After going down 0-14 on the road at Cal, Duke roared back to claim a terrific 45-21 win.
After the 0-14 start, Duke outscored Cal 24-7 in the second quarter. Neither team scored in the third but the Blue Devils tacked on another 14 in the fourth to crush the Bears.
Darian Mensah had an outstanding game with 265 passing yards and two touchdowns on 22/30. Nate Sheppard had another terrific game with 91 yards on 12 carries including two TDs and one of 46 yards.
Anderson Castle scored twice as well.
While
Mensah and Sheppard were highly impressive, Duke’s defense was just terrific, picking off Cal freshman QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele four times and dominating Cal at the line.
When Duke started off 0-2, things were really not looking great, but the Blue Devils seem to have found their footing. You have to give a lot of credit to Manny Diaz and his staff for a tremendous turnaround.
One sign of this: Duke was dreadful about turnovers in those games. Not in this one: the Blue Devils had no fumbles and no interceptions.
Duke gets a bye week next week before facing #17 Georgia Tech at home and then a road trip to struggling Clemson (though they certainly didn’t struggle against hapless UNC Saturday).
It’s too early to say that Duke could run the table, but is it out of the question?
After the last three Saturdays? No. This has become a very good football team.
Due to the late finish, Bob Green will share his thoughts later Sunday.
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