Clemson notes: Wanted: Red zone punch

CLEMSON - Recurring offensive sputterings in the red zone figure to leave Clemson coach Dabo Swinney seeing red if they aren't soon rectified.

The Tigers settled for field goals in all four trips inside Boston College's 20-yard line Saturday. That was good enough to salt away a 25-7 victory against the Eagles' hapless offense, but it's a potentially costly problem in a close contest.

Through three games, Clemson has posted one touchdown in nine red-zone trips - although one of those came when the Tigers were burning off the final seconds against Middle Tennessee.

Nonetheless, the ratio of seven field goals to one touchdown is hardly what Swinney pictured when he made improving the power running game an offseason priority.

"It's going to take some touchdowns," Swinney said. "At some point we're going to have to convert to win a high scoring game."

None of Clemson's five offensive touchdowns has come on the ground, and Swinney said there have been a number of breakdowns when the Tigers have incorporated gap-running schemes, both from the point of attack and the backside.

For example, Clemson faced a first-and-goal from the Boston College 8, but a missed assignment by a tight end led to C.J. Spiller's 6-yard loss, ultimately stalling the drive.

"It's called we're making critical errors, and we have to coach better, bottom line," Swinney said. "It's not what the opponent's doing, it's what we're doing. The good news is we can fix that."

That said. The Tigers gained 202 yards on 47 carries, their most prolific rushing performance in four years against Boston College.

"They've been very difficult to run the ball on, so I'm proud we were able to do it with them knowing we were going to run the ball and running into a bunch of pressures," Swinney said.

No quarantine needed. Senior reserve offensive lineman Jamarcus Grant did not attend the Boston College game because of what a school official described as a 102-degree fever.

Yet with numerous teams scrambling to contain swine flu outbreaks, Swinney said he did not think Grant had contracted swine flu.

"He's going to be back with us (Monday) morning," Swinney said.

Extra points. Swinney said the most important thing he saw from Clemson's defense was "we tackled better and we shut down the run, which is what you've got to do against any opponent." ... The dominance of defensive ends Da'Quan Bowers and Ricky Sapp was supported by Clemson's statistical breakdown of the game film. Bowers and Sapp shared the honors for second-most tackles with six, an uncommon distinction for linemen. Senior linebacker Kavell Conner topped the Tigers with 10 tackles. ... The Tigers forced the Eagles to 13 three-and-outs, and by Swinney's count, trimmed their number of "big plays" allowed to three - compared to 10 at Georgia Tech.