5 things to know about Boston College

Six of the seven teams in the ACC’s Atlantic Division have at least five wins; the one that doesn’t is 2-6 and hasn’t scored a touchdown in two of its last three games.

It’s a good year for Duke to have Boston College as its cross-division matchup in this last season of the ACC’s divisional scheduling format.

With Duke on a surprising track toward bowl eligibility, BC has struggled this season because of offensive struggles and a defense that’s been asked to do a lot. As of early Wednesday afternoon, Duke is a 9.5-point favorite for Friday night’s matchup in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Here are five things to know about BC ahead of Friday night’s game:

BC pieced together a 6-5 record in the COVID season of 2020, starting coach Jeff Hafley’s tenure with a 26-6 win at Duke, and the Eagles were 6-6 last season after navigating without quarterback Phil Jurkovec for the majority of the season.

Designs were there for the Eagles to be a surprise team in the ACC this season and instead, things have gone awry.

Explaining BC’s backslide starts with the offensive line. The Eagles were going to be replacing four of five starters from last season’s team until the summer, when a torn ACL suffered by Christian Mahogany meant it was a complete overhaul of the five positions. BC hasn’t stayed healthy up front during the season, either — nine players have started at least one game in eight different combinations.

Aside from a 22-21 home loss to Rutgers to open the season, all of BC’s losses have come by double digits. That includes last weekend’s 13-3 loss at Connecticut.

Duke might be facing BC’s quarterback of the future instead of BC’s three-year starter.

Jurkovec was knocked out of the game against UConn with an apparent knee injury and his status is day-to-day, according to Hafley.

In his absence, BC would turn to second-year QB Emmett Morehead, a 6-5, 228-pounder with a strong arm. Morehead completed 9 of 18 passes for 104 yards against the Huskies in about a quarter and a half.

In relation to BC’s offensive line woes, Jurkovec has struggled this season. Among ACC quarterbacks, only Brennan Armstrong (nine) has thrown more interceptions than Jurkovec’s eight — including two against UConn.

The ACC doesn’t lack for explosive receivers and Flowers might be the best of them all.

The fourth-year wide receiver from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., leads the ACC in both catches (54) and receiving yards (726). Flowers had a dynamite sophomore season in 2020, and then his production decreased last season. He’s been better than ever this year.

A change in offensive coordinators — from Frank Cignetti Jr. (now at Pitt) to John McNulty — has unlocked Flowers’ full capabilities. Schematically it’s a matter of Cignetti making Flowers an outside receiver, and McNulty lining up Flowers at different positions.

“It’s a little bit of a game of, ‘Where is he?’” Duke coach Mike Elko said. “I think they do a really good job of moving him around and moving him to a lot of different locations.

“So we’ve got to do a really good job of identifying where he is.”

BC’s defense has been solid, for the most part, this season. The backbone of that has been a run defense that makes opposing offenses one-dimensional.

In five games against ACC opponents, only one (Virginia Tech) has gone over its season average for rushing yards in a game. That means Florida State (averaging 209.6; had 180 against BC), Louisville (197; 147), Clemson (185.4; 144) and Wake Forest (136.6; 115) all fell short of their averages against the Eagles.

“They really challenge you to execute in the throw game,” Elko said. “I think they take a lot of your run lanes away. They play with really good leverage and good pad level. And it’s a group that plays exceptionally hard.”

Duke is one of two teams left on BC’s schedule with five wins this season; the other is Notre Dame.

The other two teams on the remainder of BC’s schedule are 6-2 teams; N.C. State and Syracuse.

Suffice to say what the subhead says: BC doesn’t have a “break” in its schedule until the season ends. (that break was last weekend, though UConn is more capable with Jim Mora as coach)

It’s hard to project things a year out, especially in the wake of immediate eligibility for first-time transfers and NIL, but BC’s ACC slate next season might be what the doctor — or Hafley — ordered. The Eagles play Florida State, Miami, Virginia and Virginia Tech at home, and travel to Georgia Tech, Louisville, Pittsburgh and Syracuse.