Duke Football: Blue Devils trying to secure win with one half left in season

With 30 minutes left in the season, the Duke Football team will look to finish strong in the Walk-On’s Independence Bowl against the Temple Owls.

Before the Duke Blue Devils and the Temple Owls kickoff, there was a surprise as Temple star running back Ryquell Armstead and cornerback Rock Ya-Sin were both inactive.

But the Blue Devils had their share of inactives as well, with star linebackers Joe Giles-Harris and Ben Humphreys on the sideline for the bowl game.

Once the game was kicked off, it was a perfect start for the Blue Devils.

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The Blue Devils won the coin toss and deferred its option to the second half so the banged up Duke defense was on the field to start the game, and the unit stood tall and forced a three and out.

Once Duke got the ball two straight runs by Deon Jackson gave the Blue Devils a 1st Down, and then Daniel Jones dropped a beautiful pass right in the arms of T.J. Rahming for 63 yards, which set Duke up at the Temple 3-yard line.

Quentin Harris then entered the game in the ‘Wildcat’ formation and took it himself up the middle for a Duke touchdown, putting the Blue Devils up 7-0.

However, the Temple Owls would respond with a touchdown of its own, set up by an Isaiah Wright 74 yard kickoff return, ending with Anthony Russo taking it in himself from 15 yards out to tie the game at seven.

On the Blue Devils’ second possession, Daniel Jones got hit and rolled on the wrong way and came up limping and had to leave the game.

Quentin Harris replaced him and completed a 3rd down pass for a 1st Down and then ran for another 1st Down on 3rd Down, but on a 2nd & 11, Harris tried to throw a screen pass and it was read like a book by Delvon Randall and returned for a touchdown.

The Blue Devils blocked the extra points, so the Owls went up 13-7.

After the ensuing kickoff, Daniel Jones returned at quarterback for the Blue Devils.

Jones was too long on a deep ball to Johnathan Lloyd, and then fired a strike to Rahming for what would have been a 1st Down, but Rahming couldn’t hold on, and Jones was then sacked on 3rd Down.

After a Temple first down, Brandon Feamster intercepted an Anthony Russo pass which put the Blue Devils back in business, but Duke couldn’t capitalize going three and out.

The Duke defense stood tall one again and forced Temple to punt, but after getting the ball back to the offense, Jones was intercepted on a 3rd down by Linwood Crup to set Temple up at their own 40 yard line.

The Owls would take advantage of the Blue Devils mistake, converting two 3rd Downs on the drive which ended with a Rob Ritrovato touchdown run to put Temple up 20-7.

The Blue Devils would respond as Daniel Jones and Chris Taylor hooked up for 12 yards on a 3rd & 8 and then Jones found Taylor wide open down the middle of the field for a 44 yard touchdown pass to cut the Temple lead to 20-14.

However, the Owls marched right back down the field for a touchdown pass from Anthony Russo to Brodrick Yancy which gave Temple its 13 point lead once again at, 27-14.

As the first half came to the close, the points started to flow as Daniel Jones found T.J. Rahming for a touchdown to cut the Temple lead back to six points, making the score 27-21 at halftime.

The Blue Devils managed to stop Temple in the final minute of the first half and Duke will get the ball back to start the second half.

If Daniel Jones can lead the Blue Devils down the field for a touchdown to start the second half, this game takes will take on a new life.

Expect a lot of points in the second half and this game might come down to the ability of the Duke defense to get a stop.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham at our Twitter, @Ball_Durham, and here at our website, balldurham.com, for complete coverage of the Walk-On’s Independence Bowl between the Duke Blue Devils and the Temple Owls.

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