FROM THE TIGER FAN SHOP: Click HERE for more in-season DEALS on officially-licensed CLEMSON apparel and gear!

CLEMSON -- Trevor Lawrence watched a Clemson football game by himself Saturday.

Even had the Tigers won easily it'd probably have been hard.

This?

It might've driven Lawrence to take up drinking alone.

Join Tigerillustrated.com subscribers on The West Zone message board!

Two years ago a short-handed Clemson team had to fight like mad to escape Syracuse in Death Valley. After that game Dabo Swinney called it one of the most important victories he'd ever been a part of because his team grew up that day.

ALSO SEE: Clemson's verbal commitments | Tigerillustrated.com's wild and wacky In-game Thread (47,000+ views)

That team went on to win it all.

Who knows how this game, Clemson 34 and Boston College 28, will ultimately be remembered.

All we know right now is that this program can still bring its own guts when it has to.

And mercy does it have to given the absence of so many important players, most notably COVID-16 but also Tyler Davis, Jamie Skalski and Mike Jones Jr.

This program is so used to being able to name its score. So it's a shock to the senses to see the Tigers not only in a struggle, but down 18 points in a struggle.

So many parts of this game were a mess. So many bounces and calls seemed to go the other way at one point that you felt it just wasn't going to happen.

A week before the big showdown in South Bend, this team was going down.

At home.

To unranked Boston College.

But the mark of a champion isn't shown just when a full-strength team hangs 60 on a poor, outmatched team from the ACC.

The mark isn't shown just against Ohio State in December, or Alabama in January.

The foundation is also built on a refusal to give in when you're far from your best and everything is going against you.

Occasionally, even during a dynastic run, you must survive and advance. There was ample reason to believe that about this game going in.

There was every reason to believe it once the ball was kicked off.

In the first half they couldn't keep Boston College from throwing over the top of them.

In the second half they couldn't line up right for a two-point conversion, or keep from burning a timeout for an extra point, or from missing the same extra point, or from targeting a BC quarterback to nullify an interception, or from a backup quarterback coming on cold and making a throw to convert a fourth down late.

But they moved the ball and scored when it mattered. And the defense tightened up and made the stops when it mattered, which was the entire second half.

And of course Travis Etienne was, well, himself. He carried it 20 times for 84 yards and caught seven balls for 140 yards and a score.

Here might be the best way to put it: The Tigers hung on by the skin of their teeth, but they still showed some impressive teeth.

D.J. Uiagalelei was the story of the game as he came on for Lawrence and threw for 342 yards and two touchdowns on a 30-of-41 clip.

Uiagalelei is still banged up enough that the coaches aren't comfortable running him a lot, and that's a big deal given how much of a weapon he is with his legs and that 250-pound body.

Tony Elliott and Swinney swallowed hard in the third quarter and picked some spots for Uiagalelei to run, and it helped open up the offense.

A 30-yard scoring run by the freshman cut it to 28-20 with 11:38 left in the third quarter.

The offense came right back with a seven-play, 64-yard drive capped with a rifled 8-yard, back-shoulder touchdown throw to Amari Rodgers.

When Etienne ran through a mile-wide hole for a 17-yard touchdown to cap a 10-play, 91-yard drive with 11:34 left in the game, it felt like Clemson was about to run away with it.

The Tigers didn't run away with it. And some events thereafter probably made plenty of fans want to use their masks to cover their eyes.

But Clemson is 7-0. Despite all that craziness, the top team in the country goes to Notre Dame knowing more about its shortcomings but also knowing more about its soul.

The Tigers' heartbeat and leader was watching on television, powerless to do anything.

But the power of the Paw still stood strong.

FROM THE TIGER FAN SHOP: Click HERE for more in-season DEALS on officially-licensed CLEMSON apparel and gear!