3.1

Duke never really got its running game going this season.  On 365 carries, the Blue Devils managed just 1129 yards, good for only a 3.1 yards per carry average.  That figure is down from the 3.4 the team averaged last year, but the 3.4 is also the highest yards per carry since 2004.  Desmond Scott and Juwan Thompson, who handled the majority of work this season, will both be back in 2012.

45%

Coming off a fantastic season in which he hit 21 of 24 field goals, Will Snyderwine struggled  this year.  The senior kicker connected on just eight of 17 attempts.  When Jeffrey Ijjas’ one for three is factored in, Duke kickers made just 45 percent of their kicks this season.  Perhaps the most disturbing Snyderwine stat is that he missed four kicks from inside the 29 yard line.

68

The Blue Devils were a second half team the entire season.  On the defensive side of the football, Duke allowed 68 points fewer in the second half than they did in the first half of games.  The quarter in which they excelled the most was the third, where they only allowed 70 points.  On the season, the Blue Devils were outscored across all four quarters.  On offense, Duke was a more balanced team, scoring just six more points in the first half than the second half.

104

With a 3-9 record, it is obvious that the Blue Devils were outscored by their opponents.  However, Duke was outscored by a full 104 points this season.  That means opponents scored 8.7 points more on a per game basis than the Blue Devils did.

177

If nothing else, Duke was a more fundamentally sound team this season.  The Blue Devils won the penalty matchup in a big way, flagged for 12 fewer penalties resulting in 177 fewer penalty yards than their opponents.  On a per game basis, Duke saved 14.8 yards a contest.

500

Defense wasn’t Duke’s forte this season.  Four times the Blue Devils surrendered over 500 total yards of offense, the culprits being Stanford, Florida International, Virginia Tech, and North Carolina.  To put it in perspective, Duke’s offense recorded zero games of over 500 total yards.  The Blue Devil’s high was 484 yards, obtained against Tulane.

180.7

Rush defense was a particularly tough task for the Blue Devils.  Opponents rushed for an average of 180.7 yards per game.  The most prolific yardage games belong to Stanford, Florida State, Virginia Tech, and Miami, all of whom rushed for over 200 yards.  Georgia Tech had the most impressive showing however, rushing for 364 yards in a single game against the Blue Devils.  Duke averaged 94 rushing yards per game.

4

Duke committed four turnovers for the second time this season, having previously done it against Virginia Tech.  Both Sean Renfree and Anthony Boone threw interceptions, their 11^th and first of the season respectively.  Renfree also fumbled once on a sack, while Desmond Scott coughed up the football once as well.

18

There were a whopping 18 penalties resulting in 154 yards in Saturday’s game.  Neither team had a game with as many penalties this season, though North Carolina’s game against Rutgers earlier this in which 17 penalties were committed.

23:31

Duke could not control the football in this game.  Having the football for just 2:07 in the first quarter, Duke controlled the ball for just 23:31, the shortest time of possession this season by 3:13.  Some of the blame for the short time of possession can be placed on the turnovers, though Juwan Thompson’s 70-yard touchdown also limited the time of possession for the Blue Devils.

70

When Juwan Thompson made a reception and took it to the endzone for 70 yards in the first quarter, he recorded Duke’s longest play from scrimmage of the season.  Donovan Varner’s 64-yard touchdown against Virginia was previously the longest play.

5

The Blue Devil defense was torched by the run game once again.  The Tar Heels posted 187 rushing yards, led by freshman running back Giovani Bernard’s 165-yard performance.  This was the fifth consecutive game in which the Blue Devils surrendered over 150 rushing yards.  There have been only four instances all year that Duke has held a team to under 150 rushing yards.

3

While the running game slogged through yet another disappointing performance, the second time this season the team has failed to top 35 yards on the ground, Juwan Thompson presented a bright spot in the scoring department.  Duke’s sophomore running back scored two touchdowns for the third time this season.  He’s found the endzone twice against both Tulane and Florida International before doing so against Virginia.  Thompson’s seven scores is more than fellow back Desmond Scott has in his two years at Duke combined.

