Nate Sheppard sets single-season Duke TD record with historic performance vs. Boston College

Get this man to New York.

Duke sophomore RB Nate Sheppard is in the midst of a historic season for the Blue Devils. That continued on Saturday as the Blue Devils routed Boston College to garner bowl eligibility.

Sheppard entered the week as the leader among all Power Four players in all-purpose yards per game. He finished the game as the leader in the FBS in total touchdowns.

In the third quarter, Sheppard punched in his fifth rushing touchdown of the day to push Duke's lead over Boston College to 41-2. It was a record-setting touchdown in multiple facets.

It's the first five-rushing-touchdown performance in Duke program history. He's now up to 14 rushing touchdowns on the year, which ties the single-season program record.

It also moved him up to 18 total touchdowns on the season, which is a new school record in Durham:

Nate Sheppard made another Heisman Trophy statement against Boston College

After punching in his fifth touchdown, Sheppard had to let the world know where his head was at by striking the Heisman pose:

That's not the first time he's done that this year.

If Sheppard were having this kind of season at any other school, he would be one of the leading candidates in the Heisman race. Instead, he entered this weekend's matchup with the 20th-highest odds, per FanDuel.

I'd expect him to shoot up the boards after today's performance, even if it will largely be ignored because of the competition he was facing.

It should be noted, however, that Boston College came into this game with significant momentum. They had won back-to-back games over Pitt and Georgia Tech and looked like a different team than we had seen in September.

Sheppard and Duke didn't care about that a bit. They dominated from the opening whistle. About the only thing that went wrong for the Blue Devils today was a botched snap on an extra point that allowed Boston College to block it and return it for two points in the first half.

Otherwise, it was a flawless performance. And it was keyed by more Sheppard brilliance.

This was just the eighth game for him in 2026. He's got at least four more to go in the regular season, and then Duke will have a bowl game to play, too. He's going to put single-season Duke records so far out of reach that the only player capable of catching them might be Sheppard next season as a junior.

He's been a joy to watch this season, and he continues to deserve more flowers nationally than he's getting.

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