, advance in the BCS rankings and earn a berth in a high-profile and lucrative bowl game.

Here are three teams ready to make that climb.

Check out the Week 11 BCS rankings here.

No. 3 Oregon

The Ducks don't have far to climb, but jumping up just one spot will make all the difference in the world. Oregon is going to do just that and earn a trip to the national championship game.

Let's just get this out of the way first, Oregon has no shot a passing Alabama if the Crimson Tide go undefeated.

No. 2 Kansas State is a different equation. The Wildcats hold less than a .02 lead over the Ducks in the rankings, and they will not be able to hold off the Ducks should Oregon go undefeated.

The Wildcats have three games left and only one is against a ranked opponent in No. 17 Texas. Also, they do not have a conference championship game.

Meanwhile, the Ducks also have three regular-season games left and two of those are against ranked opponents. That includes No. 14 Stanford and No. 11 Oregon State. They will then have the Pac-12 title game. Oregon will run the table with these contests and they will pass Kansas State in the process.

No. 9 Louisville

Hey, Louisville is undefeated! Talk about flying under the radar. Of course, there is a good reason for this. They don't have a win over a single team that is currently ranked.

Still, an undefeated record is tough to ignore, and they have a chance to climb a few more spots and possibly sneak into a BCS bowl game in the process.

The Cardinals have two winnable games next as they play at Syracuse and then host Connecticut. Then comes their biggest test as they play at No. 23 Rutgers.

I like the more balanced Louisville in that game.

No. 14 Stanford

Stanford has three regular season games left and all are against ranked teams. Next week the Cardinal will host No. 11 Oregon State. That should be a fun game, but I like Stanford's defense and the home field advantage to carry it to victory.

Next, it will play at Oregon, and the Cardinal will get run off the field, but losing at Oregon is not going to drop them much in the polls and they will be able to more than make up for that as they end the regular season at No. 18 UCLA.

I like Stanford's defense to carry it in that one as well, and UCLA will also have to play that game a week after taking on USC.

In other words, the Bruins will be ripe for an emotional letdown after playing a game has been scheduled on their calendar all year.

It's been a forgettable season for Boston College and a semi-forgettable one for Wake Forest—and when they face each other on Saturday, there isn't a whole lot for either of them to play for.

With four games remaining in the 2012 season, including this one, we know that neither of these teams is going anywhere fast. The goal is to get through the season without enduring further unbearable embarrassment—like the kind that comes with a 2-6 overall record (BC), or the kind that comes with blowout losses to the conference's top teams (Wake Forest).

The ACC hasn't been a tough conference in 2012, to say the least, and both the Demon Deacons and the Eagles—teams that were on top of this conference not too long ago—illustrate that perfectly.

Wake has beaten the teams it is supposed to beat but has been unable to compete with decent teams. BC, for the most part, has been unable to compete with anybody due to offensive inconsistencies and a bad, bad defense.

Nevertheless, if the Eagles win on Saturday, they will at least have some company in the cellar of the Atlantic Division. That's something to play for. 

Where: Groves Stadium, Winston-Salem, N.C.

When: Saturday, Nov. 3 at 3:30 p.m. ET

Watch: GamePlan

Listen: WEEI 850 AM in Boston, WBRF 98.1 FM in Winston-Salem

Live Stream: ESPN3 

Betting Line (via OddsShark): Wake Forest -4 

Boston College Injury Report (via USAToday.com)

• RB Tahj Kimble (leg) missed last week's game and is questionable for Saturday.
• WR Colin Larmond Jr. has been suspended for two games for a violation of team rules and is questionable for Saturday.
• LB Andre Lawrence (upper body) is questionable for Saturday.
• DT Dillon Quinn (leg) is questionable for Saturday.
• FB Jake Sinkovec (foot) is questionable for Saturday.
• DT Kaleb Ramsey (leg) is questionable for Saturday.
• DB Al Louis-Jean Jr. (foot) is out indefinitely.
• TE Chris Pantale (ankle) is out indefinitely.
• G Harris Williams (foot) is out indefinitely.

Wake Forest Injury Report (via USAToday.com)

• T Devin Bolling has been suspended indefinitely.
• S Duran Lowe has been suspended indefinitely.
• G Antonio Ford (leg) is out for the season.
• WR Matt James (collarbone) is out indefinitely.
• TE Neil Basford (Achilles) is out for the season. 

BCS Implications

The jig is up: There are absolutely no BCS implications for either of these teams. The good news for the Demon Deacons is they still can be bowl eligible when the season ends if they keep winning.

Right now, Wake Forest is 4-4 with four games remaining. It has some leeway, but it can do itself a favor by winning out, or (more realistically) by winning three of its last four. It should be able to beat Boston College; NC State and Vanderbilt will be a bit trickier, but both of those games are winnable.

The big challenge will come on Nov. 17, when Wake Forest visits No. 3 Notre Dame. That game—which isn't very winnable at all—is the reason why it is essential for Wake to win its other three.

As far as BC goes, this is a team that just got its first conference victory last week. A bowl is way out of the question. If the Eagles win one of their final four games, that would be an accomplishment. 

What They're Saying

In light of its first conference victory—which came at home on Saturday, in a 20-17 triumph over Maryland—the Eagles are feeling good, as they should be. Coming off five consecutive losses and a 1-6 start to the season, that first conference win has to feel pretty good.

