Tag: maalik murphy

Jordan Moore enters Catch of the Year conversation with one-handed snag against Miami

Duke wide receiver Jordan Moore reminded Blue Devils fans of his talent with a spinning one-handed catch against Miami on Saturday.

Duke football fans have been pretty desperate for highlights from star wide receiver [autotag]Jordan Moore[/autotag], and he delivered in a big way on Saturday.

The senior paced the team with 835 yards and eight touchdowns in 2023 and started his 2024 season with 18 catches for 233 yards through two games, but he’d only caught 11 passes for 175 yards over the past five contests as he battled back from an injury. He hauled in a one-handed touchdown against SMU in Week 9, part of a three-reception game, but he one-upped himself against the Miami Hurricanes.

On a short third down in the final seconds of the third quarter, Duke quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] rolled to his right and lofted a pass to Moore downfield. The redshirt sophomore’s throw was a little behind his star wideout, but even with one defender in front of him and another behind, Moore made sure he came down with the football.

He jumped up and stuck his right hand in the air, snagging the ball and spinning to the ground for the secure catch and a first down in one of the most impressive plays of the season.

Moore made another impressive catch in the first half, a beautiful back-shoulder grab for a 27-yard gain, and he caught a short touchdown on a fourth-and-1 attempt in the opening minutes of the third quarter.

Duke offensive coordinator says 2-point attempt vs SMU came within one foot of working

Duke offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer confirmed what fans saw with their own eyes on Saturday: the 2-point play was almost perfect.

In case any Duke football fans needed a reminder of how close the Blue Devils came to upsetting the SMU Mustangs on Saturday night, offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer made the margin very clear during his Monday press conference.

Brewer said he and the offense worked on the play design for the climactic 2-point attempt as early as the third day of offseason practice. Eli Pancol, who caught a 25-yard touchdown pass on the previous play to set up the conversion, and tight end Jake Taylor ran a mesh concept, running crossing routes at each other from opposite sides of the field in hopes of getting at least one defender lost in the traffic.

“It’s pretty much what you would want to call versus a man coverage,” Brewer said. “We just didn’t execute. We didn’t have guys rub the mesh the right way and set up the mesh the right way.”

Murphy, who needed to scramble to his right after the SMU defensive line broke into the pocket, tried to find Pancol, but with Mustangs cornerback Jaelyn Davis-Robinson running with the wideout in stride, the ball sailed just past Pancol’s reach for an incompletion.

“It’s those details, those small details, that come back to haunt you because it’s the difference between probably about a foot. If he (Pancol) has a foot of separation between the defender and himself, he probably catches the ball and we win the game.”

Brewer, in his first year at the helm of the Duke offense, made it very clear which party deserves any blame for the mistake.

“It’s one of those things that showed up earlier in the game and we didn’t get it corrected,” he continued. “And that’s on us as coaches.”

Manny Diaz explains his decision to go for two in overtime against SMU

Read what Duke football coach Manny Diaz had to say about his choice to go for the 2-point conversion in overtime against SMU.

The Blue Devils ultimately came up empty on their potential game-winning 2-point conversion attempt against the SMU Mustangs in overtime on Saturday, but Duke head coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] doesn’t have any doubts about the decision to go.

After the loss, Diaz expanded upon his decision to forgo a game-tying extra-point attempt. He explained that, since the offense would get the ball first in the second overtime period with a mandatory 2-point conversion attempt if they reached the end zone, he wanted the chance to walk off into the night with a victory.

“If you’ve got a chance to win the game in the bottom of the first inning, to me, you do it,” Diaz said. “You’re going to have to make a 2-point conversion in the game.”

Duke quarterback Maalik Murphy had thrown for 295 yards and three touchdowns, including a 25-yard strike to wideout Eli Pancol on the Blue Devils’ first play of overtime, and he and Pancol converted a 2-point attempt to tie the game earlier in the fourth quarter. Between that and the team’s three missed kicks in the second half (two field goals and an extra point), the choice still seemed obvious to Diaz.

“We liked the play we had,” Diaz said. “We thought we had a chance to get it and were just a couple inches away.”

The best Duke football photos from Saturday’s overtime loss to SMU

Check out the best photos from Duke’s Saturday night game against the SMU Mustangs.

The Duke Blue Devils came within one play of something exceptional on Saturday night.

After six wins in his first seven games as the Duke head coach, [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] welcomed the No. 22 SMU Mustangs, his former assistant Rhett Lashlee, to Durham for a Week 9 battle set to reshape the conference championship race.