3.1

Duke’s running game continued to be non-existent against Virginia, as the team’s yards per carry has now fallen to a meager 3.1.  That mark is tied for 6^th worst among Division I football programs, trailing just Miami (OH) (2.4), Rutgers (2.6), Tennessee (2.7), Memphis (2.9), and Kent State (3.0).  Joining Duke in a tie for the worst yards per attempt in the ACC are Wake Forest and North Carolina State.

32

As they seem to do with regularity, the defense buckled down late in the game to give the Blue Devils an outside shot at victory.  Duke’s defense stifled the Cavalier offense in the fourth quarter, limiting Virginia to just 32 total yards.  What’s more, Virginia ended two drives in the fourth quarter with negative yardage.

44.4%

Will Snyderwine’s disastrous season kept spiraling downward with two more field goals missed inside the 35-yard line.  Now just one for his last six, Snyderwine has misfired nine times, or three times more than in the last two seasons combined.  For the season, Duke has complete just 44.4% of field goal opportunities, besting just Western Kentucky and San Diego State in Division I football.

132

The offensive star for Duke was senior receiver Donavan Varner, who went off for seven catches and 132 yards.  Varner’s 132 yards is now the most for a Duke receiver this season.  The yardage total was Varner’s highest since the final game of the 2009 season, where Varner collected a career high 174 yards on 11 catches against Maryland.  For the season, Varner is up to 629 yards, second on the team to Conner Vernon’s 847 yards.

4

The Blue Devils were snake-bit by turnovers yet again last week against the Hurricanes.  For the fourth consecutive game, Sean Renfree threw an interception.  In his last four games, Renfree has six interceptions, compared to the two he threw in the first five contests.  This recent slide isn’t nearly as bad as last year’s dip, where Renfree threw 15 interception in a six game stretch, recording at least one pick in each of the six games.

4.8

Duke was gashed by the run against Miami, as the defense allowed 265 yards on the ground.  Lamar Miller, now 14th in the nation in rushing yards, led the charge with 147 yards on 20 carries.  On the season, the Blue Devils are now allowing a whopping 4.8 yards per carry to opposing teams, a full 1.5 yards more per carry than the Duke running backs are recording.  This was the fourth time Duke had allowed over 200 rushing yards in a game this season.

7

The Blue Devils just couldn’t get the offense started in the first quarter.  While the Hurricanes went on to mount 207 yards in drives that started in the first quarter, Duke managed only seven.  Moving backwards 20 yards on three penalties surely didn’t help, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Duke offense just couldn’t move the sticks.

78%

The Hurricanes were extremely efficient on Saturday, converting seven of nine drives for touchdowns, meaning they put six points on the board 78% of the time they had the football.  For comparison’s sake, Florida State, who won 41-16 against the Blue Devils, scored a touchdown on just five of their 11 drives.  Stanford, who won 44-14, found the endzone on six of 11 drives.

194

The Blue Devils put together its worst passing effort of the season against Miami, as Renfree and Anthony Boone combined to throw for just 194 yards.  Duke hadn’t thrown for less than 200 yards since October 23rd, 2010 against Virginia Tech, when Renfree collected just 116 yards.  After four straight games with at least 300 yards through the air, Duke hasn’t managed to pass for more than 226 yards in a single game the last four times taking the field.

4

Ball security undermined the Blue Devils chances at a upset in Saturday’s thriller against No. 12 Virginia Tech.  Duke coughed up the football four times, the most in a game this season.  Sean Renfree’s three interceptions doubled his season total, while Juwan Thompson added a fumble.  The Blue Devils had just nine turnovers in the previous seven games.

25

Will Snyderwine’s yips returned last week, as the Duke kicker managed to go just 1-for-4 kicking field goals—though one was a 57-yard attempt. Snyderwine’s most notable miss was a 29-yard kick early in the fourth quarter, keeping the Hokie lead at four rather than one.  On a later Duke drive, Coach Cutcliffe had to go for it on fourth and two rather than kick a 34-yard field goal.  Adding insult to injury, at halftime a fan drilled a 25 yarder, one that certainly had the distance to travel the extra four yards separating the lengths of the fan and Snyderwine’s kicks.

