The Duke football program used a massive scoring run en route to picking up its third straight victory over California on Saturday. The Blue Devils are now 4-2 overall and 3-0 in conference play, with legitimate ACC Championship title hopes now emerging. Duke hasn't brought an ACC crown to Durham since 1989, but with this revamped offense that the Blue Devils have put on display over their last few games, it's looking like a real possibility with how wide open the conference has looked. Quarterback Darian Mensah put on another strong showing to add to his stellar redshirt sophomore season, and he's entering the conversation for the best QB the ACC has to offer.
Duke rides historic offensive run to take down California 45-21
The Blue Devils were on the road for the second consecutive week and were able to take down the Golden Bears 45-21. It was a slow start offensively for Duke, but it used a massive second-quarter scoring surge to take the game over. Duke was down 21-7 in the second quarter, then proceeded to score 38 unanswered points to steal the game away. Over Duke's three-game winning streak, it has now outscored its opponents 128-57.
Mensah put together another fantastic showing, completing 22-of-30 (73.3%) of his passes for 265 yards in the air, two touchdowns, and no turnovers. After struggling to take care of the football through the Blue Devils' first few games this season, the redshirt sophomore has now been turnover-free across his last three contests.
The Duke defense forced four turnovers on the Golden Bears while limiting Cal to just 286 yards of total offense. Freshman Elliott Schaper burst onto the scene, leading the squad in tackles with 12 while adding an interception and two sacks to his stat line.
The Blue Devils are now one of two teams in the ACC that are 3-0 in conference play, along with Virginia. After a sloppy start to the season with tons of unforced errors and miscues, Duke now looks like one of the top-tier squads the conference has to offer and will certainly be competing for its first conference title in over 30 years.