Tag: Virginia Tech Hokies

Eli Pancol helps Duke football vanquish Virginia Tech for a senior night victory

Eli Pancol caught three first-half touchdowns against Virginia Tech on Saturday night to help deliver Duke’s eighth victory of the season.

The Duke Blue Devils won in Durham yet again on Saturday night, taking advantage of two early touchdowns from fifth-year wideout Eli Pancol for a 31-28 victory over Virginia Tech.

Pancol, a fifth-year senior playing his final game at Wallace Wade Stadium, made sure every Duke football fan left with a positive memory of his time in Durham. On the Blue Devils’ first offensive snap, he beat the entire Hokies secondary on a post route up the seam. Quarterback Maalik Murphy floated the ball perfectly to catch him in stride, and 86 yards later, Duke led by seven points.

The offense faced its first third down of the evening one possession later. Needing seven yards to move the sticks, Murphy looked well past that for Pancol again. The redshirt sophomore put the ball toward the sideline, letting his target spin around for a back-shoulder grab, but Hokies defensive back Dante Lovett stumbled to the ground as Pancol turned.

The opening left no one between Pancol and the end zone, and he raced the remaining distance to the goal line for a 77-yard score.

Pancol ended the first quarter with 175 yards on three receptions, and he caught a third touchdown with six minutes left in the second quarter. He ended the game with a career-high 188 yards on five catches.

That second-quarter touchdown gave Murphy his 25th scoring pass of the year, breaking a single-season school record that stood since 1988. However, despite Pancol’s monstrous production, it was an up-and-down opening half for the former Texas Longhorn.

After finishing four of his last six games without an interception, Murphy tossed three before the break to let the Hokies back into the ballgame. He gave the ball away to defensive back Dorian Strong on consecutive possessions in the middle of the half, creating two drives that resulted in 10 Virginia Tech points.

Murphy completed six of his first nine passes for 180 yards, but he only connected on four of his last 14 attempts in the half. Outside of a 58-yard catch-and-run connection with senior wideout Jordan Moore, he threw for two yards in the second quarter, and the Blue Devils led just 21-17 when they went to the locker room.

As he’s done over and over again in 2024, however, Duke’s quarterback summoned good football during a critical second-half possession.

With the Blue Devils receiving the ball first, Murphy found redshirt sophomore Que’Sean Brown for completions of 34 and 18 yards as he marched his teammates down the field. He finished that drive four-for-four with 73 yards, and running back Star Thomas finally got a turn in the end zone with a 2-yard score to make it a two-score game just three minutes into the half.

Murphy ended his final home game of the season with a career-high 332 yards, his second 300-yard performance in three games, and he’s thrown 11 touchdowns over the last four.

A game with six combined turnovers will never be described as “calm,” but the scoreboard settled down from there at least. The two teams combined for a single touchdown over the final 26 minutes, and despite a late Thomas fumble that gave the Hokies a last-gasp possession after the two-minute warning, the Blue Devils held on for a 31-28 triumph.

Duke clinched its third straight eight-win season with the result. The Blue Devils travel to Winston-Salem next week for a road game against Wake Forest

Duke quarterback Maalik Murphy breaks the school single-season passing touchdown record

Maalik Murphy threw his 25th passing touchdown of the season on Saturday night against Virginia Tech, breaking Duke’s single-season record.

Duke quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] threw his third touchdown against the Virginia Tech Hokies in the second quarter, a 7-yard strike to fifth-year senior Eli Pancol that officially etched his name in program history.

The touchdown, Murphy’s 25th of the season, broke Anthony Dilweg’s school record for single-season passing touchdowns that stood for 36 years. Dilweg tossed 24 scores in 1988, the same year he threw for a school-record 3,824 yards.

Only seven previous Blue Devils reached 20 touchdowns in a single season (although Thaddeus Lewis did so twice), and only three have ever reached 21 in a campaign.

Murphy set his record-breaking pace early with 11 scores in the first four games. He found the end zone three times in three straight games from Weeks 2-4, including two touchdown passes in overtime against the Northwestern Wildcats.

While the former Texas Longhorn slowed down with three touchdowns over the next three weeks, he found his stride again when the SMU Mustangs came to Durham in Week 9. He threw for 295 yards and three scores in that game, and he put together his first 300-yard game on the road against Miami one week later.

