DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke Blue Devils pushed their win streak to six games and upset the 23rd-ranked (BCS) Miami Hurricanes 48-30 to earn a valuable Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) win at Wallace Wade Stadium on Saturday.
Before kicking off against the Hurricanes for only the 11th time in the two team’s short-lived all-time series, the Blue Devils’ lone win against ‘the U’ came during their first-ever meeting back in 1976 in Miami.
The day was special in many ways, particularly for the team’s graduating senior class of 16 players as they finished their careers at home with a big win in front of a crowd of 30.044 that was so excited that it stormed the field to celebrate with them afterwards.
”Very special seniors – couldn’t be happier for a group of players and their families that were able to celebrate their last game in Wallace Wade,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said.
“Very grateful to the crowd, the students and their response to these seniors.”
Senior captain Ross Cockrell who finished with 5 pass break-ups, played his final game at home making many critical stops to slow Miami’s offense, and was appreciative of everything that he’s experienced while playing at Duke under Cutcliffe’s guidance.
“For me, I’m very fortunate to be here right now,” Cockrell said.
“To believe in the process Coach Cut has set out for us and to see the fruits of our labor. He knew it was going to be a tough game, which it was. Miami is an extremely talented team, and got extremely talented players.”
Quarterback Brandon Connette (5-9, 81 yards, 1 TD/11 rushes, 81 yards, 4 TD’s) became Duke’s all-time leader for rushing touchdowns (29), leading the Blue Devils to a dominating fourth quarter offensively while the defense shut out the Hurricanes to clinch the win.
“You can ask ‘em. I told them, ‘you’re gonna’ win the football game’,” Cutcliffe said.
“Then they went out and proved me right. I did feel like that. I was extremely proud of the way we played the fourth quarter. That’s a good sign.”
After the opening kickoff, it didn’t take Miami long to use some creative play-calling to get on the scoreboard first.
A handoff from quarterback Stephen Morris (30-49, 379 yards, 2 TD’s) to running back Dallas Crawford (19 rushes, 118 yards) then transferred to Stacy Coley on the reverse, and opened up space for a pitch back to Morris before he connected with Crawford on a 30-yard gain that put the Hurricanes in the red zone.
Even while being caught off-guard early, the Duke defense only gave up a field goal to Miami as it took the early 3-0 lead with 10:27 to play in the opening quarter.
After Duke starting quarterback Anthony Boone (11-15, 104 yards) couldn’t get the offense to better a three-and-out series of downs, Coley returned the ensuing punt for a 79-yard touchdown and combined with a Matt Goudis (3-3 FG) PAT, pushed the Hurricanes lead to 10-0 just 54 seconds later.
Down early but not out, the Blue Devils responded just over three minutes later as Connette came in to replace Boone and capped off a 10-play, 75-yard series with his first touchdown run to cut the Miami lead back to three points.
However, Miami scored again near the end of the quarter and carried a 17-7 lead into the second quarter.
Last week’s defensive star against NC State, DeVon Edwards (8 tackles, 3 PBU) then created a pass break-up on Miami with third-and-four to go, that resulted in Deondre Singleton (10 tackles, 1 INT) coming up with an interception with 10:34 to play in second quarter.
That turnover would pay huge dividends for Duke as few plays later Jamison Crowder (6 catches, 53 yards) made a 13-yard run that put the Blue Devils inside the 30-yard line.
From there, Connette completed the drive with a 22-yard pass to Shaquille Powell (7 catches, 59 yards, 1 TD) who scored his first receiving touchdown of the season, to bring the Blue Devils back to within three points again, trailing 17-14.
Goudis added a field goal to Miami’s total four minutes later and Duke found itself trailing 20-14 with 4:43 remaining in the half.
Boone returned to the game to run two plays before Connette came back in to lead the offense with an explosive 32-yard rush by running back Josh Snead (9 rushes, 138 yards) that put Duke into Miami territory at the 29-yard line.
