Nate Sheppard Leads Duke to Blowout Win Over Boston College

Nate Sheppard, have a game. 

The Duke running back ran like it was personal on Saturday afternoon in Durham, helping lead the Blue Devils to a big 47-2 win over Boston College. Sheppard finished the game with 97 rushing yards on 20 attempts and found the end zone five times in the win. 

He and Duke's offense also got some help from their defense, too. 

Duke's defense held Boston College to virtually 0 points in the game as the only score that the Eagles had was a defensive two-point conversion. Other than that, Duke's defense did it's job and more, making a statement in the home win. 

From the start, Duke dominated in this game.

Sheppard scored his first two touchdowns of the game in the first quarter, getting in from one yard out, and then on the next Duke possession, he found the end zone from two yards out. A defensive two-point conversion made it 13-2, but Boston College couldn't do much more. 

Sheppard added his third rushing touchdown on a 54-yard rush in the second quarter to extend the lead. Then Walker Eget got his touchdown pass, hitting tight end Jeremiah Hasley for a five-yard touchdown.

That capped off the scoring in the first half as Duke led 27-2 at the break. 

Duke continued to pour it on in the second half. Sheppard had two more rushing touchdowns in the third quarter, finding the end zone from four and two yards out to keep Duke ahead by multiple scores. They capped off their scoring with a 41-yard field goal and a 24-yard field goal by Strange in the fourth quarter. 

For Sheppard, he set the new Duke single-game record for rushing touchdowns and the all-time single-season rushing touchdown record as well in his historic performance.

Overall, Duke's defense and offense dominated in this game. The offense racked up a total of 386 yards, while the defense held Boston College to just 215 total yards. 

The win moves Duke to 6-2 overall and 3-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. They are now bowl eligible again under Manny Diaz this season. Duke will now travel down the road to Raleigh for a matchup against NC State next week, a Wolfpack program that moved on from head coach Dave Doeren after last week's loss.