Blue Devils’ bowl streak ends in 4-8 season

Midway through the season, the Duke football team knew it had a lot left to do.

But the Blue Devils didn’t get done the winning they needed to achieve their goals this season. After a 40-21 loss to Miami on Saturday, any hopes of a postseason chance disappeared. They only trailed 16-14 at the half, but Miami’s 24-burst in the second half upended Duke’s hope of going to a bowl game for the fifth straight season.

Duke closed the season 4-8 and under .500 for the first time since 2012.

The good

Daniel Jones

Jones came into replace quarterback Thomas Sirk after Sirk’s season-ending Achilles injury this summer. He started off as a redshirt freshman is expected to but really grew this season, setting several rookie records. Though Sirk was granted an eligibility extension, Jones will be next year’s returning starter. The Blue Devils did a lot of work to get the young quarterback acclimated to the system. He finished with 2,836 passing yards and 16 touchdowns. He was the team’s second-leading rusher with 486 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns in that category.

The bad

Duke was riddled with injuries this season. In that, it lost many veterans on the field, including three of four team captains.

The ugly

Duke only captured one ACC victory through eight conference games. Though it was a huge upset over rival North Carolina, it was Duke’s lone win the ACC.

This story was originally published November 27, 2016 at 7:31 PM with the headline "Blue Devils’ bowl streak ends in 4-8 season."