Duke and Miami are familiar Coastal Division foes, having battled each other every season since 2005.
But the circumstances for the Blue Devils entering Saturday’s matchup are far from familiar after making four straight bowl games.
Duke will look to keep its postseason hopes alive when it travels to take on the Hurricanes on the road Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Hard Rock Stadium. The Blue Devils were in good position for bowl eligibility the last three times they took on Miami, but now must do something they have not done in the past decade—win on the road against the Hurricanes.
“How do you beat a team like [Miami]? You play well,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. “To play well you prepare. You know what to do and how to do it and you know why you’re doing it. It’s just football. That’s the beauty of this game—that attention to detail and doing the small things win football games. Focus and intentional focus gives you an opportunity to play against a team as talented as Miami.”
Although the Blue Devils (4-7, 1-6 in the ACC) have prepared and played well for much of the season, small execution errors and costly mistakes have plagued a team with two three-point losses and another three losses by less than 11 points apiece. Whether it be the 14 fumbles lost or the inability to generate consistency on special teams, the season breaks down into games in which Cutcliffe's team played to its potential or faltered in key moments.
In order to replicate statement victories against Notre Dame and North Carolina—Duke had only one turnover and six penalties combined in those contests—the Blue Devils will need to slow down a potent Hurricane offense and reestablish a running game that managed just 25 yards against the Panthers.
Miami (7-4, 4-3) enters Saturday’s contest in the midst of an up-and-down season of its own that saw a 4-0 start and the Hurricanes climb as high as No. 10 in the rankings before quickly falling to 4-4 and out of the top 25. The Hurricanes, however, have surged as of late and put a three-game winning streak on the line against Duke.
The architect behind the team’s success and an offense averaging more than 34 points per game is quarterback Brad Kaaya, who was out with a concussion last season when the teams met. The junior will likely garner NFL attention following a season in which he has tossed 19 touchdowns and completed more than 61 percent of his passes.
“He reads well and can get it out quickly,” redshirt senior defensive tackle A.J. Wolf said. “He’s got the complete package as a quarterback. But at the same time, we’ve seen good quarterbacks before and we’ve seen him before, so it’s nothing we can’t handle. It’s on us to plan and prepare well when the time comes.”
Duke did well to contain another NFL prospect in Tar Heel quarterback Mitch Trubisky earlier this season, intercepting the North Carolina signal-caller twice and keeping him under 300 yards passing. Generating pressure up front led to the Blue Devils' success against Trubisky and maintaining a similar level of intensity, after a low-energy performance in a 56-14 loss against Pittsburgh, could help slow down a balanced Miami offense.
After the Blue Devils' most stagnant offensive performance of the year, which saw the team average a dismal 1.1 yards per carry on the ground and finish with only 268 yards overall, an improvement on that side of the ball is also necessary given that another 14-point effort will likely result in a loss.
“One game doesn’t discourage our running confidence,” redshirt freshman quarterback Daniel Jones said. “We know that we can run the ball and we’ve done it all season so it’s just a matter of getting back to what we’ve been doing, and I’m confident we can bounce back.”
Jones has emerged as a threat on the ground and is a central feature in the run game, with more than 471 rushing yards this season, second to junior running back Shaun Wilson. Jones’ seven rushing touchdowns also lead the team.
The Charlotte native will look to use his legs to keep a vulnerable Miami defense off balance and get the ball to sophomore wideout T.J. Rahming in space to make plays in the passing game.
Rahming was perhaps the lone offensive bright spot against Pittsburgh, continuing his breakout season with 10 catches for 116 yards. The Powder Springs, Ga., native leads the team in receptions and receiving yards and has been effective on both screen passes and short crossing routes—routes that will be crucial as Duke tries to improve on last week's 4-of-14 effort on third downs.
The Blue Devils have shown they can compete with top ACC competition when they execute—Saturday could be the team's last chance to show that potential if they cannot pull off a second upset in three weeks.
“I’m looking at this game as our ACC championship,” sophomore linebacker Ben Humphreys said. “I want to win this game for our seniors and what they’ve done for our program. I want to take them to a bowl game if we can and the only way we can do that is if we win on Saturday. I’m going to play my heart out and leave everything on the field because we don’t have anything after this if we can’t win.”
Mitchell Gladstone and Hank Tucker contributed reporting.
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