Coming off a thrilling road win over Virginia on Friday night, Duke is back in Durham this week to host a red-hot Boston College team in a pivotal contest.
The Blue Devils are 5-2 and looking to gain bowl eligibility this week with an insanely difficult schedule ahead over the final four weeks of the season.
After this week, Duke has back-to-back road games at NC State and Miami, hosts Clemson, and then finishes on the road at Wake Forest. With three of the final four games on the road, this may be the easiest remaining game for Manny Diaz and company. And it's anything but easy.
After a rocky start, Bill O'Brien has righted the ship in Chestnut Hill. The Eagles have earned back-to-back wins over Pitt and Georgia Tech to move to 4-3 overall. The same Yellow Jackets team that knocked off Duke in Atlanta, Boston College rolled by 27 points last week on the road.
The transitive property means very little in sports, but I say that just to say: this is a quality football team that is fully capable of walking into Wallace Wade Stadium this afternoon and knocking off Duke.
The Blue Devils will have to play well to avoid an upset.
Betting odds for Duke vs. Boston College in Week 9
Odds courtesy of FanDuel as of 6am ET on Saturday.
Spread: Duke -7.5
Over/Under: 48.5
Moneyline: Duke -265/Boston College +215
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
Final Prediction:
Prior to Walker Eget's injury last week, Duke's offense was humming against Virginia. Eget looked calm and comfortable in the pocket and even hit a deep throw down the field. That opened things up for Sheppard, who busted a 32-yard touchdown on the same drive.
Things went south after Eget left the game, but he returned for the second half to help lead the Blue Devils to a win. Assuming he's fully healthy heading into this one, I think Duke's offense will get back to rolling as it did for the opening drive last week in Charlottesville.
If Duke can strike the balance with the aerial attack, then Sheppard should find seams against a Boston College defense that is giving up 165 yards per game on the ground this year, a mark that ranks 89th nationally.
This will be a competitive, four-quarter affair like pretty much every ACC game Duke has played so far, but give me the Blue Devils in a close one:
Pick: Duke 27, Boston College 21
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