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Of course, it’s just as easy to call these causes for concern reasons for jubilation.

“We believe that we’re best when we blend offense, defense and kicking”, Cutcliffe said. Duke will have to get creative to pierce it. Against BC they were able to create a little space, but couldn’t hold onto the ball.

Sirk was asked after the game whether the offense scoring no touchdowns was because of a lack of execution or an outstanding BC defense. Once again, though, the Blue Devils struggled to punch it in for a touchdown.

Led by veterans like Dwayne Norman at linebacker and superstar senior Jeremy Cash at safety, the group has young talent to supplement its depth all over the field. While the most favorable draw, it is about the best Duke could hope for.

Duke is now 13-5 in the ACC since the start of the 2013 season. “We are just not turning people over, even though we are playing as hard as we can play and as well as we can play”.

Duke’s offense, right now, is a problem. Sirk finally found a few success through the air on Duke’s third possession of the contest, hitting true freshman T.J. Rahming and redshirt junior Jela Duncan to put the Blue Devils in the red zone. Duke knew it was going to have a tough time against a nasty, mean-tempered Boston College defensive front – and it did. Duke Blue Devils, on the other hand, ranks No. 54 in rushing offense at home with 210.0 yards. We’ve got good coaches, we’ve got good players. After putting up 92 points in the first two games against subpar competition, the offense has managed just five touchdowns in the last three games. The first, a 25-yard run by Tyler Rouse, crossed the Eagles into plus territory by putting them on the Duke 33 yard line. If there was a concern, it was a small one – that Duke let Boston College convert three of nine third downs. Boston College was victorious last week’s performance as well, getting a close victory over Northern Illinois 17-14.

The defense can’t do everything. Blitzes by BC left receivers in man-to-man coverage, and quarterback Thomas Sirk completed four passes that went for at least 15 yards, and another 15 yards on a pass interference call moved the chains as well (BC picked up a second pass interference flag later in the second half). Moving on to the Boston College defense, there are certain areas where it measures up well against the Blue Devils.

This game is Boston College’s first road game of the season and they come in with a 3-1 record (same as the Blue Devils) and boasting one of the nation’s best statistical defenses allowing a stingy 118 yards per game on average. Sirk has completed 63 percent of his passes and his yards-per-attempt is at 7.0 the last two weeks after it hovered around 4 against Northwestern. A Will Monday punt late in the fourth that went sideways and out of bounds, giving BC the ball at midfield needing just a field goal to win, could have cost Duke the game, but the defense was there to bail the Devils out once again.

In the second half of the last three games, though, Duke has surrendered or almost surrendered leads as the offense has floundered, averaging just 2.9 yards per play (ew) and 2.9 per completion as well.