Tag: NC State Wolfpack

Duke football coach Manny Diaz highlights Jake Taylor’s ‘massive’ tackle to end the first half

Even with a 10-point margin of victory, Manny Diaz emphasized the importance of Jake Taylor’s chasedown tackle at the end of the first half.

The Duke football team beat NC State by 10 points on Saturday, but the result could have swung in a very different direction if not for tight end Jake Taylor at the end of the first half.

With the Blue Devils leading 12-6 and within 15 yards of the end zone in the final 30 seconds, it seemed like [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] and the offense could put the game out of reach before the break. Instead, Wolfpack linebacker Tamarcus Cooley ripped the ball from Eli Pancol’s hands and took off with nothing but empty space between him and the other goal line.

Cooley made it most of the way there, but Taylor ran 70 yards downfield to tackle him at the 20-yard line with six seconds left. The play forced NC State to kick a field goal, maintaining a 3-point Duke lead at the midway point rather than giving the Wolfpack a 13-12 advantage with the first possession of the second half.

“Massive, massive play,” head coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] said after the game. “Big, big-time effort. Four-point play, a four-point tackle, and that’s the pride that those guys have in this program.”

Duke outgained NC State 158-102 in the first two quarters, so the Wolfpack finding a way to take the lead could have given them a shot in the arm. Even if the next 28 minutes happened the exact same way, Todd Pelino’s 49-yard field goal attempt with 2:06 to play would have been much more dramatic if the score was 26-23 instead of 26-19.

Instead, Pelino redeemed himself from the SMU debacles, and Taylor’s play ensured Duke put the game on ice.

“That’s just a guy winning with effort,” Diaz concluded. “To me, that just highlights the culture that (strength and conditioning coach) David Feeley trains every day in our weight room. Huge play, and proud that it happened.”

Duke football ‘couldn’t have asked for’ a better script in NC State win, Manny Diaz says

After a blown lead against Miami in Week 10, Manny Diaz and Duke found a way to right their wrongs against NC State on Saturday.

Duke football fans would be forgiven for experiencing a wave of déjà vu in the second half of Saturday’s game against NC State.

Seven days after the Blue Devils built a 28-17 lead in Miami only to watch the Hurricanes score five second-half touchdowns, Duke scored the first 12 points of the game in Raleigh.

“It set up the scenario that, if we could have scripted it, we really couldn’t have asked for it any better,” head coach Manny Diaz said after the game. “Up two scores on the road again in league play and could we close? And could we finish?”

When the Wolfpack tied the game at 12 points apiece with a fourth field goal midway through the third quarter, any Duke fans watching at home might have felt a pit in their stomach.

Instead, the offense and defense made the plays they needed on Saturday. [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] and [autotag]Jordan Moore[/autotag] converted a second-and-20, Murphy ran for a 3-yard touchdown, and safety Terry Moore intercepted a pass.

When Murphy and Sahmir Hagans connected for a 9-yard touchdown after Moore’s pick, the Blue Devils had a 14-point cushion with 14 minutes to play. Kicker Todd Pelino even expunged some demons with a 49-yard field goal with 2:06 to play, making it a two-score game and effectively icing the Wolfpack on their own senior night.

They could close and finish indeed.

Duke kicker Todd Pelino uses ‘short memory’ to help win the NC State game

Just two weeks after he missed three kicks against SMU, Duke’s Todd Pelino played a key role in Saturday’s 29-19 victory over NC State.

Two weeks ago, Duke kicker [autotag]Todd Pelino[/autotag] experienced one of the worst feelings possible for his position.

The Blue Devils lost to a ranked SMU team in overtime after Pelino went 1/4 for the game. The third-year kicker missed an extra point, pulled a field goal attempt in the fourth quarter, and had a 30-yarder blocked on the final play of regulation during a game that needed extra time to decide.

Despite the performance, head coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] never sounded anything other than confident in his kicker.

“I believe in Todd Pelino,” Diaz said after the game. “I would feel very comfortable putting him in that situation. I believe he would knock it right through the pipes.”

Well, wish granted and vision fulfilled during Saturday’s victory over the NC State Wolfpack. Pelino made all three of his extra-point efforts and made field goals of 50 and 49 yards during the 10-point win.

The first of those two kicks ensured the Blue Devils would score points after an early fumble, and the second made it a two-score game with 2:06 left to play. A miss would have set the Wolfpack up about 60 yards from the end zone with only seven points to make up, but Pelino instead knocked it through to effectively end the game.

