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The Duke Blue Devils and the Miami (FL) Hurricanes will face off in an ACC clash at 12:30 p.m. ET Oct. 22 at Hard Rock Stadium. The defensive coordinators will surely put in extra hours ahead of this matchup since these teams' offenses combined for 993 yards last week.
Duke entered their game against the North Carolina Tar Heels last week without any home losses -- but there's a first time for everything. It was a hard-fought contest, but the Blue Devils had to settle for a 38-35 loss against UNC. Duke's defeat came about despite a quality game from QB Riley Leonard, who passed for one TD and 245 yards on 31 attempts in addition to rushing for one TD and 130 yards. This was the first time Leonard has racked up 100+ rushing yards all year.
Miami (FL) decided to play defense against itself last week, but the team still came out ahead despite their 139 penalty yards. They managed a 20-14 victory over the Virginia Tech Hokies. The squad ran away with 17 points in the first half and mostly just sat on those in the second to pick up the win. Miami (FL) QB Tyler Van Dyke was slinging it as he passed for two TDs and 350 yards on 46 attempts.
Miami (FL)'s defense was a presence as well, as it embarrassed Virginia Tech's offensive line to sack QB Grant Wells six times for a total loss of 28 yards. Leading the way was DL Akheem Mesidor and his three sacks. Mesidor now has 4.5 sacks this year.
The Blue Devils are expected to lose this next one by 9. Those who got lucky with them against the spread last week might want to hold off on placing bets this time since the team has yet to string together back-to-back wins against the spread.
Duke is now 4-3 while the Hurricanes sit at 3-3. Two stats to keep in the back of your head while watching: Duke ranks 14th in the nation when it comes to rushing touchdowns, with 18 on the season. But Miami (FL) enters the matchup with only five rushing touchdowns allowed, good for 19th best in the nation. We'll see if their defense can keep the Blue Devils' running backs out of the end zone.