Murphy’s record-setting throw was his 11th touchdown pass in Duke’s last four games.

ACC Network back in Durham for Week 13 football game between Duke and Virginia Tech

ACC Network announced on Friday that ACC Huddle would be in Durham on Saturday ahead of Duke’s game against Virginia Tech.

For the second time in a month, ACC Network’s primary football show will be on-site in Durham for the weekend.

The channel announced on Friday that ACC Huddle would set up shop in Durham ahead of the Week 13 matchup between the Duke Blue Devils (7-3, 3-3) and Virginia Tech Hokies (5-5, 3-3).

Duke’s final home game of the season will be the nightcap on ACC Network, kicking off at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. The Blue Devils already revealed they’ll wear black jerseys and blue helmets, and the grounds crew painted the end zones black. In his first year with the program, head coach Manny Diaz won four of his first five games at Wallace Wade Stadium, and Duke is 15-3 within the friendly confines since the start of 2022.

ACC Huddle also stopped in the Bull City in Week 9 ahead of the Blue Devils’ battle with SMU, and that game resulted in an instant classic. Duke lined up for a game-winning field goal on the final play of regulation, but the Mustangs blocked the kick to force overtime.

The Blue Devils tried for a game-winning 2-point conversion, but Maalik Murphy’s pass sailed just past Eli Pancol’s outstretched hands.

Duke Blue Devils to wear black uniforms and blue helmets against Virginia Tech in Week 13

The Duke Blue Devils unveiled their final home uniform of the 2024 season on Thursday night, complete with black jerseys and blue helmets.

The Duke Blue Devils unveiled the uniform combination for their final home game of the 2024 season on Thursday night, again incorporating black into their look for Week 13.

The Blue Devils will wear black jerseys and pants with blue helmets against Virginia Tech with the school’s signature ‘D’ emblem in white on the lid.

Despite blue and white serving as the team’s primary colors, black has been a consistent feature in the 2024 Duke uniforms. The Blue Devils wore all black against the North Carolina Tar Heels, black jerseys against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, and black helmets against the Florida State Seminoles and NC State Wolfpack.

The grounds crew even incorporated the color into the field design. The team shared a photo of Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium on Friday with black end zones instead of the usual blue.

Since the start of the 2022 season, the Blue Devils are 15-3 in front of their home crowd. Head coach Manny Diaz won four of his first five home games in his first season with the program.

Duke football teases black end zone design for 2024’s final game at Wallace Wade Stadium

The Duke football team debuted its final end zone design of the 2024 regular season on Friday, a different look from the rest of the year.

The Duke Blue Devils play in front of the Wallace Wade Stadium crowd for the final time this season on Saturday night, and the team debuted a new field design for the occasion.

According to a photo shared by the team on Friday afternoon, the field crew painted the end zones black instead of the usual blue for this weekend’s game against Virginia Tech.

The Blue Devils usually don their traditional blue and white, but they’ve incorporated black into several uniform combinations already this season. Duke wore an all-black outfit against the North Carolina Tar Heels in Week 5, black jerseys against Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in Week 6, and black helmets against the Florida State Seminoles and NC State Wolfpack.

Duke has won four of its first five games in Durham this season, and since the start of 2022, the Blue Devils are 15-3 at Wallace Wade Stadium. A win over the Hokies could clinch their third consecutive eight-win season.

Staff predictions for Week 13 matchup between Duke and Virginia Tech

Duke football is gearing up to take on Virginia Tech this Saturday, check out our Duke Wire staff predictions for the game.

The Duke Blue Devils have already exceeded expectations on the football field in 2024, but the final two weeks decide whether head coach Manny Diaz’s first season in Durham is good or great.

Duke already qualified for the postseason with seven wins in its first seven games, including the first season sweep of the North Carolina Tar Heels and NC State Wolfpack since 2013, but each successive tally in the win column only improves the Blue Devils’ national standing. A Week 14 win over Wake Forest would give Diaz bragging rights over the entire state, but the Virginia Tech Hokies must be taken care of first.

The Hokies’ 5-5 record makes them look like unformidable foes, but several ranked teams found out that fallacy the hard way already. While Virginia Tech didn’t win either game, it led Miami by 10 points in the fourth quarter and took a 7-0 advantage into halftime against the Clemson Tigers.

Check out whether our staff thinks the Blue Devils can slow down the Hokies and their elite rushing attack in this year’s final game at Wallace Wade Stadium.