The game was by no means perfect—or even well-played—but BC got the job done, despite rushing for a mere eight yards (!) and fumbling twice. As Boston.com's Julian Benbow writes:

… Beating visiting Maryland Saturday, 20-17, gave the Eagles a shot of confidence after they had lost five straight. The tone in the locker room was dramatically different than it was after the most recent defeats, to Army, Florida State and Georgia Tech, and that is valuable for a 2-6 team trying to make the most of its four remaining games.

Wake Forest, meanwhile, is feeling far less confident after dropping a disappointing 42-13 home game at the hands of No. 18 Clemson. That game presented a big opportunity for the Demon Deacons: It gave them a chance to improve to two games over .500, and it would have given them a huge victory over a ranked opponent.

But it wasn't in the cards.

To add insult to injury, Clemson racked up a couple of school records against Wake last week: Quarterback Tajh Boyd threw for 428 yards and five touchdowns, while receiver Sammy Watkins finished with a record 202 yards.

Fortunately for the Demon Deacons, the offense they'll be facing on Saturday will be nowhere near as formidable as Clemson's. 

Boston College Player to Watch

The Eagles' rushing numbers were abysmal last week against Maryland, but they're also a bit deceiving.

Junior running back Andre Williams had an OK game, rushing for 60 yards on 16 carries. But BC's numbers—eight yards total—looked so bad mostly due to the fact that quarterback Chase Rettig lost 43 yards on the ground.

Obviously, it would be helpful if BC could present a balanced offensive attack—no easy feat for a team that ranks 121st in rushing yards. But Rettig also needs to get rid of the ball as quickly as possible, and Williams needs to step up and have a big game.

That isn't out of the question for him. A few weeks ago, in consecutive games against Army and Florida State, Williams finished with at least 100 yards, even racking up 191 and two scores against Army. He got 105 against that stingy FSU defense.

He can be effective on the ground, and he needs to be on Saturday. 

Wake Forest Player to Watch

Demon Deacons quarterback Tanner Price didn't have a bad game against the Tigers. He threw for 232 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. He, in fact, isn't a quarterback who throws many interceptions at all.

But he, like Rettig, got pummeled by the Tigers defense the last time out, losing a season-high 46 yards on the ground. If he can get rid of the ball, Wake Forest is generally in good shape, and he's even been on a bit of a roll over the last few weeks: He's thrown eight touchdowns in Wake's last five games, and he's only thrown two picks.

Last time out, both of his touchdowns went to Tommy Bohanon. If they can establish a rhythm again this week, this offense will be in decent shape. 

Key Storyline

The extent to which Wake Forest's defense struggled against Clemson last week cannot be overstated. The Demon Deacons allowed the Tigers to score five unanswered touchdowns before they even got on the scoreboard. Four of those touchdowns came in a 13-minute span in the second quarter.

It's hard to put up a fight when a team's down 35-7 going into halftime, and Wake didn't put up much of a fight at all. Last week's game was over midway through the second quarter, and this week, this defense needs to bounce back in a big way.

And BC's offense—which has been decent at its best, atrocious at its worst in 2012—offers the Demon Deacons a good opportunity to mount a comeback. First and foremost, this unit needs to get its confidence back, and if it can limit the Eagles on Saturday, it will re-acquire that confidence heading into an important three-game stretch to end the season. 

Prediction: Wake Forest Wins

Wake Forest may be coming off a tough loss, and its defense may have looked notably weak last week against Clemson, but BC doesn't exactly bring the most intimidating offense to the table. It can't run the ball, and forcing Chase Rettig to throw is likely to provoke mistakes.

This is the perfect game to get the Demon Deacons back on the right track to close out the season.

On the surface, a matchup pitting a former Top 10 Clemson Tigers team against the Eagles of Boston College would seem to heavily favor the team from the south. Vegas set the game spread at -11.5 which was quickly pushed down by bettors remembering Clemson's past struggles in Chestnut Hill (lost by six in a game they were favored by seven in 2010).

The chance for struggle only worsened with Thursday's announcement that star receiver Sammy Watkins won't be making the trip. 

The spread now has Clemson favored by only a touchdown. Watkins will remain in Clemson where he will nurse his stomach virus back to health. Remember that Watkins only just returned to the field two weeks ago after missing the first couple games serving out his suspension. This loss comes on the heels of the announcement that fellow wide receiver Martavis Bryant will also miss the game. 

Down two of their top four receivers, Clemson will go up against a team that will present some offensive challenges. Quarterback Chase Rettig has been solid on the season, putting up Tajh Boyd-like numbers (951 yards, six TDs and one interception). Their running game isn't much to speak of, but even with a one dimensional attack, Clemson's secondary hasn't really proved they can stop anybody. Perhaps Travis Blanks changing positions and the team focusing on tackling drills this week in practice will help. 

Because of Clemson's secondary issues, they will allow points, putting pressure on the offense to score. DeAndre Hopkins has proven he can handle being the No. 1 option in Watkins' absence. The last time Andre Ellington played BC, he went for 117 yards on 22 carries. The game temperature will be around 61 degrees, not cold enough to have much effect on Clemson. 

Though Watkins is gone for this game, (gone probably also signifying his chances at the Heisman this year), Clemson should still win this game. It will most likely be close, but Clemson's fire power remains enough to best what can only be considered, at this point, a lower-tier ACC team.