The most intriguing numbers to come out of Duke's week 7 loss to Wake Forest:
4
Duke’s defense shone once again against Wake Forest. The Blue Devils’ pass rush again abused the opponent’s offensive line, as Duke racked up four more sacks, including two from freshman linebacker David Helton. The Blue Devils have now collected 13 sacks in their last six games after not having one in the opener against Richmond.
8
Anthony Boone was coach David Cutcliffe’s preferred weapon against the Demon Deacons. The freshman quarterback had his number called eight times in the redzone last week. Boone responded with two touchdowns, but managed a meager 1.7 yards per carry on 11 rushes. Juwan Thompson’s average was 5.6 on 11 carries, while Desmond Scott’s was 4.9 on 10 totes.
14
The Blue Devils continued their success on fourth down, converting four-of-five chances. For the season, Duke is now 14-for-23 on fourth down. The 23 attempts are first among schools in college football, while 14 trails just Air Force in converted attempts (Air Force is 16/19).
15
Duke’s defense was superb all throughout the second half. The stat that is being talked about most heavily is the one total yard gained by Wake Forest in the third quarter. However, with the exception of Chris Givens’ 66 yard score, the Blue Devils allowed just 15 yards the entire second half. The Demon Deacons punted six times in seven drives and failed to register even one first down, though Givens’ reception would have been one had he been tackled before the endzone.
97.5
Sean Renfree ran out of gas late in this one. Duke’s quarterback struggled late in the fourth quarter, overthrowing receivers, then throwing the interception to Kenny Okoro to end the game. With a quarterback rating of 97.5, this marks the first time Renfree has had a quarterback rating under 100 this season. In fact, the last time Renfree’s rating was below 100 was almost a year ago from Saturday, when he posted a 61.7 rating against Virginia Tech on October 23rd of 2010. In that game, Renfree completed just 12 of 32 passes for 116 yards.
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