Duke quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] is going to break the school record for single-season passing touchdowns at some point this year.
The first-year starter finished with 216 yards and three touchdowns against Middle Tennessee on Saturday, his third straight game with three touchdown passes. The former Texas Longhorn has now put 11 scoring passes on the board through four games, nearly halfway to the single-season school record.
Anthony Dilweg threw 24 touchdown passes back in 1988, a total no Blue Devils quarterback has matched in the 36 years since. In fact, a Duke starting quarterback has only thrown for 20 touchdowns in a single season eight times.
As of Sunday morning, Murphy would finish the 12-game regular season with 33 passing touchdowns. He wouldn’t just break Dilweg’s record at this pace, he’d break it with three full games left to play.
Murphy has also thrown for 1,017 yards through four games, putting him on pace for 3,051 passing yards at the end of the regular season. That’d be the sixth-highest total in Duke history. The Blue Devils clearly want to live through the air, evidenced by 143 pass attempts through Week 4, and that gives the former four-star prospect plenty of room to rewrite Blue Devils history.
Murphy and his Duke teammates host a North Carolina defense that just gave up more than 600 total yards and five passing touchdowns to James Madison next Saturday to open the conference schedule.