The Blue Devils weren’t perfect Saturday afternoon, but the defense held firm once again in crunch time to squeak out another win.
Led by another stellar defensive performance and three field goals by senior Ross Martin, Duke moved to 2-0 in ACC play for the first time since 2012 with a 9-7 win against Boston College at a rainy and windy Wallace Wade stadium. The Blue Devil offense moved the ball well for much of the first half but sputtered in the second half against one of the nation's top defenses, but made enough plays to hang on for their fourth straight Homecoming victory.
“We are just looking for the win,” quarterback Thomas Sirk said. “Any way we can get it. Our defense stepped up for us at the end and Ross did such a great job kicking field goals. He’s so consistent. You have to give him a lot of credit.”
With two of the nation’s top defenses going head-to-head, the teams combined for five punts to start the game, setting the stage for the afternoon’s low-scoring affair. But the Blue Devils (4-1, 2-0 in the ACC) were able to get into range for Martin thanks to Sirk’s hot first half on a day when the Eagles (3-2, 0-2) stuffed the Duke rushing attack. The Blue Devils managed only 33 yards on the ground in the contest.
Sirk, who had thrown three interceptions in the past two games, looked comfortable and found just enough space in a Boston College secondary that entered the game allowing only 72 passing yards per game. Sirk was not perfect—completing 50 percent of his passes and accumulating just 57 yards in the second half—but made a number of big plays in the first half to set up the three Martin field goals.
With junior wide receiver Johnell Barnes sidelined in the first half due to a targeting penalty, freshman T.J. Rahming quickly emerged as Sirk’s favorite target early in the game. The Powder Springs, Ga., native caught a 26-yard pass midway through the first quarter to set up the first Blue Devil points of the afternoon. Rahming finished the half with five catches for 75 yards, but was held without a reception after intermission.
“We knew we were going to have to spread this team out because they are so big and talented up front and their linebackers are heavy,” Sirk said. “They blitz a lot, so getting the ball down the field against the coverage that they had, we knew that was going to be part of our game plan.”
Boston College struggled on offense in the second quarter and Sirk continued to make the necessary throws to put his team in scoring position, heading to the locker room completing 10-of-18 attempts for 138 yards. He spearheaded drives of 65 and 34 yards that resulted in two more Martin kicks to give the Blue Devils a 9-0 lead at the break.
Duke looked poised to build on the lead with 13:49 to play in the third quarter when punt returner Sherman Alston muffed Will Monday’s punt inside the Eagles' 20-yard line and Barnes—back in the game on special teams duty—pounced on the loose ball for the Blue Devils. Sirk then broke off an 11-yard run to set his team up inside the five-yard line.
But the Boston College defense rose up on its biggest drive of the game, stuffing Duke on four straight plays to keep the Blue Devils out of the end zone. Defensive linemen Harold Landry and Connor Wujciak—who combined for eight tackles on the afternoon—were key parts of a front seven that caused the turnover on downs at the one-yard line.
Duke head coach David Cutcliffe credited the Eagles defense with holding Duke to 228 yards without a touchdown.
“Let’s give a great Boston College defense their due,” Cutcliffe said. “They’re going to be in every game they play because of that defense.”
Boston College rotated quarterbacks Troy Flutie and Jeff Smith in and out of the game in an attempt to generate offense, with Smith playing most of the first half, rushing for 60 yards on 11 attempts and Flutie taking the majority of the snaps in second half. Although the Boston College offensive line did a good job of containing All-American safety Jeremy Cash in the box, linebacker Dwayne Norman was all over the field for the second straight game, notching 11 tackles. Norman helped the Blue Devil defense limit the Eagles’ inside running attack, which was missing its top two backs Jon Hilliman and Myles Willis due to injury.
“We were a little bit more focused on the run,” Norman said. “We knew they had two young quarterbacks that weren’t too experienced in passing [situations], so we were more focused on the run with the big [offensive] line and good running backs.
But the Eagle offense got its spark with less than a minute to play in the third quarter, as Flutie found sophomore wide receiver Thadd Smith for a 66-yard touchdown pass that sailed over the head of cornerback Breon Borders. Borders fell trying to corral Smith, who sprinted the rest of the way into the end zone, trimming the deficit to two.
All five of Flutie's completions came in the second half after the redshirt freshman 0-of-2 to start the game. He led the Eagles on a late drive in the fourth quarter down to the Duke 27-yard line, but kicker Colton Lichtenberg missed the ensuing 45-yard field goal attempt that would have given Boston College a 10-9 lead.
The Eagles had one more opportunity to win after using their remaining two timeouts and forcing Duke to go three-and-out with just more than three minutes to play, but Flutie took a big hit from Cash on a second down scramble and had to come out of the game. Smith entered in his stead, but made an errant throw on a fourth-and-two from the Blue Devil 42-yard-line, forcing wide receiver David Dudeck to make a diving catch short of the sticks.
“When you have a guy that’s not real comfortable throwing the football, you are going to get it out of his hands in a hurry,” Cutcliffe said. “We felt like we could cover them.”
Duke will head back on the road next weekend to take on Army at noon Oct. 10.
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