Upcoming Event: Football versus Virginia on November 15, 2025 at 3:30 p.m.
Football
vs Virginia
Notes: UConn 45, Duke 14
9/1/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Pregame:
- The Blue Devils are wearing decals on their helmets this season in remberance of Duke Sports Hall of Fame inductee Dr. Frank Bassett, who passed away on March 6, 2007. Bassett served as Duke's team physician from 1966-93. In 2002, Bassett received the Volunteer of the Year award from the National Association of Athletic Development Directors for his efforts in co-chairing the Duke University Football Campaign. The campaign raised over $20 million for the Yoh Football Center that opened in the fall of 2002. In addition, Duke -- along with the other 11 ACC schools -- will don a patch on the front of the game jersey to recognize the campus tragedy at Virginia Tech this past spring.
- Game captains: Duke ? Justin Boyle, Matt Rumsey, Patrick Bailey and Jomar Wright; Connecticut ? Darius Butler, Dan Davis, D.J. Hernandez and Larry Taylor.
- Connecticut won the coin toss and deferred to second half. Connecticut will defend the North endzone.
Connecticut - 45, Duke - 14:
- With the win Connecticut now leads the overall series between the two schools, 2-0.
- Following the game Duke moves to 54-38-3 all-time in season openers while Connecticut is now 48-59-2 when starting a new season.
- Long snapper Casey Hales made his team-leading 35th consecutive start. Matt Rumsey extended his starts streak to 24 straight games, earning the start at center. Rush end Patrick Bailey has now started 21 consecutive games. Junior Michael Tauiliili saw his start streak end at 22 games after being suspended for one game due to violation of team rules. Making their first career starts for Duke against Connecticut include: Brandon King, Bryan Morgan, Ryan Radloff, Tim Ball, Vincent Rey, Charles Robinson, Leon Wright and Kevin Jones.
- Sophomore starting quarterback Thaddeus Lewis completed 14 passes to a combined eight different receivers in the game. He threw one touchdown pass to move to within two TD throws Billy Cox, who ranks 10th on the Duke career list.
- Eron Riley caught two passes for 60 yards in the game, including a 53-yard grab on the Blue Devils' opening possession. He is the current active leader in the ACC for yards per catch. He has 45 career grabs for 950 yards, an average of 21.1 yards per reception.
- Brandon King's six-yard touchdown reception was his first career touchdown. It was the sophomore's eighth career catch.
- Clifford Respress recorded his second career sack in the first quarter of UConn quarterback Tyler Lorenzen.
- Jabari Marshall returned a kick 94 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter. The 94-yard return ties the 11th longest in Duke history. He is the third active Blue Devil with a kickoff return for a touchdown, joining seniors Ronnie Drummer and Chris Davis. Marshall finished the game with six kick returns for 191 yards, moving him into eighth on the all-time kick return yards list at Duke with 1,144 career yards while his 44 career returns are 10th all-time.
- Patrick Bailey tallied his fifth career sack in the second quarter and would later share a sack with Vincent Rey to give him 5.5 career sacks. He also recorded two quarterback hurries earlier in the contest.
- Vincent Rey also recorded 1.5 sacks in the game to go along with a career-high 17 total tackles. His previous best was three tackles last season at Boston College.
- Charles Robinson recorded his first career interception in the fourth quarter. He returned it nine yards. He also tallied two tackles for a loss in his first collegiate start and had a career-high seven total tackles.
- Vince Oghobaase blocked an extra point in the fourth quarter for his first career blocked kick. Last season the Blue Devils recorded four blocked kicks.
- Backup quarterback Zack Asack played two series in the game, completing his only pass attempt for six yards while rushing four times for one net yard. He also had one punt for 29 yards.
- Nine different Duke players registered five or more tackles in the game with Vincent Rey leading the way with 17 on four solo and 13 assisted. Leon Wright and Chris Davis followed with eight total tackles apiece while Charles Robinson and Tim Ball each posted seven tackles. The defense tallied four sackes and eight tackles for a loss while recording one interception and a blocked extra point.
- Attendance for the season opener was 17,251.
- Duke will play its next game against the University of Virginia on Saturday, September 8 at 12 p.m. in Charlottesville, Va. The game will be televised by Lincoln Financial Sports. Virginia suffered a season opening loss to Wyoming.
Players Mentioned
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