Connette added a 12-yard run of his own and followed up by a nine-yard rush from Boone, the quarterback tandem put Duke on the three-yard line and threatening to score.
From there Connette tallied his second touchdown of the game and combined with a Ross Martin PAT gave the Blue Devils their first lead of the game, 21-20 with 2:01 to play.
“The mixture of me and Anthony running the ball just puts an extra stress on the defense that they were struggling to find an answer for,” Connette said.
“When they did find an answer for it, there were a couple of times when me and Anthony got tackled for two, three yards – not the regular 10 yards you were seeing with the quarterbacks – as soon as that started happening, we gave it back to the running backs and they were able to gash ‘em over and over again.”
On the Hurricanes ensuing possession, on third down and four yards to go, Morris was hurried by a rushing Kelby Brown (17 tackles), Duke’s leading tackler on the day, who forced an incomplete pass and allowed his team to carry the one-point lead into halftime.
Coming out for third quarter, Boone marched the Blue Devils down to the Miami one-yard line to allow Connette to score his third rushing touchdown of the game and extended Duke’s lead to 28-20 as Martin completed the 75-yard scoring drive.
Miami didn’t roll over as it quickly completed an efficient three-play, 78-yard drive that brought them back to within a point of the Blue Devils in just 32 seconds.
Following an unproductive Duke possession, the Hurricanes added a field goal after a defensive pass break-up by Cockrell denied a touchdown scoring opportunity.
With the conversion, Miami took the lead back, 30-28 with 5:04 remaining in the third quarter.
Soon after, a 43-yard pass from Connette to wide receiver Max McCaffrey, giving him his lone reception of the game, put Duke into Miami territory and threatening to score again.
Placekicker Ross Martin completed the drive with a 48-yard field goal and gave the Blue Devils the lead back, 31-30, with 2:47 to play.
“We were okay,” Snead said.
“We never get down. The game is not won in the first quarter, the game is not won in the second quarter, and it’s not won in the third. It’s all what happens in the fourth quarter. We came out in the fourth quarter and we were strong.”
After a 35-yard punt return from Crowder, Connette started Duke’s next drive to start the fourth quarter.
Duke couldn’t move the ball farther than midfield and were forced to punt the ball and came up with favorable field placement as Will Monday’s kick dropped just in bounds on the Miami one-yard line.
However, Morris got Miami out of trouble quickly with a 37-yard pass and moved the chains towards the Duke half of the field.
Once again, the Blue Devils defense made a critical third down stop and forced the Hurricanes to punt the ball back with 12:32 to play.
On the ensuing downs, Duke running backs Snead and Jela Duncan (16 rushes, 98 yards) drove the ball to the four-yard line and set up Connette to score his fourth rushing touchdown of the game.
“We’re a predominantly passing team,” Snead said.
“But we’ve got four great running backs that can get the job done. So when they call on us, we gotta’ answer. Tonight we answered.”
After Miami was forced to punt and leading 38-20, Boone found Braxton Deaver (3 catches, 30 yards) open for a 21-yard gain into Miami’s half of the field and set up the Blue Devils’ next scoring play.
From the snap at the Hurricanes’ 33-yard line, Powell scored his second touchdown of the game on the rush with a decisive North-South run that gave Duke its largest lead of the game, 45-30, with 6:50 left to play.
“They were gettin’ gassed and we just kept pounding the ball,” Snead said.
With their next possession, Miami turned the ball over after trying to convert a fourth-and-three as Cockrell and the Blue Devils defense made its final big stop of the game with under five minutes to play.
For the remainder of the game, Duke retained possession and continued to run the ball up the middle of the field until Martin kicked a 32-yard field goal to finalize the score and the victory.
“What he (Cutcliffe) told us before the game is that you gotta’ go out there and play for three-and-a-half hours,” Cockrell stated.
“That’s been the message since Virginia Tech and we’ve carried that message on.”