Third and goal: Duke football vs. Virginia

Following its 38-35 comeback victory over Notre Dame, Duke returns home to face off against a 1-3 Virginia team. The Cavaliers earned their first victory of the season against Central Michigan, with their offense exploding for nearly 600 total yards of offense. As the Blue Devils look to earn their first conference victory of the season, here are three keys to the game:

Contain Virginia’s prolific offense

Although they were shut down against Connecticut two weeks ago, the Cavaliers move the ball—a lot. Junior quarterback Kurt Benkert averages almost 300 passing yards per game, and the senior running back duo of Albert Reid and Taquan Mizzell average 6.0 and 5.3 yards per carry, respectively. Duke should remember some of these faces from its loss at Virginia last year, when Mizzell torched Duke for three touchdowns. This attack will be especially difficult to stop without two-time All-ACC safety DeVon Edwards, who is out for the season after tearing his ACL and MCL last weekend against the Fighting Irish. Blue Devil safeties Alonzo Saxton II and Jordan Hayes will need to step up in his absence.

Continue to emphasize the ground game

Although the Blue Devils do most of their damage through the air via redshirt freshman quarterback Daniel Jones, those passes really open up for him when opponents are forced to respect Duke’s running game. Redshirt senior Jela Duncan will be out with an ankle injury Saturday after rushing for a career-high 121 yards on the ground against Notre Dame, so junior running back Shaun Wilson will need to fill that void to keep the offensive attack balanced.

Carry momentum over from the big win

Last weekend, Duke was able to upset a team that was ranked in the preseason top 10. That kind of win—especially for a program without co-captains Thomas Sirk and DeVon Edwards for the rest of the year—could boost the Blue Devils' confidence for the rest of the year, and the team’s ability to fight through a disappointing start to the season should resonate in the locker room. To put icing on the cake, freshman kicker A.J. Reed finally made his first field goal of the year, and it just so happened to be a game winner. Although it was shorter than an extra point at 19 yards, it was important for Reed to get that monkey off his back so the team can count on him going forward.