Making the Grade: Duke football vs Pittsburgh

The Blue Devils dropped their third straight game Saturday afternoon, falling to Pittsburgh 31-13 after an abysmal second-half performance. Despite heading into halftime tied at 10, Duke struggled in the final 30 minutes and dropped its final home game of the season. With the loss, the Blue Devils fell to  3-3 in the ACC and will simply look to finish the season strong against Virginia and Wake Forest. 

Offense: C

Pass: Hours before the game, the Blue Devils announced that starting quarterback Thomas Sirk was inactive for the game after sustaining an upper-body injury against North Carolina. In his place, Parker Boehme—who has played much of the year as a goal-line quarterback, pounding the ball in the red zone for several rushing touchdowns this season—got his first career start. For an inexperienced quarterback, Boehme met expectations. The redshirt sophomore made several big passing plays, including a 52-yard completion to Anthony Nash that brought Duke to the Panthers’ 1-yard line. Although Boehme threw for 248 yards and completed passes to nine different receivers, the Pittsburgh defense held the Blue Devil offense to just 88 yards in the second half. 

Rush: Besides for Boehme’s breakaway 77-yard run in the first half, Duke’s dependable rushing attack struggled mightily Saturday. Running backs Shaquille Powell and Jela Duncan collectively totaled 35 yards on just 10 attempts. Although Boehme totaled 80 yards on the ground, he was unable to keep the defense honest by generating the same threat throwing on the run as Sirk. 

X’s and O’s: Offensive coordinator Scottie Montgomery surprisingly challenged Boehme to throw the football early and often in his first career start and the backup performed admirably. The most puzzling decision of the afternoon was Montgomery's decision to run the ball only 22 times. Although the running game wasn't tremendously effective for the Blue Devils, the team has thrived all season on the ground and seemed to turn away from their strengths too quickly. 

Defense: B-

Pass: The Blue Devil secondary kept star receiver Tyler Boyd in check for most of the afternoon, but Pittsburgh quarterback Nate Peterman tied a career-high mark with three passing touchdowns. Peterman finished 13-of-23 for 180 yards on the afternoon and was able to hit three different options for his touchdown passes. The strong Duke secondary has been off the mark in recent weeks despite getting solid performances from senior Jeremy Cash. 

Rush: The Panthers’ running game had their way with the Blue Devil defense and outran their season average by nearly 100 yards. Running back Qadree Ollison carried the ball 26 times for 111 yards and a touchdown. But Pittsburgh kept the Duke defense on edge by handing the ball to Boyd, who finished with eight carries for 79 yards. The Panthers inserted freshman safety Jordan Whitehead, who had an interception in the fourth quarter, at running back and he also contributed 38 yards on the ground in the victory. Pittsburgh averaged 4.6 yards per carry and used their ground game to win the time of possession battle 39:45 to 20:15.