Duke football did exactly what it was supposed to Saturday night: take care of business.
Playing in front of an energetic crowd in a newly renovated Wallace Wade Stadium in its home opener, the Blue Devils blew past crosstown FCS opponent N.C. Central 55-0 Saturday night in the fourth installment of the Bull City Gridiron Classic. Duke outgained the Eagles 655-186 and forced N.C. Central to go 1-of-14 on third downs en route to a dominant victory against its Durham neighbors.
“A lot of things went well for us,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. “Consistency was one of them. I thought we played a lot better in the second half than the first half, which is always a good sign. We played cleaner on offense and our defense was wire-to-wire.”
Despite getting off to a shaky start on its first offensive drive that nearly ended in an interception, the Duke offense had little trouble racking up the points against the Eagle defense. Redshirt junior quarterback Thomas Sirk started the game 1-of-4, but did not seem to miss a beat after the team’s first drive, going on to throw for 315 yards and three touchdowns on the evening.
Sirk’s first strike came with 2:49 to play in the first quarter, when he found running back Shaquille Powell on a wheel route down the left sideline for a 24-yard touchdown that gave the Blue Devils (2-0) an early 7-0 lead. From there, the scoring came in bunches for Sirk and his offensive unit. Using a nice balance of rushing and passing plays, Duke began to put together a series of first half scoring drives that would break the game wide open. Most of the offense ran through Sirk, who played only three quarters before back-up Parker Boehme came in for mop-up duty with the score 48-0.
“It was definitely a confidence builder to come out and execute on offense,” Sirk said. “It’s always a challenge to open up on the road, and coming back, we were all excited to play in our first game at home.”
Sirk’s 23-yard scamper with 13 minutes to play in the second quarter and an ensuing third-down throw to tight end David Reeves helped set up his own six-yard rushing touchdown with 9:15 before halftime. Sirk went on to account for four total touchdowns, capping off a night in which he finished with a 68 percent completion rate. He also added a total of 86 yards on the ground on nine carries, accounting for 50-plus yards on the ground and through the air for the second straight game.
Although this season is his first as Duke’s starting quarterback Sirk is no stranger to the program as a redshirt junior and continues to ease into his role under center. Constantly learning and developing relationships with receivers is an important part of the process.
“Each game is a learning process for me,” he said. “[It is about] taking away from each game as much as I can, learning more about coverage and learning more about my guys and learning where they are going to be on certain plays.”
Sirk’s emerging arsenal of weapons helped him effectively pick apart the N.C. Central defense. Running back Shaun Wilson registered 57 yards on the ground and added a one-yard rush touchdown late in the first half that made the score 24-0. The Charlotte, N.C., native also showed off his elite speed, taking a screen pass from Sirk to the house from 89 yards away.
The sophomore finished with 159 total yards on the night, and the long scamper near the end of the third quarter assured his head coach that his training camp leg injury is a thing of the past.
“We try to be a fast football team,” Cutcliffe said. “We really tried to build our program around that type of thing. Shaun missed a bunch of camp. He’s just now getting in stride and getting in shape. I think he can continue to be special.”
A number of Blue Devil drives were extended by four N.C. Central offside penalties, including one on a fourth-and-one inside Duke territory. That penalty extended the scoring drive that led to the Sirk-Powell touchdown connection. The Eagles (1-1) finished the night with nine penalties that amounted to 45 yards.
As N.C. Central gave up yard after yard to the Blue Devil offense, the Duke defense clamped down on the Eagles’ offensive unit and did not allow a drive longer than 20 yards until the 4:29 mark in the third quarter. Quarterback Malcolm Bell had limited success through the air, finishing 12-of-24 for 127 yards on the night, but failed to make any notable plays through the air until late in the third quarter, when a screen pass to Khalil Stinson went for 37 yards.
N.C. Central had even less success on the ground. For the second straight week, Duke’s defensive unit held its opponent to less than 40 rushing yards, further erasing preseason questions about the Blue Devils’ front six. Duke’s defensive line had a constant presence in the Eagle backfield, whether it was pressuring Bell into errant throws or stuffing the N.C. Central run game. The Eagles finished with 54 yards on the ground.
“We’re really attacking this year,” defensive end Kyler Brown said. “As of last year we were doing a bit less of attacking on the front lines. So we’re really getting after [opponents], trying to stop them before they get to the line. It’s been working for us so far.”
Brown, Brandon Boyce and A.J. Wolf all registered 0.5 tackles for loss in the contest. Defensive end Britton Grier registered his first sack of the season late in the third quarter, icing a successful night up front for the Blue Devils.
Duke will face a much tougher test next week, when it welcomes No. 23 Northwestern to Wallace Wade Stadium at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. The Wildcats are 2-0 after a 16-6 victory against then-No. 21 Stanford in their season opener and a 41-0 win against Eastern Illinois Saturday.
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