Duke snaps losing streak with season-ending win over Miami
A trying and difficult football season ended on a positive note Saturday night for Duke.
The Blue Devils scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to wipe out a Miami lead and held on to defeat the Hurricanes 27-17 in ACC play at Wallace Wade Stadium
The win snapped Duke’s five-game losing streak, allowing them to finish 5-7 overall, 3-5 in league play.
The Blue Devils hadn’t won since defeating Georgia Tech 41-23 on Oct. 12.
Miami (6-6, 4-4) was in position to hand Duke yet another loss until the Blue Devils offense found its stride in the season’s final quarter.
Following a short Miami punt, Duke took possession at the Hurricanes 40 trailing 17-13. Deon Jackson’s 11-yard run on second down moved Duke to the 23 and Quentin Harris fired an 18-yard pass to Jalon Calhoun giving Duke the ball at the Miami 5.
One play later, Jackson ran two yards up the middle giving Duke a 20-17 lead with 9:37 to play.
Duke’s defense forced a three-and-out and Harris fired a 49-yard touchdown pass to Calhoun with 6:55 to play extending Duke’s lead to 10 points.
It was the first time since Duke’s 20-17 loss at North Carolina on Oct. 26 that the Blue Devils’ offense had scored two touchdowns in one quarter.
FIRST DOWN
Duke’s defense played one of its finest games of the season, allowing Miami to gain just 259 yards of total offense Sophomore defensive end Chris Rumph paced Duke’s defense by recording 3.5 sacks, forcing a fumble on one. Just one week earlier, in a 39-27 loss at Wake Forest, the Blue Devils allowed 618 total yards.
TOUCHDOWN
Duke wide receiver Jalon Calhoun’s 49-yard touchdown reception from Quentin Harris was the freshman’s first scoring catch since Sept. 14. Calhoun had three touchdowns over the season’s first three games then went eight games without one until Saturday night.
OFFSIDES
Trailing 14-13 at halftime, Duke surrendered three sacks in the third quarter as its offense managed to lose a net of six yards in the period. In addition to absorbing the sacks, Harris threw five incomplete passes on five attempts in the quarter. Harris also lost a fumble on one of the sacks.
ICYMI
As Duke was scoring 14 unanswered fourth-quarter points to rally past the Hurricanes, Boston College and Michigan State posted their sixth wins of the season to both become bowl eligible. If there hadn’t been 78 bowl eligible teams to fill out the 39 bowl pairings, Duke would have been selected if a 5-7 team was needed based on its Academic Progress Rate score. But Boston College and Michigan State made all that talk ... academic.
KEY NUMBERS
9: Sacks recorded by Duke against Miami, a single-game high for the Blue Devils this season. Duke’s previous high this season was six sacks in a 41-18 win at Middle Tennessee State back on Sept. 14.
27: Duke turnovers this season, the most it has committed in a single season since turning it over 28 times in 2010.
71: Yardage on a third-quarter punt, in a driving rainstorm, by Duke’s Austin Parker. It’s his second punt exceeding 70 yards. He booted one covering 72 yards on Nov. 16 in a loss to Syracuse.
This story was originally published November 30, 2019 at 7:17 PM.