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CLEMSON -- Dabo Swinney said he was as excited about this matchup as any other this season.
Boston College's old-school offensive ways brought back memories of Swinney's time at Alabama when 13-10 scores were the norm.
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This was going to be some throwback football, and Swinney loved it.
He just conveniently left out the fact that Clemson's offense is entirely 2019 and entirely terrifying when it's on its game.
The Tigers jumped all over the Eagles with their spread and their speed and their pace in a 59-7 trouncing, amassing 674 yards total.
After spending all week hearing criticism that it had "a bad half" at Louisville, Clemson's offense responded with basically perfection over the first 30 minutes under the Death Valley lights.
Trevor Lawrence made sure the highlight shows wouldn't have any bad throws to put on repeat, giving them instead a tapestry of exceptional passes and superb overall operation of the offense.
Travis Etienne ran in a ferocious and determined manner, and the offensive braintrust again spread the ball around to the plethora of weapons outside.
Bottom line, this was a bit of a message sent by the offense in particular and the team in general that they can completely take apart an overmatched opponent.
Clemson extended its winning streak to 23 games while improving to 8-0 on the season and 5-0 in the ACC. The Tigers won their 20th straight home game while dropping Boston College to 4-4 and 2-3 in the conference.
Clemson piled up 394 first-half yards while scoring five touchdowns before the half. If not for Lawrence not seeing a wide-open Tee Higgins in the end zone on the first drive, the offense probably would've scored touchdowns on all six of its first-half possessions.
On this night, a 6-yard gain felt almost like a disappointment. That's just what happens when you average 8.4 yards a play and total 36 first downs.
Clemson reached third down just four times in the first half on 41 plays and pounded for 212 rushing yards in the first 30 minutes.
Lawrence left in the third quarter and finished with 275 yards passing and three touchdowns on a 16-of-19 clip. Since throwing that second pick in the first quarter at Louisville, Lawrence is 36-of-48 through the air for 519 yards with six touchdowns and no interceptions.
Etienne finished with 109 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 16 carries while accounting for three catches for 33 yards.
Diondre Overton scored touchdowns on all three of his catches of 63, 34 and 22 yards. Justyn Ross had four catches for 60 yards, and 13 total Clemson receivers had grabs.
On the other side of the ball, Clemson's defense manned up and found a way to bottle up Boston College's grinding running game. The Eagles rushed for 97 yards on 44 carries and had 177 yards total.
The Eagles came in averaging 494 total yards a game and 278 on the ground. They finished with just 10 first downs Saturday and were 2-of-15 on third downs.
Eagles starting quarterback Dennis Grosel, the replacement for Anthony Brown after Brown blew out his knee against Louisville, completed 3 of 14 passes for 53 yards.
A.J. Dillon and David Bailey, who combined for 404 rushing yards last week against N.C. State, totaled 92 yards on 29 carries. Dillon had 76 on 19 carries, including a 9-yard touchdown run that trimmed Clemson's advantage to 17-7 early in the second quarter.
Clemson's winning streak in the ACC is now at 17 games and counting.
The only real blemish for the offense was a three-and-out on the first possession of the second half. But Logan Rudolph promptly followed by getting into the end zone himself, scooping up a Grosel fumble and racing 39 yards for a touchdown to make it 45-7.
A defensive score was the type of old-school football Swinney was talking about earlier in the week.
But Clemson's offense is firmly in the new school.
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