The Blue Devils struggled mightily on offense in their first conference test of the season Saturday night in a 22-10 loss on the road to Miami at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. The loss was Duke's first of the season and dropped the Blue Devils to 4-1 (0-1 in the ACC) on the year.
Revisiting the three keys to the game:
- Improve run defense: One of the Blue Devils' biggest weaknesses throughout the first four weeks of the season came back to bite them in a big way. The Hurricanes, led by All-ACC running back Duke Johnson and freshman Joe Yearby shredded Duke on the ground, with each running back averaging more than six yards per carry. The impact of Duke’s young linebackers—true freshman Zavier Carmichael and redshirt freshman Chris Holmes—was hardly noticeable as the two recorded one tackle and three tackles, respectively.
- Involve more receivers: Although seven different receivers had a reception, the Blue Devil passing offense failed to get off the ground. The most effective receiver for the Blue Devils was true freshman running back Shaun Wilson, who had six receptions for 74 yards. Outside of a 29-yard pass to sophomore wideout Johnell Barnes, Duke was relegated to many short screen passes. The inability of Anthony Boone to connect with any of his receivers on the deep ball was one of the deciding factors in the game, as the Blue Devils totaled just 179 passing yards on 51 attempts.
- Continue to get help from special teams: Although the unit was solid throughout the game, Duke's special teams group failed to make the game-changing play we have seen it make so often. The kicking game looked strong, with Ross Martin connecting on a 33-yard field goal and Will Monday pinning the Hurricanes inside their own 20 three times in the game. However, kick returner DeVon Edwards and punt returner Jamison Crowder couldn’t muster any sort of big return to help out the offense. Crowder averaged only 2.7 yards per return, and Edwards' longest effort was only 24 yards.
Three key plays
- With Duke receiving the ball to start the second half, the Blue Devils looked to piece together a strong opening drive to grab momentum of the game. However, on a third-and-five from their own 31 yard line, the Blue Devils turned the ball over on an Issac Blakeney fumble, giving the Hurricanes great starting field position. The fumble was forced by Miami linebacker Denzel Perryman as Blakeney looked to turn up field for the first down.
- With a struggling field goal kicker and the rain coming down hard, Hurricane head coach Al Golden decided to go for it on fourth-and-17 on the Duke 28 yard line. True freshman quarterback Brad Kaaya connected with receiver Herb Waters on a perfect throw for a 28-yard touchdown that widened the Hurricanes lead to 16-7 less than five minutes into the 3rd quarter. The touchdown pass by Kaaya was preceded by a dropped interception by safety Deondre Singleton and Blakeney's fumble, which set Miami up with good field position.
- Trailing by only six points early on in the fourth quarter, the Blue Devils needed a big stop from their defense. Duke would be unable to get the job done as Yearby snuck out of the backfield and ran unattended past defensive back Bryon Fields. Kaaya noticed the true freshman wide open downfield and launched a 47-yard strike that gave the Hurricanes an insurmountable 22-10 lead.
Three key stats
- Miami dominates Duke in the trenches, rushes for 118 more yards:The Hurricanes outgained the Blue Devils on the ground 203-85. Duke’s running game had been the biggest strength of the team through the first four weeks of the regular season, but Saturday night the inability of the Blue Devils to set up the ground game was fueled by the passing game’s inability to move the ball down the field. Meanwhile, on defense, the Blue Devils left gaping holes ajar for Miami’s shifty running backs to burst right through.
- Blue Devils go 2-of-16 on third down: Duke converted on only 2 of its 16 third down attempts, with many of the passes not even coming close to finding the mark. The Blue Devils' poor results on third down were set up by very minimal gains on first and second downs, but Duke has been struggling in this department all year. Miami was not much better in moving the chains, going just 2-of-13, but the Hurricanes major fourth down conversion was a game-changing play.
- Skura and Boone mishandle three snaps: Redshirt junior center Matt Skura and Boone had three crucial mishandled snaps that added to the offensive unit's struggles. Although Boone was able to recover each of the fumbled snaps, the loss of yards on each play left the Duke offense with many long down and distance situations and stunted the team's momentum. The botched snaps were one of the defining factors of what was an uncharacteristically sloppy, inefficient performance from the Blue Devil offense.
And the Duke game ball goes to... Jeremy Cash
The Miami native made a huge statement on the primetime stage with an absolute monster defensive performance. Cash recorded ten tackles—including one for loss—and forced two fumbles on the night. Although the redshirt junior safety was briefly sidelined due to injury in the middle of the 3rd quarter, his impact on the game was enormous, and he was one of the few Duke players that was ready to play from the start of the game.
And the Miami game ball goes to... Duke Johnson
Miami’s Duke came to play after missing last year's matchup against the Blue Devils, racking up 155 rushing yards and a touchdown on 25 carries. The shifty running back caused nightmares for the Duke run defense and averaged a solid 6.2 yards per carry. Several times Johnson got close to breaking off even longer runs but shoestring tackles prevented him from taking them all the way to the house.
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