45

On Duke’s first scoring drive, the Blue Devils were aided by 45 Hokie penalty yards.  The offense moved just 35 yards without the help of penalties.  Virginia Tech surrendered a total of 94 yards on nine penalties over the course of the game, while the Blue Devils had just 15 penalty yards on three infractions.

47.5%

For the first time this season, the Blue Devils struggled throwing the football.  Duke recorded just 19 completions on 40 passes, resulting in a 47.5% completion rate, the lowest of the season.  Sean Renfree went 17-for-35 and Anthony Boone was equally unsuccessful, going 2-for-5.  The last time the Blue Devils completed less than 50% of their passes was last season against these same Virginia Tech Hokies, where Sean Renfree and Brandon Connette combined to complete just 12 of 36 passes.

14

The Duke defense had a remarkable performance against the Hokies.  Matt Daniels spectacular performance, including two interceptions and 13 tackles, helped hold the Hokies to 14 points, the lowest point total for a Duke opponent this season.  The last time a Duke defense held a ranked team under 20 points was back in 1989, where the Blue Devils upset No. 7 Clemson 21-17.  What’s more, 14 is the lowest point total allowed to a ranked team since the 1972 season, where the Blue Devils held No. 16 North Carolina to 14, No. 19 Stanford to 10, and No. 12 Washington to 14.  Duke ended up losing all three of those games, scoring just 12 points of their own in the three contests combined.

4

Duke’s defense shone once again against Wake Forest.  The Blue Devils’ pass rush again abused the opponent’s offensive line, as Duke racked up four more sacks, including two from freshman linebacker David Helton.  The Blue Devils have now collected 13 sacks in their last six games after not having one in the opener against Richmond.

8

Anthony Boone was coach David Cutcliffe’s preferred weapon against the Demon Deacons.  The freshman quarterback had his number called eight times in the redzone last week.  Boone responded with two touchdowns, but managed a meager 1.7 yards per carry on 11 rushes.  Juwan Thompson’s average was 5.6 on 11 carries, while Desmond Scott’s was 4.9 on 10 totes.

14

The Blue Devils continued their success on fourth down, converting four-of-five chances.  For the season, Duke is now 14-for-23 on fourth down.  The 23 attempts are first among schools in college football, while 14 trails just Air Force in converted attempts (Air Force is 16/19).

15

Duke’s defense was superb all throughout the second half.  The stat that is being talked about most heavily is the one total yard gained by Wake Forest in the third quarter.  However, with the exception of Chris Givens’ 66 yard score, the Blue Devils allowed just 15 yards the entire second half.  The Demon Deacons punted six times in seven drives and failed to register even one first down, though Givens’ reception would have been one had he been tackled before the endzone.

97.5

Sean Renfree ran out of gas late in this one.  Duke’s quarterback struggled late in the fourth quarter, overthrowing receivers, then throwing the interception to Kenny Okoro to end the game.  With a quarterback rating of 97.5, this marks the first time Renfree has had a quarterback rating under 100 this season.  In fact, the last time Renfree’s rating was below 100 was almost a year ago from Saturday, when he posted a 61.7 rating against Virginia Tech on October 23rd of 2010.  In that game, Renfree completed just 12 of 32 passes for 116 yards.

1

Taking care of the ball was an issue for the Blue Devils Saturday against Florida State. Although the team ended up winning the time of possession battle, it was more a product of the Seminoles’ quick drives (like the 34 second first quarter scoring drive) than Duke’s ball movement. The Blue Devils recorded just one possession in the first half that lasted over three minutes, and that possession resulted Alex King’s fourth punt of the game.  Despite its quick drives, Florida State still managed three possessions lasting over three minutes.

5

Quarterback Sean Renfree spent most of this game on the ground.  The Seminoles’ pass rush got to Renfree five times, resulting in 30 lost yards. The sacks themselves weren’t as detrimental to the Duke offense as the timing of the sacks was—three times Renfree was brought down on first down, setting up second and very long.

10

The Seminoles’ defense didn’t just record sacks. Florida State ended the game with 10 tackles for a loss, costing Duke 43 yards. That was the farthest the Blue Devils were put back since their second game of the year against Stanford, where the Cardinal defense recorded 14 tackles for a loss netting 68 yards. Juwan Thompson was particularly brutalized. Coming off back-to-back multi-score games, Thompson managed just one yard on six carries, though he did find the endzone for the third straight week.

