Duke football offense flips script in win

Duke football has been a predominantly second-half team so far this season, scoring 35 of its 52 total points through the first two games of its season in the back half of games. Last night against the Connecticut Huskies, that script seemed to flip, as the Blue Devils were able to find a rhythm early on before stalling after the halftime break.

Quarterback Maalik Murphy had all day in the pocket it seemed in the first half against the Huskies. The offensive line was protecting him well, giving Murphy all of the time he needed to connect with his receivers.

Duke scored a touchdown on its opening offensive drive for the first time this season behind a nine play, 92-yard drive. It didn't take long for offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer to give Murphy the green light to take deep shots downfield, as Murphy connected with Jordan Moore for a 45-yard completion on the second play of the game. It was a beautifully placed ball from Murphy right in the pocket for Moore to come up with right around midfield.

After continuing the drive, Murphy ultimately connected with Moore again for a four-yard touchdown. Murphy put the ball in the perfect spot and Moore was able to come up with it after a bobble.

After two straight punts on the next two offensive possessions for Duke, the Duke defense forced a fumble, setting the offense up around the UConn 40-yard line. The possession would end with a field goal, putting the Blue Devils up 10-0 early on in the second quarter.

Duke was able to get in the end zone once more in the first half on its next offensive possession. Murphy was able to connect with another one of his receivers for a big time play, as he found Eli Pancol for a 36-yard touchdown catch to put the Blue Devils up 17-0 with under nine minutes to go in the first half.

The Duke offense has had issues across the early part of the season with unforced errors faulting any offensive momentum it had generated across the course of the game. It dealt with that again late in the first half, and it completely flipped the atmosphere of Wallace Wade stadium.

On Duke's next offensive possession, Murphy had a pass tipped leading to an interception taken back for a Huskies touchdown to bring the score to 17-7. This would spark a huge UConn comeback surge and leave the Duke offense struggling to pick up where it left off.

Duke would come out of the halftime break cold, punting on its first three possessions of the half, two of those being three-and-outs. UConn took advantage of this, eventually taking the lead 21-17 in the third quarter.

We saw something similar in Duke's last game against Northwestern, where the offense couldn't get anything going and it put that much more pressure on the defense to keep the Blue Devils in reach still.

But, what Duke was also able to do against the Wildcats last week was generate offense late in the game despite having problems for the majority of the second half, and Murphy was able to lead a late offensive charge to give Duke back the lead.

After a 47-yard Todd Pelino field goal brought the score to 21-20, an interception by Terry Moore on the Huskies' next possession changed the tides of the game back in Duke's favor. Starting on its 44-yard line, Duke was able to get down the field with the possession ending with another missile from Murphy. He found Que'Sean Brown from twenty yards out to put Duke back in front 26-21 after a failed two-point conversion attempt.

Last night was another example of mistakes keeping opponents in games that Duke had control in. Yet again, the offense was able to find a way out of it and do what it needed to do to seal the victory.

Murphy undoubtedly looked much more comfortable in the pocket last night and continues to get better with each game that comes. He finished 28-for-43 passing for 267 yards and three touchdowns. He's now the first Duke quarterback to start 3-0 since Anthony Boone in 2013.

This was also the first time we saw the Duke run attack be a major factor. Star Thomas took on the bulk of the work with the injury to Jaquez Moore, finishing with 22 carries for 122 yards. Sophomore Peyton Jones also saw time in the backfield and looked like a great complementary piece, totaling twelve carries for 40 yards.

And despite hitting a wall for a good part of the second half, this was a great sign to see the Duke offense be able to get going early in the game and put pressure on the opposition, something the unit had had a difficult time doing through the first two games of the season.

Ability to convert on third downs was a big question coming into last night's contest, and Duke improved since going 4-for-15 against Northwestern, going 6-for-18 on third downs last night. As a pass-heavy offense under Brewer, Duke has passed on third down almost every time. Northwestern was able to predict it easily last week and consistently stop it, but Duke was able to find open men and get past the marker last night. It will be interesting to see if Brewer begins to utilize Thomas on third and shorts more after he began to take the majority of the work, as his power-back build could be a great tool.

Duke football is now 3-0 and faces Middle Tennessee State on the road next on September 21st.