Sloppy Duke overwhelmed by Boston College, Blue Devils fall to 0-2
Whatever positive vibes Duke took from its road loss at then-No. 10 Notre Dame in the season opener were disbanded by the end of its home opener against Boston College on Saturday. This was a total downer. The Blue Devils, undermined by five turnovers, dropped to 0-2 with a 26-6 loss to the Eagles in Wallace Wade Stadium.
Duke showed promise and fight despite losing to the Fighting Irish 27-13 in South Bend last week. But the Blue Devils will look back at the two drives that ended with fumbles inside the Eagles’ 15-yard line. And a third fumble that led to a Boston College field goal. And the missed extra point and field goal.
If there’s one thing Duke knew coming into the game, is it isn’t the kind of team that has the firepower to overcome all those mistakes.
“You have a five turnover game to one, you don’t come close to matching explosive plays,” Duke coach David Cutcliffe lamented during his postgame video conference. “We had a couple of pretty bad penalties early and then we turn it over at the most inopportune times going in and coming out. And when you do that, you’re gonna lose football games.”
Boston College (1-0) by no means dominated the entire game. After taking its opening possession 81 yards for a touchdown — thanks to a 40-yard catch and run by Zay Flowers and a fourth-and-1 conversion that kept the drive going — it didn’t score again until the third quarter.
Duke trailed just 7-6 until the third quarter when its turnovers led directly to BC points.
Duke was just trying to get a few yards after being pinned at its own 7 and facing a third and long. Brice completed a short pass that was thrown high to Damond Philyaw-Johnson. As BC cornerback Josh DeBerry was making the tackle, he simultaneously stripped the ball as the two were falling to the ground. DeBerry’s fumble recovery held up to an official review and Boston College took over at the Duke 12.
The Blue Devils held BC to a field goal and, trailing 10-6, was marched down to attempt their own. But redshirt freshman Charlie Hamm, who missed an extra point on their lone score, missed a 35-yard field goal wide right.
That’s when Boston College broke it open. In four plays the Eagles scored a touchdown, thanks to two 27-yard catches by Flowers and two catches by Hunter Long, including the touchdown grab.
“We did a poor job of finishing today, turning the ball over in key situations where we need points,” Duke quarterback Chase Brice said in his postgame video conference. “A lot of it was self inflicted, and we have to be better.”
Flowers, who had five catches for 162 yards, also caught a 61-yard touchdown to make it 23-6 when Duke either had blown coverage with no safety helping or just bad coverage by its cornerback. Either way Flowers was wide open across the middle with no defender close enough to even try to chase him down.
The Eagles had plenty of mistakes of their own in the first half. Jurkovec tried to connect on a 40-yard pass to Flowers, but this time made an ill-advised decision to throw into a double team. Duke cornerback Mark Gilbert picked it off easily, as he and safety Michael Carter never allowed Flowers a chance to make a play on the ball.
The Eagles gave the Blue Devils a gift when BC coach Jeff Hafley decided to go for it on a fourth-and-1 at the Duke 49 and Jurkovec’s pass to Pat Garwo was thrown too low to complete.
Duke needed just two plays to get into the red zone. The Blue Devils got as close as the BC 4, when running back Deon Jackson fumbled on a first down carry and defensive end Marcus Valdez recovered for the Eagles at the 3.
Duke’s offense struggled early with two three-and-out possessions. But it put together a scoring drive on its third series of the game. Mataeo Durant found a crease to the inside, broke two tackles and scored on a 49-yard touchdown run. Hamm missed the extra point wide left, leaving the Blue Devils trailing 7-6.
Originally the schedule would have allowed Duke an off week to piece things back together. But when Virginia and Virginia Tech had to postpone their game due to some Hokies testing positive for COVID-19, the Cavaliers would have been playing for the first time on Oct. 3. The ACC stepped in and moved the Blue Devils game with UVA, originally scheduled for Nov. 14, to Sept. 26.
“This is no time to punch a panic button, but you have to respond,” Cutcliffe said. “Players expect some form of response to put our offense back on track to do things that we believe in — all of us players, coaches — a belief system is critical in offensive football.”
This story was originally published September 19, 2020 at 3:06 PM.