Despite falling behind by 14 points late in the third quarter, the Blue Devils tied the game and took possession across midfield with a chance to take the lead three different times in the final nine minutes. Quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] threw for a career-high 295 yards, including 11 completions for 138 yards to senior receiver Eli Pancol.

Instead, two empty field goal attempts (one missed and the other blocked) resulted in a trip to overtime, and a failed 2-point conversion kept Diaz from a seventh win in his debut season.

Here are the best photos from the Week 9 battle at Wallace Wade Stadium.

Duke football loses a heartbreaker to SMU despite forcing six turnovers

Duke forced six SMU turnovers at Wallace Wade Stadium on Saturday night but failed to capitalize on them in a 28-27 overtime loss.

Three seconds and a 30-yard field goal stood between the Duke Blue Devils and the ACC championship picture.

Despite six wins in their first seven games, first-year head coach Manny Diaz and his team couldn’t break into the top 25 thanks to some questions about their strength of schedule. Yet on Saturday night, there the Blue Devils stood with a chip shot to beat No. 22 SMU despite a handful of self-inflicted mistakes. After he missed a 42-yard attempt one drive earlier, it seemed like kicker Todd Pelino would redeem himself.

The snap, the hold, Pelino strode forward and booted the ball…straight into the waiting hand of SMU’s Jahfari Harvey, who’d broken through for the deflection. The ball dropped harmlessly to the ground at Wallace Wade Stadium, and another chance to put the game away wriggled out of Duke’s hands.

The Blue Devils wouldn’t get another.

Duke (6-2, 2-2) lost to SMU (7-1, 4-0) 28-27 in overtime in Week 9, opting for a 2-point conversion attempt in extra time that came up empty when quarterback Maalik Murphy couldn’t connect with wideout Eli Pancol.

Through the first two quarters and change, it seemed like more of the same for the Duke Blue Devils. The offense gained just 180 yards of total offense against the Florida State Seminoles, by far their worst showing of the year, and despite an early 43-yard touchdown pass from Murphy to Que’Sean Brown, the offense finished the first half with 181 yards to SMU’s 232.

The Mustangs scored two touchdowns and outgained the Blue Devils 116-49 in the second quarter, seemingly taking control of the battle, but the vaunted Duke defense refused to let the game get out of reach.

The SMU offense got within four yards of a touchdown on its opening drive, but quarterback Kevin Jennings let the ball hit the turf for a fumble before Duke’s Ryan Smith fell on it. Jennings threw an interception to Cameron Bergeron at midfield in the final minute of the half when it seemed like the Mustangs could add some points at the buzzer, and the Blue Devils stopped SMU on four straight rushing plays from the 1-yard line for a turnover on downs early in the third quarter.

While all those heroics went on, the Duke offense seemed stuck in neutral. The Blue Devils’ five full drives after the initial touchdown resulted in four punts and a turnover on downs, and an 81-yard scoring pass from Jennings to Roderick Daniels Jr. gave SMU a 21-7 lead with five minutes left in the third frame.

As he’s done over and over again, Murphy found a way to dust off the cobwebs when he absolutely needed to. The former Texas Longhorn led a 75-yard touchdown drive in just nine plays, culminating in a one-handed catch from Jordan Moore at the goal line to make it a 21-13 game.

The defense forced another punt, and Murphy again marched the team down into SMU territory. He and Pancol, who finished the game with 11 receptions for 138 yards, for a beautiful 22-yard over-the-shoulder catch down the left sideline to move the Blue Devils deep into enemy territory.

Six plays later, running back Star Thomas punched the ball in from the 1-yard line to cap off a 64-yard touchdown drive. Murphy connected with Pancol for a leaping grab on the 2-point conversion, a pass that didn’t count toward his career-high 295 passing yards. Somehow, the game was tied at 21 points apiece.

Jennings made three crushing mistakes on the next three SMU drives, however. He tossed a pick to Duke linebacker Tre Freeman when he tried to throw back across his body on a third down attempt, and he threw another interception on the next third down when he rifled a ball straight into the hands of Chandler Rivers for his third interception.

Despite starting in enemy territory each time, the Blue Devils somehow didn’t take advantage of either possession. They only made it to scoring range once: the aforementioned Pelino miss from 42 yards.

It looked like Jennings gave the Blue Devils one last answered prayer when he fumbled in the final two minutes, letting reigning ACC Linebacker of the Week Ozzie Nicholas scoop up the ball and run all the way back to the 14-yard line for what looked like the final dagger. Instead, the blocked kick on the final play of regulation sent the proceedings to overtime as the SMU defense held Duke scoreless on all six possessions after turnovers.

SMU running back Brashard Smith rumbled free for a 24-yard touchdown on the second play of free football, and despite Murphy finding Pancol for a 25-yard score one play later, the failed 2-point conversion gave Duke its second loss of the year.

