Facing a team that has earned each of its seven wins by at least 14 points, the Blue Devils have one goal in mind entering their final regular-season game—keep the game close.
But slowing down a team that averages more than 34 points per game will be no easy task coming off a 56-14 loss at Pittsburgh.
Duke must find a way to stop Miami quarterback Brad Kaaya to have any chance of making a fifth straight bowl game. The junior signal-caller has had an up-and-down season—the Hurricanes won their first four games before dropping four in a row and have now won their last three—but appears to be playing the best football of his career at the end of the season.
A few weeks ago against Pittsburgh, Kaaya lit up the Panthers for 356 yards and four touchdowns in a 51-28 blowout win. The dangerous running back tandem of Mark Walton and Joseph Yearby averages almost six yards per carry and works with Kaaya in the backfield to make Miami that much more dangerous.
“Brad Kaaya will be playing on Sundays next year; he’s got an NFL arm and an NFL mind,” Blue Devil sophomore linebacker Ben Humphreys said. “He’s a very impressive quarterback; he can tear apart a defense. He has weapons everywhere and he has an offensive line that’s really athletic, strong and fast.”
Having a 1,000-yard rusher in Walton—who has rushed for 14 touchdowns and at least 100 yards in his last three games—has taken some pressure off Kaaya in his first season playing for rookie head coach Mark Richt.
Richt was known for preaching offensive balance at Georgia and has brought a similar mentality to Miami, which gets Walton the ball in space in a number of different ways. The sophomore has posted at least three receptions six times this season, and when he tires, Yearby is just as dangerous.
Like Walton, Yearby is not the biggest back at 5-foot-9 and about 200 pounds, but his elusiveness makes him tough to break down when defenses focus too much on Kaaya and the passing game. In his third year starting, Kaaya is approaching the 3,000-yard mark and has tossed 19 touchdowns, forcing defenses to pick their poison against the run or pass.
“He’s got great accuracy and a quick release,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. “He’s very poised in the pocket and athletic. He doesn’t have to run in their style of offense but can move. He just doesn’t make many mistakes and he knows how to use the weapons that he’s got.”
Among those weapons in the passing game are a pair of dangerous wideouts in Ahmmon Richards and Stacy Coley and a 6-foot-4 tight end in David Njoku who has caught four touchdowns in has last four games.
Richards has also come on lately, posting at least 100 receiving yards in the team's last three wins. The rookie recently broke Michael Irvin's team record for most receiving yards by a freshman and is up to 849 through 11 games. Richards' speed will test the Duke secondary, as the 6-foot-1, 192-pound wideout has recorded at least one reception of 30 yards in seven games this season.
“To stop them would be impossible, but to slow them down you’ve got to try and take advantage of opportunities when they come your way," Cutcliffe said. "We have got to try and pressure [Kaaya].”
Like the Hurricane offense, after a rough middle third of the season, Miami's defense has shown improvement lately after allowing 67 points combined in losses to Virginia Tech and Notre Dame.
After two of their best defensive players were suspended and a number of injuries decimated the Hurricane front seven, Miami has relied on freshman linebackers Zach McCloud, Michael Pinckney and Shaquille Quarterman to make plays near the line of scrimmage. Quarterman leads the team with 69 tackles and has posted nine tackles for loss.
“Miami has a very similar defense to Pittsburgh in that they’re a 4-3 and they’re physical and fast,” Cutcliffe said.
But the leader of Miami's defense is senior defensive back Corn Elder—a familiar face for Duke fans.
Elder scored on the Hurricanes' stunning eight-lateral kickoff return that gave Miami a 30-27 win last October even without Kaaya, and has enjoyed a big senior campaign with 63 tackles and three sacks.
Although the Hurricanes missed their chance for a truly special campaign in Richt's first season following their four-game losing streak, Miami has a chance to notch its second four-game winning streak of the year and put itself in position for a big 2017 season.
Multiple outlets have reported that Kaaya is expected to return for his senior campaign, which could help the Hurricanes finally reach the 10-win threshold—something they have not done since the early 2000s.
“Miami is a tough matchup for any team,” Cutcliffe said. “They have good linebackers and are outstanding in the secondary. If you flip it over, their backs, tight ends, receivers and offensive line are terrific. How do you beat a team like that? You play well and prepare, you know what to do, how to do it, and why you’re doing it.”
Mitchell Gladstone and Hank Tucker contributed reporting.
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