The most intriguing numbers to come out of Duke’s week 10 loss to Miami:
4
The Blue Devils were snake-bit by turnovers yet again last week against the Hurricanes. For the fourth consecutive game, Sean Renfree threw an interception. In his last four games, Renfree has six interceptions, compared to the two he threw in the first five contests. This recent slide isn’t nearly as bad as last year’s dip, where Renfree threw 15 interception in a six game stretch, recording at least one pick in each of the six games.
4.8
Duke was gashed by the run against Miami, as the defense allowed 265 yards on the ground. Lamar Miller, now 14th in the nation in rushing yards, led the charge with 147 yards on 20 carries. On the season, the Blue Devils are now allowing a whopping 4.8 yards per carry to opposing teams, a full 1.5 yards more per carry than the Duke running backs are recording. This was the fourth time Duke had allowed over 200 rushing yards in a game this season.
7
The Blue Devils just couldn’t get the offense started in the first quarter. While the Hurricanes went on to mount 207 yards in drives that started in the first quarter, Duke managed only seven. Moving backwards 20 yards on three penalties surely didn’t help, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Duke offense just couldn’t move the sticks.
78%
The Hurricanes were extremely efficient on Saturday, converting seven of nine drives for touchdowns, meaning they put six points on the board 78% of the time they had the football. For comparison’s sake, Florida State, who won 41-16 against the Blue Devils, scored a touchdown on just five of their 11 drives. Stanford, who won 44-14, found the endzone on six of 11 drives.
194
The Blue Devils put together its worst passing effort of the season against Miami, as Renfree and Anthony Boone combined to throw for just 194 yards. Duke hadn’t thrown for less than 200 yards since October 23rd, 2010 against Virginia Tech, when Renfree collected just 116 yards. After four straight games with at least 300 yards through the air, Duke hasn’t managed to pass for more than 226 yards in a single game the last four times taking the field.
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