Instead of heading to Coral Gables for a chance to throw their weight around against the undefeated Miami Hurricanes in Week 10, the Blue Devils fall two games behind the pace in the battle for a spot in Charlotte, completely removing their ability to control their destiny. The first year of the Diaz era remains an overachievement, but for a brief moment as Pelino lined up that kick, it looked like so much more.

Duke wideout Jordan Moore makes spectacular one-handed touchdown catch vs SMU

Watch Jordan Moore’s spectacular one-handed touchdown grab from Duke’s Saturday game against the SMU Mustangs.

Duke star wide receiver [autotag]Jordan Moore[/autotag] might still be working his way back to full health, but he sure looked impressive in his brief appearances against the SMU Mustangs on Saturday.

In the third quarter of the Week 9 battle at Wallace Wade Stadium, the senior made one of the best plays of his collegiate career.

Quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] dropped back on a second-and-10 from the 12-yard line and looked Moore’s way for a one-on-one contested catch. SMU corner Brandon Crossley blanketed Moore well, but the Blue Devil simply turned around and snagged the ball with his left hand before falling into the end zone for six points.

The catch, Moore’s second of the game and fourth scoring grab of the season, pulled Duke within eight points of the Mustangs. The senior hadn’t caught a touchdown pass since his 34-yard score against Middle Tennessee in Week 4. He’s been on a limited snap count for the past month as he tries to battle through some injuries.

After the touchdown, Moore now has 483 receiving yards for the season. He’s finished each of the last two seasons with at least 600 yards.

Staff predictions for Week 9 matchup between Duke and SMU

Duke is gearing up to take on SMU this Saturday. Check out our Duke Wire staff predictions for the game (including the debut of a new writer).

The Duke Blue Devils keep finding ways to win under first-year head coach Manny Diaz.

Every week, it seems like the Blue Devils have finally dug too deep of a hole. First, it was a road game against Northwestern in Week 2 that demanded a last-minute field goal to force overtime. Then, it was a blown 17-0 lead against the Connecticut Huskies. Even the North Carolina Tar Heels scoring the first 20 points of the game wasn’t enough to keep Duke out of the winner’s circle.

Last Friday night, Diaz and his players beat the Florida State Seminoles for the first time in school history thanks to a pick-six from defensive back Chandler Rivers and two turnovers from linebacker Ozzie Nicholas.

Now, as one of five ACC teams with six victories already this season, the time has come for the Blue Devils to establish themselves against the top of the conference. The SMU Mustangs, ranked No. 22 in the US LBM Coaches Poll, come to Durham as the first of two consecutive ranked matchups. A victory (or a win over the Miami Hurricanes next week), and all of a sudden, a trip to the conference championship game is in play.

Will the Blue Devils pull it off again? Here are our staff’s predictions for the Week 9 clash.

Ryan Haley, Duke Wire site editor

The Mustangs offer a worthy challenge for Chandler Rivers and the Duke secondary. The Blue Devils are one of four defenses allowing fewer than five yards per pass attempt, but SMU has thrown for 11 yards an attempt in conference play so far.

While SMU’s offensive possessions will be more entertaining schematically, I think Duke will lose this game on the other side of the ball. The Blue Devils have averaged 19.3 points per game over their last three contests, including last week’s pick-six from Rivers to boost the numbers. Maalik Murphy is completing 50.6% of his passes and averaging 5.4 yards per attempt since Week 5, and Duke has only moved the ball more than 50 yards on a touchdown drive four times in that span.

On top of those struggles, the Mustangs have given up 2.64 yards per carry on the ground, the third-best mark in the FBS. Star Thomas won’t be able to save the day like he did against UNC.

SMU 28, Duke 10

Bryant Crews, Staff Writer

If you take into consideration that Duke received two votes in the last AP Poll, all signs point to a potential Duke win over a top-25 SMU squad in its first year in the ACC paving the way for Duke to push through into rankings themselves.

However, we don’t deal in hypotheticals here. SMU and its 11th-ranked offense will take on the Blue Devils and their borderline elite unit. Those are the best units from each team. The only thing here is that Duke’s offense is not remotely close to matching punches with SMU’s good (albeit not great) defense, meaning that if you’re keeping track at home, the Mustangs have more reliable units to believe in than the Blue Devils.

With that said, Duke should have enough in the tank to keep the game closer than people would imagine, but SMU’s depth and playmakers on offense (despite not having future NFL tight end RJ Maryland) win out.