“To play that position, you have to have a short memory,” Diaz said after Saturday’s win. “I’ve got 100% confidence, and our team does, in Todd and his ability, and we needed him tonight.”

Pelino is now 13/18 on the year, giving him a career percentage of 81.3%, with 27 conversions on his 28 extra-point attempts in 2024.

When’s the last time Duke football beat UNC and NC State in the same season?

With Duke’s win over NC State on Saturday, the Blue Devils have beaten UNC and the Wolfpack in the same year for the first time in a decade.

Duke football coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] continues to reset trends in his first year with the Blue Devils.

Diaz won his first five games as the Duke head coach, the school’s first 5-0 start in three decades, and with their 29-19 victory over NC State on Saturday, the Blue Devils are undefeated in The Triangle for the first time in 11 years.

Duke also beat the North Carolina Tar Heels in Week 5, a 21-20 victory that included the second-biggest comeback in school history. The Blue Devils hadn’t beaten UNC and the Wolfpack in the same year since 2013, and they’ve only pulled off that feat twice since 1990.

In 2013, the Blue Devils beat NC State 38-20 thanks to a pair of interceptions returned for touchdowns by defensive back Devon Edwards in the fourth quarter.

Three weeks later, Duke beat the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill 27-25 after quarterback Anthony Boone threw for 274 yards and two scores. Ross Martin kicked a 27-yard field goal with 2:22 to play to clinch a 10-2 regular season for the Blue Devils.

Duke can’t reach 10 wins during Diaz’s first campaign, but victories over Virginia Tech and Wake Forest would cement a 9-3 record ahead of bowl season.

Former Duke RB Jordan Waters only picks up 25 rushing yards against the Blue Devils

The Duke defense faced former teammate Jordan Waters on Saturday and held him under 50 yards from scrimmage in a 29-19 win.

The Duke football team beat the NC State Wolfpack on Saturday, a 29-19 victory that gave the Blue Devils a second 2024 win over an in-state rival, but the most satisfying part of Week 11 might stem from the performance of running back Jordan Waters.

Waters led the Blue Devils with 819 yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground in 2023, but after five seasons with the program, he transferred to Raleigh to spend his last year of eligibility with the Wolfpack.

The former Duke star entered Week 11 with 375 rushing yards, 98 receiving yards, and five total touchdowns for the season, but the best defense in the ACC didn’t let him replicate that pace on Saturday.

Waters finished with 25 rushing yards on 11 attempts, averaging 2.28 yards per carry with two runs longer than five yards and a single first-down conversion. He added two receptions for 17 yards, both in the fourth quarter with the Wolfpack trailing by two scores, to finish with just 42 yards from scrimmage on 13 touches.

That final output is Waters’ third-worst of the season. He only gained 14 yards against Syracuse and lost four yards against the Tennessee Volunteers in Week 2, but he touched the ball fewer than 10 times in both of those games.

Maalik Murphy needs just three more passing touchdowns to break a Duke football record

With two more passing touchdowns against NC State on Saturday, Maalik Murphy sits on the doorstep of a Duke football record.

Despite a midseason slump, it looks like redshirt sophomore [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] might break a Duke football record in his first season with the program.

Thanks to his two passing touchdowns against the NC State Wolfpack on Saturday, the former Texas Longhorn now has 22 for the season, just two short of Anthony Dilweg’s single-season record of 24 that has stood since 1988.

Murphy started the season on a torrid pace, throwing multiple touchdowns in every non-conference game to give him 11 through four contests. He only found the end zone three times in the next three games, but Murphy stacked two more three-touchdown games against SMU and Miami to reach 20 after Week 10.

He hit star senior Jordan Moore for a 45-yard score in the first quarter of Saturday’s 29-19 win, and his nine-yard touchdown throw to Sahmir Hagans gave Duke a 14-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter.

Dilweg’s single-season yardage record of 3,824, also set in 1988, looks out of reach for Murphy, who has only accumulated 2,366 through 10 games. With 634 combined yards against Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, and a potential bowl opponent, Murphy would put together the seventh 3,000-yard season in school history.

Maalik Murphy and the Duke defense spoils NC State’s senior night with 29-19 victory

Duke football ruined NC State’s senior day on Saturday thanks to some big plays from quarterback Maalik Murphy and the Blue Devils defense.

Duke desperately needed to move the chains late in the third quarter.