19.9

Facing a large deficit, Duke once gain found itself in four-down territory quite often. Luckily for the Blue Devils, they have excelled on fourth down.  Duke is 19.9% more successful on fourth down than they are on third down, albeit there is a much smaller sample size for fourth down conversions. After going 3-for-5 last week, Duke’s season fourth down percentage sits at 61.1%. Last week the Blue Devils were 5-for-17 on third down, lowering their season percentage to 40.2%.

13

One of the Blue Devils’ biggest early season troubles was the teams’ inability to finish drives in the redzone. After starting the season 4-for-10 in the red zone, thanks in large part to missed field goals, Duke has converted 13 straight times over the last three games. The Blue Devils have eight rushing touchdowns, two passing touchdowns, and three field goals in that span.

14

Connor Vernon led the team in receiving yet again Saturday, hauling in eight passes for 117 yards. Vernon is now averaging 101 receiving yards per game.  With his performance last week, Vernon now has the 14th most receiving yards in college football.  His quarterback, Sean Renfree, is 14th in passing yards himself, with 1361 yards.

0

Duke had its first turnover free game of the season.  The Blue Devils had fumbled four times and thrown two interceptions through the first four games of the season.  This was Duke’s first turnover free game since last October 30th, when the team defeated Navy by a score of 34-31.

8

Florida International moved the ball extremely well on offense last week.  The Golden Panthers recorded 568 total yards, the most a Duke defense has allowed since last November 2nd, when Virginia mounted 643 total yards in a losing effort.  To put it in perspective, 568 total yards is just eight yards shy of double what the Blue Devils allowed to Richmond to open the season.

1

The offense was firing on all cylinders this week, leading to 27 Blue Devil first downs.  With the offense moving well, punter Alex King was only called upon once all game.  In each of the previous three contests King had to punt four times.

7

Duke’s redzone issues were finally solved against Tulane.  Not only was this the first game in which the Blue Devils had a redzone scoring percentage above 50% for the first time all season, but Duke went a perfect seven for seven Saturday, rushing it in five times while connecting on a passing touchdown and a field goal.

2.5

It wasn’t just the offense that was working on Saturday.  Duke’s run defense allowed just 55 yards on 22 carries, a 2.5 yard-per-carry average.  That’s a vast improvement over the 3.24 average against BC and leagues better than the 6.83 average against Stanford.

8

Duke’s defense was consistently in the Green Wave backfield, recording eight tackles for a loss resulting in a loss of 27 Tulane yards.  Against Richmond, Stanford and Boston College, the Blue Devils had a total of eight tackles for a loss, which led to 24 lost yards.  Additionally, Duke recorded their third straight game with exactly two sacks.

2

Duke committed its second redzone turnover in as many games Saturday.  Counting the redzone drive that ended as time expired in the first half against Richmond, that makes three redzone turnovers in three games played.  Against the Eagles, Sean Renfree threw an interception caught by Jim Noel at Boston College’s six-yard line.

2

Duke was hurt against Boston College by penalties.  In all, the Blue Devils committed nine penalties for a total of 79 yards—the rushing game managed just two more yards than penalties took away from Duke.  Against Stanford and Richmond, Duke committed a total of seven penalties for 52 yards.

3

The Blue Devils won their first ACC game of the season for the first time in three years.  Back in 2008 Thad Lewis threw for two touchdowns and Jabari Marshall recorded one of four interceptions and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown on the way to a 31-3 Duke win over Virginia.  2011 and 2008 are the only two times in the last 10 years the Blue Devils won their first ACC game.  In 2009 Duke lost 34-26 to then No. 6 Virginia Tech and in 2010 they lost 54-48 to Wake Forrest.

6

Sean Renfree had one of the best games of his career, and one of the most telling numbers was that Renfree commanded six drives in which his completion percentage was perfect.  For comparison’s sake, he managed just eight in his previous two games, but many of those came about because Renfree didn’t throw often during run-heavy drives.