Duke football instant reactions to Miami loss in Week 10

Murphy finished with three passing touchdowns, his fifth three-touchdown game of the year, and threw for a career-high 325 yards, but there are too many low points over the course of 60 minutes to beat teams like SMU and Miami. The Blue Devils scored all of their touchdowns between the 2:28 mark of the first quarter and the first drive of the second half. Their first three drives included two punts and an interception, and Duke scored three points with three turnovers over his final seven possessions.

The Blue Devils might have the best defense in the conference, but this style of offense puts too much pressure on it against great teams. When opponents consistently get held to 20 points per game, Duke can survive those two-quarter dry spells, but that’s not a sustainable way to stack nine-win seasons.

The glass-half-full approach to Duke’s offensive performance on Saturday is that wide receiver Sahmir Hagans finished with 139 yards on nine receptions and sophomore running back Peyton Jones had 132 yards from scrimmage.

Fifth-year receiver Eli Pancol had 138 yards and a touchdown on 11 receptions against SMU. Running back Star Thomas stacked three straight 100-yard games from Weeks 3-5 with 211 yards from scrimmage against UNC. Que’Sean Brown caught 11 passes with a touchdown against Connecticut, and tight end Nicky Dalmolin had 100 yards and two touchdowns against Middle Tennessee before he unfortunately suffered a season-ending injury in practice. The Blue Devils talked ahead of the season about their underrated receiving core, and it’s a testament to the staff’s recruiting and coaching that a different player can be the engine of the offense each week.

Rivers intercepted a cross-body throw from Miami quarterback Cam Ward in the fourth quarter, his third straight game with a pick. Despite only standing 5-foot-10, he went toe-to-toe with a physical Miami receiving core for the entire afternoon and performed admirably all day. He broke up three passes, including multiple in the red zone, and fought through a block to bring down wideout Jacolby George for a five-yard loss on a first-quarter screen. The best offense in the country needed a full four quarters of willpower to get the better of Duke’s star cornerback, and that’s a testament to Rivers’ discipline and talent.

It’s hard to not blame the defense after allowing 53 points and 526 yards of offense, but that’s just what the Hurricanes do to people. Ward entered this game with 24 passing touchdowns after averaging more than 340 passing yards per game through his first eight starts in a Miami uniform, and Rivers and company held him to 12 completions for 138 yards across his first 24 passes. A two-quarter head start was all Duke could really ask for against the best offense in the country, and three of Miami’s touchdown drives started in Blue Devils territory after turnovers. The defense put forth an admirable effort.

Jordan Moore likely won’t return to his double-digit target form this season as he nurses an injury, but he sure looked fine on Saturday. The senior made a spinning back-shoulder catch for a 27-yard gain on the first touchdown drive before an eye-popping one-handed grab in the closing seconds of the third quarter that earned the attention of social media.

Moore finished with five catches for 75 yards, his second-highest total since Week 2, and he wrestled away a one-handed touchdown grab from the SMU secondary last week. Whether he becomes a 100-yard threat or not over the final three games, he looks healthy enough for big moments again, and that’s a win for the Blue Devils.