Notes: Duke 10, Vanderbilt 7

10/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football

By: Duke Sports Information

Duke vs. Vanderbilt Notes
Saturday, October 25, 2008

Pregame:

Game captains: Duke ? Re'quan Boyette, Vincent Rey, Tielor Robinson, Michael Tauiliili;
Vanderbilt ? Reshard Langford, Bradley Vierling, George Smith

Vanderbilt won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. Duke will receive and defend the North endzone. Duke has lost all seven coin tosses in 2008.

Weather at kickoff: 60 degrees, fair, 41-percent humidity, wind west 7 mph

Kickoff was at 2:04 p.m.

Duke Game Starters: Offense ? QB Thaddeus Lewis, RB Clifford Harris, WR Eron Riley, WR Johnny Williams, TE Brett Huffman, B Tielor Robinson, LT Cameron Goldberg, LG Kyle Hill, C Bryan Morgan, RG Rob Schirmann, RT Fred Roland; Defense ? LDE Ayanga Okpokowuruk, DT Vince Oghobaase, NG Clifford Respress, RDE Greg Akinbiyi, MLB Michael Tauiliili, WLB Vincent Rey, CB Leon Wright, CB Jabari Marshall, CB Glenn Williams, S Catron Gainey, S Adrian Aye-Darko.

Duke vs. Vanderbilt Game Notes

Starting Streaks
Junior quarter Thaddeus Lewis made his 30th consecutive start against Vanderbilt. Senior wide receiver Eron Riley earned his team-high 32nd straight starting nod. Vince Oghobaase and Rob Schirmann each started for the 31st straight game. Kevin Jones and Fred Roland extended their start streaks to 19 straight while Leon Wright returned to the starting lineup after missing the Miami game with a leg injury.

MacIntyre Returns To Vanderbilt
Duke's defensive coordinator Mike MacIntyre made his return to Vanderbilt on Saturday. MacIntyre played two seasons at Vanderbilt (1984-85) under his father, George, who served as head coach of the Commodores from 1979-85. Mike went on to play at Georgia Tech and earn his bachelor's degree in 1989. George MacIntyre, a Nashivlle resident, was in attendance on Saturday.

White Uniforms
Duke wore white uniforms for the first time in 2008. The Blue Devils were in blue uniforms for their first road game as Georgia Tech wears white at home.

200 Yard Passing Game
Thaddeus Lewis completed 21 of his 36 passes against Vanderbilt for 222 yards and one touchdown. The 200-yard passing game was the third of the season for Lewis and 13th of his career.

Lewis Moves Up Duke Passing Chart
Thaddeus Lewis threw for 222 yards to move past Dave Brown in to fifth on Duke's career passing yards list. Lewis now has 5,887 career passing yards.

Lewis Ties Brown On Career Passing TD List
With his touchdown pass in the second quarter, Thaddeus Lewis moved in to a tie with Dave Brown for fourth on Duke's career passing touchdowns list. Lewis now has 42 career touchdown throws and is six shy of tying Spence Fischer and Steve Slayden for second on the school's charts.

Jackson Scores First Touchdown
Sophomore running back Tony Jackson scored his first career touchdown on a 22-yard reception with 54 seconds left in the second quarter. Jackson helped set up the touchdown with a 14-yard catch on third down-and-11 the play before.

Jackson Posts Big Game
Tony Jackson caught three passes for 74 yards and one touchdown out of the backfield. He also ran for 29 yards on 10 carries. Entering the game, Jackson had two catches for eight yards in his career. He was averaging 24 yards per game on the ground.

Riley Nets Career High
Senior wide receiver Eron Riley caught a career-high nine passes in a win over Vanderbilt. He finished the day with nine catches for 83 yards. His previous career high was eight receptions against Navy earlier this season and against Wake Forest in 2007.