SMU 27, Duke 17

Josiah Caswell, Staff Writer

For me, I think Duke’s special season takes a hit against the Mustangs. SMU has one of the top offenses not only in the ACC, but across the entire country with an average of 439.9 yards per game. Additionally, Mustangs quarterback Kevin Jennings has been a monster in his own right.

Duke’s defense, specifically its secondary, has been its specialty, but they haven’t seen an offense like SMU’s, nor have they seen one even close. Jennings can not only throw the ball over the top of the defense, but he can also take it himself and be a big-time threat on the ground.

If Duke is to take this game, it would take more than just a strong outing from its defense. Quarterback Maalik Murphy and the team’s offense would need to find a groove and put up points, a lot of them. If the Blue Devils can find 30+ points, there’s a good chance it’s a tight game…or one they’ve won.

SMU 31, Duke 18

 

Staff predictions for Week 8 matchup between Duke and Florida State

With Duke gearing up to take on Florida State this Friday night, check out our Duke Wire staff predictions for the game.

Less than two months ago, Friday night was considered the hardest game on the Duke football schedule.

The Florida State Seminoles, who won 23 games over the past two seasons, would roll into town for a primetime showing on national television. Yes, head coach Mike Norvell lost quarterback Jordan Travis, wide receiver Keon Coleman, and edge rusher Jared Verse, but he’d surely found more NFL talent between the high school ranks and transfer portal acquisitions. Duke, on the other hand, lost its head coach and starting quarterback, and they were surely the main reason why the Blue Devils won their 17 games between 2022-23.

Well, through six games in 2024, one of the two programs looks steady on its feet, and it sure ain’t the Seminoles.

Duke and FSU bring opposite records into this Week 8 clash with the Blue Devils winning five of their first six games and the Seminoles losing five of their first six. Both teams enter Friday’s game off a bye week, meaning Florida State had an extended period of time to get its act together. Even at 1-5, should Duke be worried?

Here are our staff predictions for the game.

Ryan Haley, Duke Wire site editor

Through the first three games of the season, it felt like all anyone wanted to talk about with Florida State was when the Seminoles would finally make everything work. Norvell was too good, the defensive line was too talented, and quarterback DJ Uiagalelei was too experienced for FSU to really be this bad, right?

Well, that noise has completely gone away over the past few weeks, and there’s a pretty simple reason why; it’s clear that this team isn’t any good.

As of Week 7, the second-worst offense in the ACC is Stanford with 315.5 yards and 20.3 points per game. Florida State is averaging 273.5 yards and 14.8 points, both among the bottom six in the FBS.

Redshirt freshman Brock Glenn could be pitched as a savior when he was the promising backup toiling away on the bench, but he got the keys to the offense against the Clemson Tigers and finished 23/41 for 228 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Now, the Seminoles face a Duke defense allowing just 17.5 points per game and a conference-best 4.27 yards per play.

With 17 sacks and 40 tackles for loss, the FSU defensive line can break games, but the Seminoles are still giving up 8.0 yards per pass and 4.4 yards per carry. Unless Duke quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] can be harassed into multiple mistakes, there’s not a clear area where Florida State has the advantage.

Duke 27, Florida State 20

Bryant Crews, Staff Writer

Duke is coming off a much-needed bye and will host a much-maligned Florida State squad that has suffered the biggest dropoff from preseason expectations to actual results in college football this year. The Seminoles were thought to be amongst the top candidates in the ACC title fight, entering the season No. 10 in the initial US LBM Coaches Poll, but things kept getting worse for a month straight.

By all accounts, they’ve stopped the bleeding, but their championship aspirations for this year are cooked like a steak on the grill for 12 minutes. Duke’s bye week should really do wonders for the defense and star receiver Jordan Moore. There were some nicks and bruises the Blue Devils had to work through, and now they should be rested and refreshed. Let’s also hope Duke solved its problem of forgetting Moore exists and found creative ways to continue to get him the ball.

With that said, I never imagined in my 25-plus years of following this program that I would see a day where Duke was the betting favorite over FSU in real life. However, every dog has its day. and I’m picking Duke to win this game. Some time off will help, but ultimately, Duke has the better QB and receivers, and the vibes are simply better in Durham. Star Thomas and Jordan Moore score while Duke gets at least three sacks and picks off a pass.

Duke 24, Florida State 17

With six games left, either the Duke offense or defense will buck its trends

With six games left in the 2024 Duke football season, one of two things will probably happen over the rest of the year.

First-year Duke football coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] won his first five games as the Blue Devils head coach, the first time in three decades that the program started 5-0, and his team now stands just one win from the postseason.

