Duke football player of the week: Week 5

Joe Giles-Harris

Statline: 12 total tackles, 5 solo tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 pass breakup

The good: In a game that was ugly on both sides of the ball for Duke, Joe Giles-Harris was one of the few bright spots for the Blue Devils. The redshirt freshman linebacker was all over the field Saturday, making tackles that helped prevent the Cavaliers’ offense from breaking the game open. Duke was unable to come up with big plays defensively, forcing just one Virginia turnover, but Giles-Harris helped slow down the Cavaliers' run game, which rushed for just 80 yards on 36 attempts.

Giles-Harris’ play of the game came in the first quarter on the first play of Virginia’s second drive. Giles-Harris broke away from his blocker and found himself alone in the backfield with Cavalier running back Taquan Mizzell, whom he tackled for a loss of two yards to set up a second-and-12 that eventually resulted in a three-and-out for the Duke defense.

The bad: Giles-Harris and the Blue Devil defense were unable to stop Virginia’s offense when it mattered, allowing several explosive plays that kept the Cavaliers in control. Duke's secondary was hurt multiple times by long passes from junior quarterback Kurt Benkert, who completed passes to 11 different receivers. Although the Blue Devils gained 430 yards, their defense gave up 416 yards to the Cavaliers and allowed them to extend drives and convert on third down 11 times.

The bottom line: Although quarterback Daniel Jones threw five interceptions and fumbled the ball once in the end zone Saturday, Joe Giles-Harris and the rest of Duke's defensive unit kept the game close until the end, allowing only 16 first downs. The Blue Devils picked up three sacks Saturday to bring their season total to 20, and their front seven have proven to be some of the only consistent performers on the team so far.

Honorable mention: With Jela Duncan sidelined due to an ankle injury, redshirt junior running back Joseph Ajeigbe was given some opportunities to run the ball against Virginia, averaging 3.9 yards on his seven carries and finding the end zone for the first time of his career. He ran for 12 yards on a second-and-10 on his first carry of the game in the first quarter, starting a drive that ended with Jones' first interception. Ajeigbe showed some potential to be explosive, though he was a secondary option to junior Shaun Wilson in the run game Saturday.