Following a dominant 55-13 victory over N.C. Central, Duke propelled to No. 22 in the AP Top 25. The Blue Zone hands out grades to every Blue Devil unit:
Offense: A
Pass: Quentin Harris looked solid once again, connecting on three first half touchdowns. Harris’ backup, Chris Katrenick, saw his first career game action, and threw a touchdown on his first drive. The pair spread the love among their weapons, as 11 Blue Devils caught at least one pass.
Rush: Duke’s offensive line completely overpowered N.C. Central, paving the way for 372 yards gained on the ground. The rushing attack’s featured duo, Brittain Brown and Deon Jackson, totaled 22 carries for a very respectable 185 yards and 2touchdowns. Surprisingly, redshirt freshman Marvin Hubbard III led the Blue Devils in carries despite having 9 career carries entering Saturday.
X’s and O’s: Spectacularly, the Blue Devils’ signal callers have still thrown for no interceptions this season. Limiting turnovers is key, especially for inexperienced options such as Harris and Katrenick. Perhaps the only concern on offense came in Harris’ continued inaccuracy in the short passing game. The redshirt junior completed just 15 of his 27 throws, bringing his season completion percentage to 49.2 percent.
Defense: A
Pass: Despite the absence of Mark Gilbert and Michael Carter II, the Duke secondary shone against the Eagles, limiting Naiil Ramadan and Chauncey Caldwell to just 51 yards throw the air on a 33.3 percent completion percentage. Yet again, the secondary was aided by a solid pass rush up front.
Rush: On N.C. Central’s third play from scrimmage, Isaiah Totten raced for a 59-yard gain, breaking several Duke tackles. The Blue Devil defense shored up after this sloppy start, and suffocated the Eagles for the remainder of the afternoon.
X’s and O’s: This is a defense that excels due to balance—it would be difficult to rank upon merit Duke’s defensive line, linebackers, and secondary. If the distribution of talent can stay relatively equal, the Blue Devils’ defense will continue to hold up.
Special Teams: B-
A middling performance from the special teams unit did not factor into the game’s outcome. For the second consecutive week, placekicker Collin Wareham missed an extra point attempt. Austin Parker had a quiet day, only attempting 2 punts, as the explosive Duke offense rarely stalled. The return game, which was astounding against Baylor, also looked mediocre, as Jake Bobo and T.J. Rahming combined to take back 4 punts for 18 yards.
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