Ryan Haley, Duke Wire site editor

Before anything else, the status of Virginia Tech quarterback Kyron Drones and running back Bhayshul Tuten determines this entire game. Both players, who combine for nearly 70% of the team’s rushing yards, have dealt with injuries for most of the last month, but a bye week should have them closer to full speed.

Still, head coach Brent Pry labeled them as questionable earlier in the week, and even if they just play at less than 100%, that drastically changes Virginia Tech’s offensive outlook.

While a run-first program plays away from Duke’s defensive strengths, I think the intelligence and discipline of Jonathan Patke’s defense get brushed away more than they should. There are veterans everywhere, including the front seven, and they’ll be able to navigate some complicated run designs.

Besides, if quarterback Maalik Murphy keeps throwing multiple touchdowns per game on the other side, Duke is genuinely a top-five team in the conference. The redshirt sophomore hasn’t just produced more over the last three games, he’s looked more comfortable and made cleaner decisions, and there’s no reason to doubt that trend.

Duke 28, Virginia Tech 23

Bryant Crews, Staff Writer

For one last time in 2024, Duke will take the field at Wallace Wade. They do so, hosting an underachieving Virginia Tech team that some thought could compete for the ACC title and even the College Football Playoff. Well, to put it plainly, that just won’t be happening despite them returning 22 starters. Duke, on the other hand, has an incredibly reasonable shot at a nine-win season at 7-3.

Virginia Tech has a diverse and steady run game that Duke’s defense will have to key in on, but the Hokies passing game is far from electric. Making Drones a dropback passer and eliminating the RPO game could tilt things heavily in Duke’s favor. Tuten, a transfer from North Carolina A&T, is a highlight waiting to happen for the Hokies, and he’s closing in on 1,000 yards to pair with 12 touchdowns.

A fast start from Duke could completely mess up the likely game script for Virginia Tech offensive coordinator Tyler Bowen and allow Duke to pin its ears back and rush the QB, which favors the Blue Devils.

I think we see Duke off a bye week with a bit of extra pep in its step, and Duke pulls early 4th quarter for a two-score win. I see Sahmir Hagans scoring this week, too.

Duke 29, Virginia Tech 20

Josiah Caswell, Staff Writer

While I think Duke will win, Virginia Tech does pose a very interesting matchup for the Blue Devils. All year long, Duke’s specialty has been its pass defense led by cornerback Chandler Rivers.

Additionally, the Blue Devils’ pass rush and defensive line recorded 28.0 sacks and led the nation in tackles for loss for much of the season.

Despite that, the Blue Devils’ rushing defense isn’t stellar, or rather, it is more average at best. Out of all 134 FBS teams, the Duke rushing defense ranks just 71st with 149.3 rush yards allowed per game, including 3.83 yards per carry and 10 touchdowns.

For Virginia Tech, Tuten and Drones will make sure to test that. If Duke can continue forcing tackles for loss, it should win this no doubt. However, if Virginia Tech can have its way on the ground, the Hokies could create a very close game.

Duke 21, Virginia Tech 14

What does Duke quarterback Maalik Murphy need to make program history in Week 13?

Duke quarterback Maalik Murphy could break the Blue Devils’ single-season passing touchdown record on Saturday. Here’s what he needs.

With two games left in the 2024 regular season, quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] could leave his mark on the Duke football program before the end of the month.

With two touchdowns in his last appearance, Murphy tossed 22 touchdowns through his first 10 games in a Blue Devils uniform. That leaves him just two short of Anthony Dilweg’s school record of 24, a number that has stood since 1988.

So what are his chances of making history in front of the home crowd on Saturday? Murphy’s thrown multiple touchdowns in eight different games this season, including each of his last three.

The Virginia Tech secondary gave up 15 touchdowns in its first 10 games, but the Hokies have suffered from some feast-or-famine symptoms in 2024. Thirteen of those scores came in just five games, including four from Miami quarterback Cam Ward. If Duke fans want some recent form to take advantage of, however, Virginia Tech’s past two opponents have thrown five touchdowns while averaging 245.5 yards through the air.

He’ll have one more chance against Wake Forest if history doesn’t come in Week 13, but Murphy could very well do something yet unseen at Wallace Wade Stadium.