Riley Climbs Receiving Yards List
Senior wide receiver Eron Riley tallied 83 receiving yards on nine catches to move past Doug Green in to fifth on Duke's career receiving yards list. Riley now has 2,139 receiving yards in his career. Next on the list is Corey Thomas with 2,297 career yards.

Riley Nears Duke Top-10 For Receptions
Eron Riley caught nine passes for 83 yards to move in to a tie with Walter Jones for 11th all-time at Duke. Riley now has 121 career receptions and is one shy of cracking the top-10 and matching Jomar Wright and Mark Militello with 122 career catches.

Receptions Streak
Eron Riley has now caught a pass in 21 consecutive games. He has caught at least one pass in 36 of his last 37 games and has two or more receptions in all seven games this season. True freshman Johnny Williams has caught a pass in all six of his collegiate games. Running back Clifford Harris had his streak of 12 straight games with a catch snapped on Saturday.

Rwabukamba Seals Game With First Career Interception
Sophomore Chris Rwabukamba intercepted a pass at the one-yard line with 38 seconds remaining in the game to seal a victory for the Blue Devils. The interception was the first of Rwabukamba's career.

Two Tauiliili Caused Turnovers
Senior linebacker Michael Tauiliili intercepted a pass on third down during Vanderbilt's first possession and caused a fumble on a punt in the third quarter. The interception was the second of the season for Tauiliili and fifth of his career. His caused fumble was the third of the season and eighth of his career. He has now been responsible for six turnovers in 2008 with two interceptions, three caused fumbles and one fumble recovery. For his career Tauiliili has five interceptions, eight caused fumbles and three fumble recoveries.

Forcing Turnovers
The Duke defense forced three Vanderbilt turnovers on Saturday. The Blue Devils have now forced a turnover in five straight games and six of the seven games on the season. Duke has forced three or more turnovers in four of the seven games this season. The Blue Devils also caused three turnovers against James Madison and Miami while forcing six against Virginia. The Blue Devils entered the game with 15 caused turnovers on the year. They ranked third in the ACC and eighth nationally with a +7 turnover margin.

Third Down Sacks
Duke recorded two sacks on third down in the first half. Glenn Williams recorded his first sack of the season on a third down in the first quarter to force a Vanderbilt punt. He now has 3.5 career sacks. Clifford Respress tallied his second sack of the season in the second quarter to hold the Commodores to a field goal attempt, which went wide left. The sack was the fifth of Respress' career.

Defense Records Season-High Sack Total
The Blue Devils posted a season-high four sacks against the Commodores. The previous single game best was two sacks, which Duke tallied against James Madison, Navy and Miami. Ayanga Okpokowuruk tallied two sacks to give him three on the year. Clifford Respress registered his second sack of the season while Glenn Williams earned his first sack of the year.

Red Zone Defense
Vanderbilt entered the game tied for first in the SEC with a 96 percent red zone conversion rate. They had scored on 22 of their 23 times inside the red zone. On Saturday Duke held the Commodores to a missed field goal on their only trip inside the red zone.

Punt Teams Make Big Plays
Senior Charles Robinson was credited with a blocked punt with under a minute to play in the first half. The blocked punt was recovered by Eddie Morgan. It was the first blocked kick of the season for the Blue Devils. In the third quarter, Michael Tauiliili stripped the ball from Vanderbilt's Jamie Graham. The ball was recovered by Duke's long snapper Chris Shannon.

Maggio Makes Long Field Goal
Sophomore kicker Nick Maggio made a 42-yard field goal in the third quarter to put Duke ahead 10-0. After going 1-for-2 on the day, Maggio has now made 7-of-9 field goals on the season. He is 3-of-4 on attempts 40 yards or longer.

Jones Punts Inside 20-Yard Line
Sophomore punter Kevin Jones had seven punts against the Commodores with six going inside the 20-yard line. He averaged 38.7 yards per punt with a long of 54. On the season he has now placed 18 kicks inside the 20-yard line with only two touchbacks.

Attendance: 38,270