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5 observations and more from Duke football's first half against No. 5 Miami

Facing a ranked opponent for the second straight year, the Blue Devils traveled to Coral Gables, Florida to face No. 5 Miami. After the first 30 minutes of play, Duke leads the home team 21:17:

Five observations

Homecoming: On Saturday, Duke head coach Manny Diaz was at Hard Rock Stadium for the first time since being fired by Miami in 2021. Diaz didn't emphasize this storyline in the week leading up to the game, but the crowd was certainly hostile toward the Blue Devils. During his time with the Hurricanes, Diaz popularized the envelope necklace, which his team wore every time they got takeout. On Saturday, it would have been Mishael Powell wearing the necklace when he blocked a bad pass from redshirt sophomore Maalik Murphy midway through the first quarter. Murphy, throwing from his own end zone, tried to find senior wideout Jordan Moore on a go route down the field. However, Powell crossed the field to pluck the ball out of the air and give his offense a strong starting position. Eight plays later, senior tight end Cam McCormick scored a touchdown to give them a 14-point lead.

Airstrike: Miami's first offensive attack of the game was all Cam Ward. The senior quarterback attempted five passes, including a 34-yard touchdown strike to Xavier Restrepo. On that play, Ward climbed out of the pocket as it collapsed and found Restrepo racing toward the corner of the end zone. Jaylen Stinson was down in coverage and a diving tip from Terry Moore failed to break up the pass, leading to the first score of the game. However, Duke's defense tightened from there, and by the end of the half, Ward had totaled just 138 yards on a 50% completion rate.

Tempo: After failing to move the ball at all on the game's first four drives, the Blue Devils scored their first touchdown of the game in under a minute. It started with a shot to Sahmir Hagans, who deflected a tackle and sprinted 21 yards. Duke ran to the new line of scrimmage and Peyton Jones quickly scored a 27-yard run up the middle. Back in rush mode, Murphy threw another jump ball to Moore, who took a toe down downfield and gave the Blue Devils the lead at the 8-yard line. One more handoff to Jones was enough to get Duke into the end zone and set off a statement drive.

Settle down: The Hurricanes quickly jumped out to a 14-0 lead and appeared to be in control of every phase of the game. Murphy was able to move the chains as two of his three attempts failed on the first drive, resulting in a three-and-out. His interception on the following drive further dented his initial confidence, but the Duke quarterback turned things around and got his team back on track. After Murphy hit a few short completions, his downfield throws seemed much more accurate.

Main penalties: On the Blue Devils' final attack of the first half, a series of penalties against Miami made moving the ball easy. Of Duke's 75 yards, 45 came from penalties against the Hurricanes. After a pass interference call put the Blue Devils within field goal range, Murphy converted another third down by hitting Hagans. Diaz and offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer used the two-minute timeout to work out their preferred plays for the red zone situation, which led to a nice touchdown pass to Jones. Murphy caught the snap and pivoted to his left before rolling to his right to find his running back wide open. The result gave Duke its first lead of the afternoon at 21-17. Another defensive stand ensured Miami couldn't regain the lead before halftime.

Using the numbers

First Downs: The Hurricanes' offense hit the ground running in full force and managed a total of nine first downs before the Blue Devils managed just one. Most of this was due to the accuracy and evasion of Ward, who repeatedly made plays inside and outside the pocket. Duke's normally stingy defense looked porous, allowing six plays of more than 15 yards in the first quarter. On the other hand, the Blue Devils once again struggled to find consistency on offense early on. Outside of the one-minute touchdown drive, Duke only had one first down in the first quarter – on a pass interference call. However, the Blue Devils turned things around early in the second when Murphy immediately converted a third down and marched down the field for another touchdown drive.

Total number of games: Despite the relatively even score, Duke completed significantly fewer plays than Miami, 30 compared to the Hurricanes' 42. Miami's offense was usually methodical, as Ward picked apart the defense play by play to march down the field. On the other hand, the Blue Devils offense was either boom or bust. They had success on some chunk plays — two of their three touchdown drives totaled just 12 plays — but two three-and-outs and a one-play drive that ended in an interception muddied things. Going into the locker room with a four-man lead, Duke trailed by about ten minutes after having the ball.

Tackles for loss: Despite Miami's offensive success, the Blue Devils continued to rack up tackles in the backfield. Ward managed to get out of most of the sacks, but Duke still managed five Tackles for loss in the first half. Additionally, pressure in the backfield forced Ward into a number of incompletions, which helped dampen the Hurricane's early momentum. The key tackle in the loss came from Wesley Williams, who eventually caught Ward behind the line of scrimmage on a third-and-goal opportunity. Williams' sacking ensured Miami ended the drive with three points instead of seven.

A piece that counted

After scoring their first score with the ball, the Blue Devils went to the air to tie the game early in the second quarter. After Jones' big catch got the offense moving into Miami territory, Murphy faced a crucial third down. Just like on third down to start the drive, he found Hagans crossing the field toward the left sideline. A crucial block from wideout Eli Pancol helped clear the path for Hagans, and Murphy's throw allowed him to maintain his forward momentum. As the game developed, Hagans saw plenty of green in front of him running untouched into paydirt for the score.

Dom Fenoglio
| Sports editor-in-chief

Dom Fenoglio is a Trinity junior and sports editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.

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