After racing out to a 12-0 lead in Raleigh against the NC State Wolfpack, four field goals from the in-state rivals left the Blue Devils locked in a tie game. With the offense nearing 30 consecutive scoreless minutes, quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] faced a second-and-20 from well within his own territory.

The redshirt sophomore hit the back of his drop, but with the edges of the pocket constricting around him, he pushed back toward the line of scrimmage and let the ball fly toward senior wideout [autotag]Jordan Moore[/autotag].

Moore caught the pass a few yards short of the sticks, creating a manageable third down, but he didn’t stop there. He brushed off a tackle and beat the Wolfpack defense to the sideline, somehow getting all 20 yards the Blue Devils needed.

Six plays later, Murphy pushed his way forward for a three-yard rushing touchdown to take a 19-12 lead, and Duke never gave up the advantage again en route to a 29-19 victory.

After allowing 497.5 yards per game to the two best offenses in the conference (SMU and Miami) over the last two weeks, the Blue Devils’ defense bounced back in a big way against the Wolfpack.

After Duke punter Kade Reynoldson pinned NC State within its own 5-yard line for their first possession, defensive linemen Wesley Williams and Aaron Hall wrecked a read-option run on second down and pulled down freshman quarterback CJ Bailey for a safety to give the Blue Devils the lead.

On the second play of NC State’s next drive, Bailey scrambled past the sticks before linebacker Ozzie Nicholas punched the ball out for a fumble, creating Duke’s FBS-leading 12th recovery of the season and giving the offense the ball in enemy territory.

That ensuing drive tacked on three more points thanks to a 50-yard field goal from Todd Pelino, and after two more three-and-outs, NC State finished the first quarter with 41 yards and one first down in 13 plays.

The two biggest plays of the night came from veteran safeties Jaylen Stinson and Terry Moore. NC State star receiver Kevin Concepcion snuck behind the Blue Devils’ secondary on third and goal in the second quarter and made a leaping grab, but Stinson tackled him toward the back line to make sure he couldn’t bring his feet down in bounds.

In the fourth quarter, with the Blue Devils leading by seven, Moore corraled a tipped ball for an interception on the positive side of the field. He made it all the way to the NC State 20-yard line before getting tackled, setting up the touchdown that made it a two-score game.

Duke’s defense finished the game with eight tackles for loss, upping their total to 85 for the season, and the Wolfpack only managed 263 yards of offense for the day.

Murphy eventually won the day by extending his strong recent form. One week after his first career 300-yard game against Miami, the former Texas Longhorn completed (six of his first seven) passes for 102 yards, highlighted by a 45-yard scoring strike to Moore in the middle of the first quarter that made it a 12-0 ballgame.

Moore, who spent the first half of ACC play recovering from an injury, also found the end zone against the Mustangs and Hurricanes. He finished Saturday’s game with three catches for 76 yards, including that critical 20-yard conversion, as he looks like a prominent feature of the offense once again.

After his 245 passing yards and two touchdowns against NC State (even without including the go-ahead rushing touchdown), Murphy is now up to 2,366 yards and 22 passing touchdowns for the season, bringing him within two scores of the single-season school record with two games left to play.

Now 7-3 for the season and back to .500 in conference play, the Blue Devils get a bye week before hosting Virginia Tech on November 23.

Duke football reveals black helmets for NC State game in Week 11

Duke football revealed their Week 11 uniforms for NC State on Thursday, featuring a black helmet with the gothic lettering.

The Duke Blue Devils play football in Raleigh on Saturday afternoon, and they’ll take the field in NC State territory wearing some new black helmets.

The Blue Devils revealed their Week 11 uniforms through social media on Thursday night, and the team will wear a black helmet with the school name written in the gothic font fans have gotten used to over the past few years.

Duke complimented the look with white jerseys and black pants.

Despite blue being the primary color for the Blue Devils, Duke has already brought out black helmets multiple times this season. The team sported an all-black look against the North Carolina Tar Heels in Week 5, a game that saw the Blue Devils mount the second-largest comeback in school history, and brought them back for the Week 8 home game against the Florida State Seminoles. Both of those helmets sported a devil design rather than the gothic script, however.

Also, for those counting at home, the above examples mean the Blue Devils are undefeated while wearing black helmets in 2024. Something to keep in mind.

How has former Duke running back Jordan Waters done with NC State so far?

With Duke football facing off against NC State on Saturday, we checked in on former Blue Devil Jordan Waters and his 2024 season thus far.

