CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Duke took the field Saturday without its top three running backs, without its top two wide receivers and with only a slim chance of escaping the Orange Bowl Stadium with a victory over No. 9 Miami and its stifling defense.
The Hurricanes (4-1, 2-1 in the ACC) routed the Blue Devils, who were strapped by their limited options on offense, 52-7, Oct. 8 in Duke's second 45-point loss of the season. The Blue Devils (1-4, 0-3) were shut out by Virginia Tech 45-0, Sept. 10.
"Part of it was Miami was doing some good things, and part of it was we were low on folks," head coach Ted Roof said. "So we had to cut back some of [our offense], but that wasn't what lost the game for us. We got beat by a better team."
Freshman Zack Asack, who started the game at quarterback, and freshman Marcus Jones, who took four snaps under center, were both hounded by a Hurricane defense that ranked 11th in the nation in points allowed entering the contest. Miami finished the game with five sacks for a loss of 28 yards and forced the Blue Devil offense into a scheme that consisted primarily of quarterback draws.
With the exception of Ronnie Drummer's 81-yard touchdown run during the first series of the second half, the Blue Devils totaled just 47 yards of offense and earned just five first downs. Duke completed only 4-of-17 passes for eight yards during the game.
"When we did try and throw it and protected it, we didn't execute," Roof said. "At other times, we lacked protection, which obviously makes you jumpy when you have your quarterback sitting back there and getting hit. We just got to find something to continue to chip away and get better at our base stuff."
Not only could the Blue Devils not move the ball on offense, but after the first quarter, the Duke defense had no answers for a Hurricane team that corrected its early season throwing woes-Miami was averaging just 207 passing yards before the game, but threw for 302 yards in the blowout.
Although the Blue Devils' defensive line failed to record a sack against an offensive line that has struggled at times this season-Miami allowed nine sacks in its season opener against Florida State-the unit hurried Wright for much of the first quarter.
Wright threw two incomplete passes as the Hurricanes went three-and-out in their first series. And in its next defensive possession, Duke kept the Hurricanes out of the end zone again as a Miami receiver tipped a Wright pass, and sophomore Chris Davis intercepted it at the five-yard line for his first of two picks on the afternoon.
"I didn't like the rhythm early," Miami head coach Larry Coker said. "We were in kind of disarray early. There were some people open, and we weren't connecting. After we got into the flow there was a lot more rhythm in the passing game."
In the second quarter, the Hurricanes' offensive line gave Wright more time to operate, and he responded by hitting his targets to break the game wide open. After completing 5-of-14 passes in the first quarter, Wright connected on 9-of-12 second-quarter attempts for 149 yards.
"We had guys, one, two, three guys in the area, and we just didn't make plays," Davis said.
Miami scored three touchdowns in the period-all on drives that lasted less than one minute-as the Hurricanes took an insurmountable 31-0 halftime lead.
"I don't think we got away from blitzing," Roof said. "What happened was they started keeping more people in and protecting. When they protected the quarterback, it gave their receivers more time to get open."
By the midway point of the third quarter, Coker had replaced most of his starters, but Miami kept picking up yards and points while the Blue Devils continued to struggle to move the ball.
"We're not going to change our offenses every week just to try and find something because you don't get better like that," Roof said. "We believe what we believe, and I certainly think as we get some players healthy we'll expand."
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