Duke Secures Bowl Eligibility with Win at Boston College

CHESTNUT HILL, MASS. – Duke held off Boston College on Friday night, 38-31, to become bowl eligible with its sixth win of the season.

Now at 6-3 overall and 3-2 in ACC play, the Blue Devils are bowl eligible for the first time since 2018 when it defeated Temple in the Walk-On’s Independence Bowl.

Duke’s rushing attack led the way as the Blue Devils finished with 232 yards on the ground with four rushing scores. Sophomore quarterback Riley Leonard accumulated 96 yards on 13 carries with one touchdown and completed 16-of-24 pass attempts for 158 yards with a scoring toss to redshirt freshman Sahmir Hagans.

Redshirt senior linebacker Shaka Heyward paced the Blue Devil defense with 11 tackles, including one sack, for his third double digit tackle performance of the year.

How It Happened

– The Blue Devils started the scoring by driving 90 yards in six plays for the game’s first touchdown three minutes into the contest. Leonard finished off the drive with a 60-yard touchdown jaunt for his second scoring rush of 60-plus yards this year.
– The Eagles responded to tie the game when Emmett Morehead connected with Zay Flowers on a two-yard touchdown reception.
– Duke answered with 17-straight to pull back in front at 24-7 with a little over four minutes remaining in the half. Jordan Waters and Hagans both found the end zone during the stretch.
– Just before halftime, Boston College scored one final time to cut into the lead at 24-14.
The two teams exchanged touchdowns in the third quarter, before the Blue Devils punched in their fifth touchdown of the game to kick off the fourth quarter, extending their advantage to 38-21.
– The Eagles continued to battle back, scoring on a 26-yard touchdown reception by Joseph Griffin and a 34-yard field goal but the deficit proved to be too much.

Notables

– The Blue Devils rushed for 232 yards on 41 carries, marking the sixth time this season they earned 200-plus rushing yards in a game.
– Leonard recorded one passing and one rushing touchdown, marking the fifth time this season the Fairhope, Ala., native achieved the feat.
– Waters recorded 11 rushes for 51 yards with one score and now has eight rushing touchdowns on the season and 11 for his career.
– Sophomore running back Jaquez Moore finished with 82 yards on a team-high 15 rushes with two touchdowns for the first multi-touchdown game of his career.
– The defensive unit limited the Eagles to 75 rushing yards, marking the fifth time this season the Blue Devil have held an opponent to under 100 yards rushing.
Redshirt junior DeWayne Carter collected five tackles, including two sacks, marking his first multi-sack game since recording 1.5 sacks against North Carolina in 2021.
– The Blue Devils finished with five sacks in the game.
Rookie Todd Pelino converted on a career-long 39-yard field goal and all six of his PAT attempts.

Up Next

The Blue Devils welcome Virginia Tech on Saturday, Nov. 12 for a noon kickoff on RSN at Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium.
The Hokies host Georgia Tech on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Lane Stadium. The game will be broadcast on RSN.

Duke’s bowl destination will not be released until Sunday, Dec. 4th, but fans can log onto GoDuke.com/FootballTix and pre-select the bowls that they would like to attend. Once Duke has accepted a specific bowl invitation, the credit card on file will automatically be charged for those tickets. Fans that request tickets by 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3rd will receive priority seating within the Duke allotment at our selected bowl game.

Fans can also call the Duke Athletics Ticket Office (Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.) at (919) 681-BLUE (2583).