Duke had little trouble dispatching of a red-hot Boston College team on Saturday, rolling to a 47-2 win over the Eagles to improve to 6-2 on the season and gain bowl eligibility.
There's very little negative to take away from this game from a Blue Devils' perspective. Duke was dominant on both sides of the ball from the opening snap, removing any pregame anxiety by the early second quarter when Nate Sheppard busted a 54-yard touchdown run to move the score to 20-2.
It was a critical win for Duke with a difficult schedule on tap. The Blue Devils play three of their final four games on the road.
Here are the winners and losers from Duke's 45-point win:
Winners
Nate Sheppard
What better place to start than the Heisman Trophy-contending RB who now leads the nation in total touchdowns? Sheppard ran for 97 yards on 20 attempts and punched in a school-record five touchdowns on the ground. It brought his total up to 18 total touchdowns on the season, which is already a school record at Duke, and we're only eight games into the season.
It has been a special season for the sophomore RB, who has exceeded the high expectations he entered the season with following a prolific freshman campaign in Durham.
If Sheppard remains in Durham for another season, he's going to end up one of the all-time greats in Duke football history.
Jeremiah Hasley
Hasley entered the week questionable and was far from 100%. He re-aggravated his injury on the first play of the game, but the senior leader is a total warrior. He came back in and made a huge difference both as a blocker and as a receiver.
Hasley has sacrificed a lot this season with Duke transitioning to more of a power run team than the prolific air attack they had a year ago with Darian Mensah.
But Hasley had his moment against Boston College, leading Duke with 55 yards on three catches and scoring his first touchdown of the season on a pass from Walker Eget:
Jeremiah Hasley scores his first of the year! pic.twitter.com/9GhwFsDX6I
— Duke Football (@DukeFOOTBALL) October 31, 2026
Jonathan Patke
The biggest reason Duke has remained near the top of the ACC this year, despite losing Mensah, isn't Sheppard's brilliance, though that has obviously played a big role.
It's the massive step forward Duke has taken defensively. After the dominant performance against Boston College, the Blue Devils now rank 22nd in the country in yards per play allowed. That's a 99-spot improvement from last year's No. 121 ranking in the same metric.
Against BC, Duke's defense pitched a shutout. The only points the Eagles mustered were on the blocked extra point returned for two. Duke held Boston College to 213 total yards - just 160 before a long garbage-time drive - and racked up five sacks and nine tackles for loss, and held BC to 2-of-13 on third down and 0-of-4 on fourth down.
It was a dominant display, and a tip of the cap to DC Jonathan Patke is well warranted.
Bradley Gompers
Duke's defensive front dominated Boston College, and Bradley Gompers led the charge.
He finished with 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack.
It has been a breakout season for the sophomore, who is now up to four sacks on the year.
The line of scrimmage
When you get down to it, football is a simple game. Typically, the team that controls the line of scrimmage on offense and defense is the team that wins the game. That was certainly the case on Saturday.
Duke's defense terrorized BC's Mason McKenzie and only allowed 78 rushing yards.
On the other side, Duke racked up 149 rushing yards and protected QB Walker Eget, who wasn't sacked a single time.
It's hard to ask for much better on either side.
Loser
Ashton Zamani
This is nitpicking, but for the purpose of this column, somebody has to end up here. The only thing that went wrong for Duke in this game was the botched hold in the first quarter that led to BC blocking the extra point after a Sheppard touchdown and returning it for two points.
It was a good snap. Zamani just dropped it, and Gavin Strange kicked the ball while it was laying flat on the ground. It was a Charlie Brown moment:
Really cool of Duke to do the Charlie Brown kick in honor of Halloween pic.twitter.com/6m2dy7oppP
— JMann_ (@JMannsTakes) October 31, 2026
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