Former Duke football star Aeneas Peebles returns to Wallace Wade Stadium on Saturday

With the Virginia Tech Hokies coming to Durham on Saturday, a former four-year Duke football star makes his return to Wallace Wade Stadium.

The Duke Blue Devils play their last home game of the 2024 college football season on Saturday, and a former member of the program will be on the visitor’s sideline.

Defensive tackle Aeneas Peebles spent four seasons in Durham, totaling 14.5 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks between his 48 games in a Duke uniform. However, once former head coach Mike Elko left to helm the Texas A&M Aggies, he entered the transfer portal and ended up in Blacksburg.

Through his first 10 games of the 2024 season, Peebles has three sacks, but he hasn’t added to that total since a road game against Stanford on October 5. He’s amassed 28 total tackles, including 5.0 for a loss, and he had his best game against Rutgers back in Week 4. He ended that performance with five tackles and 1.5 TFLs.

While Peebles has found success along a defensive front that sits third among ACC teams with 31 total sacks, the Blue Devils didn’t exactly lose the split. Duke’s 28 sacks are fifth in the conference, and under first-year coordinator Jonathan Patke, the team has 85 TFLs in 10 games.

Duke fans can watch the Blue Devils try to beat their former teammate on ACC Network at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time.

Two big Virginia Tech football stars listed as questionable ahead of Saturday game vs Duke

Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry labeled his top two offensive weapons as questionable ahead of a Saturday game against Duke.

The Duke Blue Devils (7-3) host the Virginia Tech Hokies (5-5) for the final home football game of the season on Saturday, and the fans in Durham should keep a close eye on the status of two major stars on the opposing team.

Virginia Tech head coach Brent Pry said on Tuesday that quarterback Kyron Drones and running back Bhayshul Tuten are both questionable for Saturday’s game, as is running back Malachi Thomas.

Drones has thrown for 1,562 yards this season, completing 60.7% of his passes and averaging 7.0 yards per attempt. He’s found the end zone 10 times through the air and six more times with his legs, adding 336 yards as a rushing threat.

Tuten would be the biggest loss for Virginia Tech if he can’t go at full strength. He picked up 951 yards and scored 12 touchdowns in the team’s first eight games, including a 266-yard performance against Boston College.

Tuten and Drones both missed the Hokies’ road game against Syracuse on November 2, and Virginia Tech lost 38-31 in overtime.

Thomas’s status becomes much more important if Tuten can’t carry a large percentage of the work. His 160 yards are the third-most on the team, and he picked up 73 yards and reached the end zone once against the Orange.

Duke is excited for the challenge of Virginia Tech’s ground game, Jonathan Patke says

Virginia Tech brings a dominant rushing attack to Durham, but defensive coordinator Jonathan Patke’s unit won’t shy from a challenge.

The Duke defense welcomes Virginia Tech to Wallace Wade Stadium on Saturday, and the Hokies bring one of the ACC’s best ground games with them to Durham.

Through Week 12, the Hokies are one of five ACC teams averaging more than five yards per carry, and they’re second among those five teams in total attempts. The end result is an offense picking up more than 185 rushing yards per week.

“I think they do a great job in the run game trying to attack you with some outside zone, some stretch, and a lot of motion on every play,” Duke defensive coordinator Jonathan Patke said on Monday. “About 75 percent of their normal downs have some type of motion on it to get your eyes going in the wrong direction.”

Running back Bhayshul Tuten and quarterback Kyron Drones form the heartbeat of that attack. Tuten picked up 951 yards and scored 12 touchdowns through the Hokies’ first eight games, surpassing the 100-yard mark five different times. He’s battled injury over the last two weeks, but he rumbled around for 266 yards and three scores against Boston College just a month ago.

Drones, who has also battled some injuries for the last three weeks, has added 336 yards and six scores with his legs. While the Blue Devils have faced SMU’s Kevin Jennings, Miami’s Cam Ward, and NC State’s CJ Bailey in the past three games, Patke says Drones presents a different challenge.

“He’s a little bit different than the guys we’ve seen in the past few weeks,” Patke said on Monday. “He’s going to try to run through you and he’s a big guy, so they designed some runs for him and sometimes he just makes it happen on his own.”

The duo has combined for more than 69% of the Hokies’ rushing yards. Despite their talent, however, Patke didn’t make it sound like his defense carried any nerves.

“It’s a great challenge for us,” he concluded. “It will be a physical football game and we’re excited.”