Who would have thought this would be the [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] conversation after three quarters on Friday night?
The former Texas Longhorn completed seven of his first 16 passes against Northwestern, but after a brief seat on the bench, he found his target on 17 of his last 23 attempts to end Week 2 with 242 yards and three touchdown passes. Once the offense sped up, the Blue Devils had life again, and the promising transfer looked like the offensive leader who was promised. Now, the question becomes how great of a season he can have.
Through two games in a Blue Devils uniform, Murphy has thrown 79 passes. He’s completed 50 of them for 533 yards and five touchdowns, giving him a 12-game pace of 3,198 yards, and 30 passing touchdowns.
Only three different Blue Devils have thrown for 3,100 yards in a single season (Sean Renfree did so twice in 2010 and 2012). In fact, a Duke quarterback has only reached 3,000 yards six times, and it hasn’t been done since that latter Renfree season more than a decade ago. Murphy would need a pretty torrid run through conference play to catch Anthony Dilweg’s school record of 3,824 yards in 1988, but second (3,330 yards) and third place (3,131 yards) feel very much in play.
Murphy could truly leave his mark in the end zone. The current school record for single-season touchdown passes is just 24 (also Dilweg in 1988). If the first-year starter throws just 16 touchdown passes over his final 10 games (so not even including a potential bowl game), he’d be tied for third in Duke history.
Part of this record-setting pace is Murphy’s staggering volume. His 12-game pace of 474 attempts would be the second-most in program history, just 10 behind Dilweg’s 1988 season. With Duke’s offense averaging less than three yards per carry on the ground, there’s no reason to think Murphy’s numbers will decrease later in the season.