After Duke emerged with a perfect 4-0 record entering Friday despite struggling with explosive plays, they came back to bite the Blue Devils in a 31-6 loss to Miami at Wallace Wade Stadium. Duke surrendered seven passing plays of 25 or more yards to quarterback Malik Rosier in the loss and struggled mightily on offense.
Revisiting the three keys to the game:
- Stop Mark Walton. Duke's stellar defense held Walton to a season low 51 yards on 17 carries before he exited with an injury in the fourth quarter. The Blue Devils' defense was stout against the run, yielding 139 yards rushing, and kept the Hurricanes under 100 yards until Travis Homer broke free for a 40-yard touchdown in garbage time.
- Prevent Big Plays. Miami scored two touchdowns of 40 or more yards and had seven passing plays of 25 or more yards—Duke had no answer for Rosier's vertical passing game. Of Rosiers's 270 passing yards, 222 came on just seven completions.
- Get Daniel Jones going. Jones only passed for 166 yards, completed 51 percent of his passes, and had two turnovers on the night—not exactly up to his standards. The redshirt sophomore also had a QBR of 12.9, the worst of his career. Miami had previously struggled in the passing game, giving up 286.5 yards per game to opponents. Despite their previous struggles with containing quarterbacks, the Hurricanes gave Jones one of the worst stat lines of his career. While Miami dominated vertically, Daniel Jones completed just one of seven pass attempts of 15 or more yards, according to ESPN's Adam Rittenberg.
Three Key Plays:
- 10:24 remaining, first quarter: On their first drive, the Blue Devils gambled and tried to convert a fourth-and-1 on the Miami 13 yard line. When Jones dropped back to pass, he was sacked for a loss of 11 yards. On the ensuing drive Miami took the lead by scoring a touchdown and quickly scored another on its next possesion.
- 3:41 remaining, third quarter: Malik Rosier threw his only interception to senior Bryon Fields Jr., his third interception of the season. When the turnover occurred, the game was a two possession game, giving Duke a glimmer of hope.
- 11:02 remaining, fourth quarter: With the Hurricanes only up by 11 points and needing a score to solidify the win, Rosier stepped up and threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to receiver Ahmmon Richards, giving Miami a commanding 24-6 lead.
Three Key Stats:
- Six points in three red zone trips: Duke was able to maintain drives and win the time of possession battle, but was ineffective in turning the drives into points, settling for two field goals and turning the ball over on downs.
- 4.0 yards per pass: Jones has struggled to complete passes down field, with the long of this game being 28 yards. If the Duke is unable to spread out the defense by completing long passes, the offense will continue to be lackluster.
- 5 sacks for Miami: Miami's defense pressured Jones all night, and the offensive line could not handle Miami's front seven. Duke needs to step up in pass protection if it wants to have an effective offense.
And the Duke game ball goes to…Johnathan Lloyd
With nine receptions and 83 yards—both career highs—Lloyd was a bright spot in the bleak offensive showing. He had a long reception of 27 yards and was the only receiver to eclipse 33 yards on the day.
And the Miami game ball goes to... Malik Rosier
The passing game for Miami was unstoppable early, mainly due to Rosier's great play. The junior had 270 yards and two touchdowns on the night and completed his first nine passes.
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