With fourth-quarter comebacks over Northwestern, Connecticut, and the North Carolina Tar Heels, Duke looked like a team with no quit. The three second-half touchdowns against UNC created the second-biggest comeback in Blue Devils history, and as there always is around novel teams with a good story, there was an air of destiny around Diaz’s fit with the program.

However, the first loss of the season to Georgia Tech highlighted a key problem around the current Duke formula. Duke fell behind by 10 points in the first half, their second straight game trailing by double-digits to open conference play, and allowed two fourth-quarter touchdowns to lose 24-14.

Those two late scores, believe it or not, were the first fourth-quarter touchdowns the Duke defense had allowed in Week 6. On one hand, that sounds like a statement about the Blue Devils. Diaz has talked about how his team feels prepared for those final 15 minutes thanks to their conditioning, and that’s an asset to the program.

On the other hand, Duke didn’t allow a fourth-quarter touchdown in a 5-0 start that included three one-score victories. And now the problem arises.

Over the final six games of the season, with talented teams like the Miami Hurricanes and SMU Mustangs left on the schedule, one of two things will likely happen to the Blue Devils: the offense will thrive or the defense will regress.

The Duke pass defense doesn’t just look like the best in the ACC through six games. It might be one of the best in the country. The Blue Devils have allowed 4.9 yards per attempt through the air, third among FBS defenses, with only six passing touchdowns allowed.

The veteran secondary, featuring longtime starters like Chandler Rivers and Jaylen Stinson, compliment a destructive defensive line. Duke’s 18 sacks and 58 tackles for loss rank 16th and second among FBS defenses, a testament to talented pass rushers like Vincent Anthony Jr. (3.5 sacks) and the discipline of linebackers like Alex Howard (47 total tackles and 9.0 TFLs).

It all adds up to a unit allowing 309.3 yards and 17.5 points per game, both the second-fewest among ACC teams.

The Duke offense, however, has been a little more inconsistent. Transfer quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] threw for 1,017 yards and 11 touchdowns in his first four games, but he’s thrown five interceptions already and completed just 50.8% of his passes against the Tar Heels and Yellow Jackets.

Running back [autotag]Star Thomas[/autotag] looked like he could buoy the offense after his performance against UNC, scoring two touchdowns and gaining 211 yards from scrimmage, but he managed just 48 yards on 14 carries against Georgia Tech.

That was the third time the Blue Devils failed to reach 100 team rushing yards despite running the ball at least 27 times in five of the six games. Among 17 ACC teams, Duke sits 14th in yards per rush (3.53) and 15th in yards per pass attempt (6.9). The Blue Devils’ 26.3 points per game are tied for the fourth-fewest in the conference.

The dichotomy between those two units creates the issue laid out above. Outside of the Middle Tennessee game, boosted by three forced fumbles in opposing territory, the offense has scored 8.2 points per game before halftime. Even with a great defense, Duke consistently finds itself in holes because of the slow starts.

The Florida State Seminoles, the next team on the schedule, have been the worst offense in the conference this season, so the issue should be fine for another week. But the two following opponents, SMU and Miami, both score more than 40 points per game.

There’s a chance that Duke can keep winning games in this fashion, especially with how FSU, Wake Forest, and NC State look. However, the current system leaves a minuscule margin of error for the defense against Power Four talent, and that will almost assuredly come back to bite the Blue Devils over a 12-game sample size. Unless, of course, the offense finds its first-half footing after the bye.

Duke right tackle Brian Parker II makes the PFF National Team of the Week

Duke right tackle Brian Parker became the second Blue Devils offensive lineman of the year to make the Pro Football Focus Team of the Week.

Pro Football Focus revealed its national team of the week on Sunday, and Blue Devils right tackle Brian Parker II became the second straight Duke offensive lineman to make the squad.

Parker earned a 90.2 offensive grade against Georgia Tech on Saturday after he didn’t give up a single pressure on 35 pass-blocking snaps. The Blue Devils averaged 3.70 yards per carry as a team, resulting in an 88.1 run-blocking grade for the redshirt sophomore.

Left guard Caleb Krings, who transferred to the Blue Devils from Elon this offseason, made the PFF national team in Week 5 for his performance against the North Carolina Tar Heels.

The consecutive nominations highlight just how impressive a job head coach Manny Diaz and his staff did in the trenches this offseason. After all, the Blue Devils literally played a seven-on-seven spring game because they did not have enough active offensive linemen on the roster.

Instead of instability in the trenches, however, quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] has been sacked eight times (the fourth-fewest in the ACC) this season and the offense has averaged 3.88 yards per rushing attempt over the past four games.

Justin Pickett, a right guard and one of Duke’s team captains, joined Parker on the ACC Team of the Week.