Boston College’s trip to Duke turned into a mess fast, and the final score said plenty: a 47-2 rout that exposed just how badly the Eagles lost control on Saturday.
The discipline issues were impossible to ignore. A week after piling up a season-high 10 penalties in a blowout win over Georgia Tech, Boston College somehow looked even sloppier against the Blue Devils.
By halftime, the Eagles had already been flagged 11 times for 94 yards, nearly matching their 109 yards of total offense in the first half. They finished with 15 penalties for 132 yards.
“It was tough, especially in the first half,” said Eagles quarterback Mason McKenzie, who finished with a season-low 87 passing yards and 24 rushing. “Felt like we kind of were getting things going finally, moving the ball well, and then it would just be 15 yards or 10 yards, and it's just things that we can't do. We just got to be more disciplined in that area, and that’s all you can really say about it.”
Duke’s offense leaned hard on Nate Sheppard, and Boston College never found an answer. The running back came in as one of the nation’s top-five players in rushing yards and touchdowns, then backed it up with a day that will stick in the program record book. Sheppard ran for five touchdowns and finished with 129 scrimmage yards on 21 touches, setting Duke’s single-game rushing touchdown record while also tying the school’s single-season rushing touchdown mark at 14.
“Just a guy like him, we got to make sure we stand our gaps, not peeking on other guys, because he will [make you pay],” safety KP Price said. “Maybe [he tries] to hit one [lane] that’s clogged up, and he’s fast enough, quick enough, to change direction and go into another one.”
The Blue Devils were just as punishing in the backfield. They sacked Boston College quarterbacks six times and finished with 11 tackles for loss, leaving the Eagles with 78 yards lost. Backup Grayson Wilson and freshman third-stringer Femi Babalola both entered in the fourth quarter, but the damage had long since been done.
Duke’s only non-Sheppard touchdown came in the second quarter, when Walker Eget hit Jeremiah Hasley on a five-yard scoring pass to push the lead to 27-2 before halftime.
Boston College’s lone points came on a strange sequence after Sheppard’s second touchdown late in the first quarter. Gavin Strange’s extra-point try was blocked after the holder fumbled the snap, and Carter Davis scooped it up and returned it for a defensive score to trim the deficit to 13-2. It was the Eagles’ only real spark of the afternoon.
Strange later added two field goals in the fourth quarter, from 41 and 24 yards, to close out the 47-2 final.
“It was just, it was a bad day,” O’Brien said. “It was a bad day for everybody, and we just have to regroup and start getting ready for Florida State tomorrow."
Asked why his team didn’t look ready, O’Brien didn’t have a clean answer.
“I don't know, I didn't do a good enough job,” O’Brien said. “I did not do a good enough job of getting them prepared to play."
Boston College returns home to face Florida State in Chestnut Hill, Mass., next Saturday at 12:00 p.m. ET.
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