For the first five years of his career, running back Jordan Waters[/autotag] played for the Duke Blue Devils. However, ahead of his final year of eligibility, he entered the transfer portal and headed to in-state conference rival NC State.

Duke travels to Raleigh for a game against Waters and his new team in Week 11, so here’s a quick brief on how the former Blue Devil has done ahead of Saturday’s showdown.

Through the first nine games of his only season with the Wolfpack, Waters is finding some success. Across his 71 rushing attempts, he’s amassed 375 yards and four touchdowns and gained 98 more yards and another touchdown on nine receptions.

He’s also caught nine passes for 98 yards and one touchdown, but his most notable play of the season came against Stanford last week when he took a carry 94 yards to the house, the second-longest rush in program history.

However, a large portion of that production has come in two games. He picked up 124 yards against Western Carolina in Week 1 and 115 yards against Stanford last week, scoring two touchdowns in each game.

Across his other six appearances, Waters has just 136 yards on 46 attempts, including -4 yards on seven carries against the Tennessee Volunteers.

The best season of Waters’ career came with the Blue Devils in 2023 when he finished with 819 yards and 12 touchdowns on 153 attempts. He added nine passes for 139 yards, giving him 73.7 yards from scrimmage per game. He is currently averaging 59.1 per game this season, the second most of his career.

Now, Waters will face his former team this weekend as the Wolfpack hosts Duke. With six wins already, Duke is bowl-eligible. However, NC State still needs at least one more win to reach that mark for themselves.

Staff predictions for Week 11 matchup between Duke and NC State

Duke is gearing up to take on NC State on Saturday, check out our Duke Wire staff predictions for the game.

The Duke Blue Devils need to right the ship a little bit in Week 11 of the college football season.

Manny Diaz won his first five games as the school’s head coach, the first time that Duke started 5-0 in three decades, thanks to a 20-point comeback against the North Carolina Tar Heels to open ACC play.

However, despite reaching the precipice of an upset against ranked teams in each of the past two weeks, the Blue Devils have now lost three of their last four. Diaz nearly enacted some revenge on his former program in Miami last Saturday, building an 11-point lead over the undefeated Hurricanes before five late Miami touchdowns put the game away.

Now, Duke travels to Raleigh for a rivalry battle with the NC State Wolfpack in desperate need of a get-right win. The Wolfpack have won their past two games to reach 5-4 on the season, but both victories came against California and Stanford, teams with a combined 1-9 record against ACC opponents.

Here are our staff’s predictions for Saturday’s in-state battle.

Ryan Haley, Duke Wire site editor

NC State true freshman quarterback CJ Bailey deserves his flowers for his work replacing former Coastal Carolina star Grayson McCall. With the Wolfpack’s preseason starter forced to medically retire after a head injury, Bailey has thrown for 1,141 yards with nine touchdowns and two interceptions across his last four games.

However, while the Duke pass defense got boatraced by Miami quarterback Cam Ward, he’s a leading Heisman Trophy candidate. The Blue Devils entered Week 9 within the top five in the FBS in yards allowed per pass attempt, and they’ll continue that form. On top of that, a Duke offense that’s finally put together back-to-back games over 390 total yards will feast on an NC State defense that ranks 13th among ACC teams in yards allowed.

Duke 30, NC State 20

Bryant Crews, Staff Writer

Saturday’s game in Raleigh is a gut-check moment for Duke. This season can slide off the rails if Manny Diaz doesn’t have his team ready to compete. Duke let ranked wins over SMU and Miami slip away over the past two weeks and now heads to Raleigh after two straight losses to take on a local rival in a hotly contested game. CJ Bailey replaced Grayson McCall after he medically retired and has done a really good job. He looks like the guy for the future.

I still believe though that Duke is the best college football team in the state of North Carolina this season, and they get back in the win column with a win on Saturday. Maalik Murphy builds on his recent performance and tosses two touchdowns while the ground game also adds a score, too. Duke gets a strip sack and an interception on defense.

Duke 27, NC State 16

Josiah Caswell, Staff Writer

Duke has had a tough schedule over the last few weeks, but it finally gets a little bit easier this week. NC State has struggled from the get-go, and with a backup quarterback, the Blue Devils should be able to get a win here as long as they can hold onto the ball and do what they’ve done all season long.

The most interesting storyline I will be watching, however, is the return of running back Jordan Waters. He spent five years with the Blue Devil for five years and had a career year in 2023 before he transferred to an in-state, conference rival. How will he do, and how will the Duke defense handle his return?

Duke 34, NC State 13