Duke football: Self-inflicted wounds cost Blue Devils in embarrassing loss

Boston College handed the Duke football team an embarrassing loss in its home opener.

Despite the loss last week against Notre Dame, any positive feelings regarding the Duke Blue Devils are now out the window as David Cutcliffe’s team was handed an embarrassing loss by Boston College on Saturday.

Duke didn’t have any energy coming out of the locker room, and the lack of fans cannot be used as an excuse considering the lack of a draw the Blue Devils are.

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A three-and-out from Chase Brice and the offense gave way to a 10-play, 81-yard drive from the Eagles to open the scoring, and yet another three-and-out from Duke set the tone for the remainder of the game.

However, the Blue Devil defense tried to give its offense a spark thanks to an interception from Mark Gilbert in his second game back in over a year and a half, and the Blue Devils did take advantage thanks to a 49-yard touchdown rush from Mataeo Durant.

Duke was unable to tie the game thanks to a missed extra point attempt, and the tone was set for the remainder of the afternoon.

The defense tried to keep the Blue Devils in it for as long as they could, but three red-zone turnovers, two within the Boston College 5-yard line, proved to be too much for Duke to overcome as the Eagles opened things up late in the third quarter.

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Chase Brice was 23-of-42 for 217 yards with two interceptions and a fumble while the rushing attack for the Blue Devils was somewhat serviceable as Durant racked up 59 yards on five rushes in addition to the touchdown, and Deon Jackson took 15 carries for 74 yards.

In the first start of his college career, former Notre Dame backup quarterback Phil Jurkovec threw for 300 yards with just 17 completions and two touchdowns for Boston College.

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In what was scheduled to be a bye week, Duke will now travel to Charlottesville to face the Virginia Cavaliers, who will be playing their first game of the season.