Boston, MA --

What had been a potent offense was bogged down by a stingy defense and inclement weather.

Freshman QB David Shinskie had yet to throw an interception in his young career. However, Saturday, he threw three, including a game-sealing pick six that smashed any hope of a late comeback.

Raining heavily for nearly one hour before the game, the weather never relented through the course of the entire game, and the Golden Eagles sloppiness showed in the second half.

An uneventful first quarter for both teams was only broken when the Eagles finally got within range for a 41 yard field goal courtesy of Steve Aponavicius.

In the second quarter, BC did very little until the final minute. After two Clemson field goals (one of which was set up by Shinskie's first career interception throw), BC finally woke up, and their young QB led a quick drive that culminated in a 30 yard strike to Justin Jarvis, who was able to stay ahead of double coverage on a deep slant.

Clemson's defense took over after that.

DaQuan Bowers sacked Shinskie twice in the second half, and pressured him into his second interception later in the third quarter.

Fellow freshman QB Kyle Parker was solid and effective. Making a couple mistakes, but none too devastating to overcome, Parker completed 65% of his passes for 214 yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT. However, while Shinskie's best moments came in the first half, Parker's came in the second. Rarely facing a third down, the young QB kept Clemson's offense humming just enough to win.

C.J. Spiller was solid, but unspectacular, going for over 100 yards of total offense, but scoring zero touchdowns.

In the third quarter, with a 13-10 lead, Clemson pulled out the trickery on a key fourth down. Lining up in a punt formation, the snap went directly to upback Jamie Harper. A fake handoff to another Clemson player got the defense moving one way, and 52 yards later, Harper was in the end zone. Clemson's sideline was going crazy. Boston College's sideline was stunned

On Boston College's final drive, Shinskie seemed to finally get things moving again, as he had in at the end of the first half. Using their own version of the Wildcat - dubbed the "Screaming Eagle" by head coach Seanzie Creed - BC was able to get the ball inside Clemson's 10 yard line with less than a minute to go. After one Screaming Eagle play on first down, RB Montell Harris brought the ball to the 4, only to have a holding call move the Eagles back 15 yards.

The offense never got a chance to recover, as Shisnkie threw one incomplete pass before throwing his third INT to Cam Chancellor, who returned it 94 yards for the game sealing touchdown.

The loss marks the first for Boston College this year, and immediately gives them ground to make up in the race for the ACC title. The Golden Eagles are now 2-1, 0-1 in conference play, and will take on Wake Forest, who is 1-2.

The victory for Clemson sees the squad move up one spot to #24 in the rankings, and improves the team's record to 3-0, 2-0 in conference play. Next week, they take on TCU (1-1), who is unranked in the coaches poll, but is ranked #25 in the media poll.