Coming off of a crushing defeat to North Carolina last Thursday, the Blue Devils finished the regular season strong with a win against ACC foe Wake Forest 41-21 Saturday. Redshirt senior quarterback Anthony Boone bounced back from a trio of poor performances to help guide Duke to its second consecutive nine-win season for the first time in school history. The Blue Devils struck first—executing on special teams and maintaining the lead in the second half behind a sturdy defense—as they never trailed in the win to lock up a second-place finish in the ACC Coastal Division.
Offense: A-
Pass: Boone—after struggling mightily against Syracuse, Virginia Tech, and North Carolina—protected the ball and kept the chains moving, completing 19-of-31 passes for 275 yards and a touchdown. Most importantly, he consistently found receivers Issac Blakeney and Jamison Crowder en route to 100-yard performances for the both of them—the first time this season two Duke receivers eclipsed the century mark in the same game.
Short yardage specialist Thomas Sirk got in on the scoring action as well, tossing an 18-yard jump-pass touchdown to tight end David Reeves on a third-and-short in the red zone. The offensive line gave up two sacks but Boone managed to use his feet to work the pocket and complete more than 60 of his passes for the first time in four games.
Rush: Although Duke runners saw 45 carries on the day, the ground game took a backseat to the passing show Saturday. Boone and running back Shaun Wilson both found the end zone on short runs for the first two touchdowns of the game for Duke. Running back Shaquille Powell piled on 63 yards and Sirk was brought in to convert on a handful of short downs.
The team averaged only 3.2 yards per carry but on a day when Boone and the receivers were on point, the run game was fine being mediocre. Sirk fumbled one of his carries, but on a day when a lot was going right for Duke, lineman Casey Blaser landed on the loose ball in the end zone for a Blue Devil score. Duke’s only turnover came on a lost fumble in the third quarter by Josh Snead.
X’s & O’s: With Boone finally finding his groove, the Duke offense managed to rack up 439 yards against an out-matched Wake Forest defense. The passing game was effective at exposing the Demon Deacons’ secondary with Crowder and Blakeney running rampant. The offense played clean, disciplined football,scored a lot on a team it was expected to score on and executed the game plan.
Defense: B
Pass: Wake Forest entered the game averaging less than 170 yards per game passing but true freshman quarterback John Wolford exceeded all expectations against a tough Duke secondary. He completed 24-of-36 for 251 yards and three scores, easily the best game of his short career. However, the pass rush did get to him often, racking up four sacks. Safety Jeremy Cash picked up two of those sacks, stripping Wolford on the second to effectively end the game.
Rush: Although Duke allowed only 64 yards rushing, that was almost twice Wake Forest’s average rushing yards per game. Regardless, the Demon Deacon running backs were held to a paltry 2.7 yards per rush and failed to make any noise. To put matters into perspective, 28 of their 64 yards on the ground came on a fake punt.
X’s and O’s: The scoring settled down in the second half as the Blue Devil defense clamped down. After giving up a touchdown on the first drive of the second half, the Duke defense stepped up—stopping the Demon Deacons on two fourth downs deep in Blue Devil territory—and didn’t give up another score on the afternoon. The pass rush was consistent but the secondary failed to make plays on the ball when Wolford got a clean release, something Duke will need to address before its bowl game.
Special Teams: A
The unit shined Saturday as they executed on every play they were on the field for. Punter Will Monday—after a rough outing against the Tar Heels—was called upon to punt only twice this week averaging a healthy 41.5 yards. On his first punt, Wake Forest’s Jared Crump muffed the catch and the Duke coverage unit recovered the fumble swiftly. This set up a Shaun Wilson touchdown that put the Blue Devils up by seven.
The Blue Devils built their commanding 14-point lead with four minutes left in the first quarter when it was able to score another touchdown within a span of nine seconds thanks to a surprise onside kick from Jack Willoughby. Immediately after the Wilson touchdown, the kickoff specialist caught the Deacons completely off guard—recovering his own onside kick—and set up a quick Boone-to-Crowder 52-yard scoring strike.
Kicker Ross Martin—the Blue Devils' all-time leading scorer—hit all five extra points and added field goals from 45 and 28 yards out. DeVon Edwards started the game right for Duke by returning the opening kickoff 46 yards and gave the team great field position. Meanwhile, the coverage team allowed a big 56-yard return on its first kickoff of the game. Fortunately, they settled down, preventing any other big gains and also tacked on the recovered fumble on the muffed punt.
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