WATCH: Duke football celebrates becoming bowl eligible for first time since 2018

Duke Blue Devils (6-3, 3-2 ACC) head coach Mike Elko has orchestrated one of the biggest turnarounds in college football this season in just his first year in Durham. The Blue Devils had five wins combined during the 2020 and 2021 seasons, but after Friday night’s 38-31 win against Boston College (2-7, 1-5 ACC), Duke got their sixth win of the 2022 campaign. They are officially bowl eligible for the first time since the 2018 season.

Check it out as the Blue Devils celebrated in the locker room following the big win.

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Part 6 😏 pic.twitter.com/CwEQnjEjlm

— Duke Football (@DukeFOOTBALL) November 5, 2022

It’s been an impressive turnaround by Elko. He had to follow former Duke head coach David Cutcliffe–who did remarkable things in Durham, but the program started to slip dramatically during his final two seasons there.

There’s no question that Elko is the front-runner for ACC Coach of the Year at this point and quite frankly, it’d be surprising if he didn’t win it at the end of the year.

Duke quarterback Riley Leonard continues to impress

Duke’s dynamic dual-threat quarterback Riley Leonard was once again the man who made magic happen with the football in his hands against Boston College. In the first quarter, he faked a zone-read handoff and took off with the football for a 60-yard touchdown run to give Duke an early 7-0 lead with 12:03 left in the first quarter. Leonard knifed his way through the Boston College defense, bounced the ball to the right sideline, and scampered to the end zone untouched.

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He finished the game with 96 rushing yards and a touchdown on just 13 carries. As a passer he was efficient, completing 16 of 24 passes for 158 yards, while tossing in one touchdown and no interceptions. Leonard has flown under the radar for much of the season. The dynamic quarterback has already rushed for 577 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground this year. He’s still got three games left to add to those stats.

Duke running back Jaquez Moore had 82 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground on 15 carries. He also hauled in 36 receiving yards on three catches. The Blue Devils dominated on the ground, finishing with 232 total rushing yards. It was their sixth game of 200-plus rushing yards this year.

Boston College made the game fairly interesting late in the fourth quarter with a 34-yard field goal, cutting the Duke lead to 38-31 with 17 seconds remaining. Duke recovered, kneeled the football, and they were officially bowl eligible.

Boston College was short-handed and quarterback Phil Jurkovec did not play in the game due to a right knee injury, but freshman backup Emmett Morehead made quite the splash. He threw for 330 yards and four touchdowns in his first start. He became the first Boston College quarterback to throw for four passing touchdowns since Dennis Grosel did it in 2020.

The Blue Devils will face the Virginia Tech Hokies next on Saturday, Nov. 12. Kickoff for that one is slated for noon EST.