Notes: Duke 31, Virginia 3

9/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football

By: Duke Sports Information

Pregame:

Game captains: Duke ? Re'quan Boyette, Vincent Rey, Tielor Robinson, Michael Tauiliili;
Virginia ? Vic Hall, Cedric Peerman, Clint Sintim, John Phillips

Virginia won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. Duke will receive and defend the North endzone.

Weather at kickoff: 74 degrees, cloudy, 73-percent humidity, wind Southeast at 3 MPH

Kickoff was at 12:02 p.m.

Duke Game Starters: Offense ? QB Thaddeus Lewis, RB Clifford Harris, WR Eron Riley, WR Raphael Chestnut, TE Brett Huffman, TE Tielor Robinson, LT Cameron Goldberg, LG Kyle Hill, C Bryan Morgan, RG Rob Schirmann, RT Fred Roland; Defense ? LDE Wesley Oglesby, DT Vince Oghobaase, NG Clifford Respress, RDE Greg Akinbiyi, SLB Marcus Jones, MLB Michael Tauiliili, WLB Vincent Rey, CB Leon Wright, CB Glenn Williams, S Matt Daniels, S Glenn Williams.

Duke -31, Virginia 3

Starting Streaks
Four players have started over 20 straight games for the Blue Devils. Senior wide receiver Eron Riley earned his 29th straight starting nod. Vince Oghobaase and Rob Schirmann started for the 28th straight game while junior quarterback Thaddeus Lewis has now started in 27 consecutive games. Fred Roland and Michael Tauiliili extended their start streaks to 15 straight while Greg Akinbiyi garnered his 10th start in a row.

First Career Starts
True freshman Matt Daniels earned his first career start at safety. Daniels has played in all four games and is the second true freshman to start for Duke this season. Wide receiver Johnny Williams started the first three games of the year. Sophomore tight end Brett Huffman also earned his first career start and has now played in 16 career games.

Riley Catches 30-Yard Touchdown Pass
Senior wide receiver Eron Riley caught a 30-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter for his league-leading sixth touchdown reception of the season. Riley became the fourth player in school history to record 20 career touchdown receptions.

Lewis-to-Riley Connection
Thaddeus Lewis and Eron Riley extended their school record for quarterback-to-wide receiver touchdown combinations to 18 with a 30-yard scoring strike in the third quarter. The two players have combined for six touchdowns this season. Of the 18 career touchdowns from Lewis to Riley, 12 have gone for 20 or more yards.

Multiple Touchdown Passes
Thaddeus Lewis threw two touchdown passes against Virginia to give him seven touchdown passes for the season and 10 career games with two or more touchdown passes. Lewis has two or more touchdown throws in three of the four games this season. For his career Lewis has thrown 39 career touchdown passes.

Quarterback Turnaround
Thaddeus Lewis started the game 3-of-8 for 28 yards and two interceptions. After throwing his second interception at the 13:13 mark of the second quarter, Lewis completed 15-of-24 passes for 132 yards and two touchdowns.

Hollingsworth Scores First Touchdown
True freshman Jay Hollingsworth caught a pass out of the backfield and took it 10 yards for his first collegiate touchdown in the third quarter. On the drive Hollingsworth ran for 37 yards on seven carries to go with his touchdown reception. He accounted for 47 of the 55 yards on the scoring drive.

Riley Moves Up Receiving Yards Chart
With three catches for 36 yards, Eron Riley moved in to sixth on Duke's career receiving yards list. He passed Walter Jones and now has 105 career receptions for 1,988 yards. He is 94 yards shy of Doug Green for fifth on the all-time list.

Lewis' Streak Ends
Thaddeus Lewis had his school-record streak of 206 consecutive passes without an interception come to an end on the first offensive play of the game when Virginia's Ras-I Dowling picked off a deep pass.

Big Game For Tauiliili
Senior linebacker Michael Tauiliili had a career game against Virginia with a career-high 16 tackles, one interception, one caused fumble, one fumble recovery and one quarterback pressure. He reached double digits in tackles in the first half with 10 tackles. It is the 14th career double digit tackle game for Tauiliili and second of the season. He has led the Blue Devils in tackles in all four games this season.

Tauiliili And Turnovers
Michael Tauiliili was part of three turnovers against the Cavaliers. He recovered a fumble in the second quarter and then intercepted a pass and forced a fumble in the fourth quarter. The fumble recovery was his first of the season and third of his career. The interception was his first of the season and fourth of his career. The caused fumble was his first of the year and seventh of his career. Tauiliili has been a part of 14 turnovers in his career.

Tauiliili Moves Into Duke Top-10 For Career Tackles
Michael Tauiliili moved up two spots on Duke's career tackles list and now ranks ninth with 340 career tackles. He leads the Blue Devils with 46 tackles in four games this season. He is eight tackles shy of Ryan Stallmeyer for eighth all-time at Duke.

Double Digit Tackles
Three Blue Devils posted 10 or more tackles against Virginia. Michael Tauiliili led the team with a career-high 16 tackles. He now has 14 career games with 10 or more tackles, including back-to-back games this season. Vincent Rey tallied 11 tackles, including 10 solo stops in the game for his ninth career double digit tackle game. This is the second straight game and fourth time that both Tauiliili and Rey have gone over 10 tackles in a game. Glenn Williams recorded his third career double digit tackle game and first this season with 10 tackles.

Defensive Touchdowns
Senior Jabari Marshall intercepted a pass and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. The last time the Blue Devils returned an interception for a touchdown was November 25, 2006 when Patrick Bailey returned one 21 yards for a score against North Carolina. Duke now has two defensive touchdowns on the season as Vincent Rey returned a fumble 37 yards for a touchdown in the last game against Navy.

Duke Intercepts Three Virginia Throws
The Blue Devils tallied four interceptions against Virginia to give them six on the season. Junior cornerback Leon Wright intercepted a pass in the third quarter for his first of the season and fifth of his career. Michael Tauiliili followed it with his fourth career interception and first of the season. Jabari Marshall recorded his second interception of the season in the fourth quarter and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown. He now has three career interceptions with all three coming in his last five games. Glenn Williams then picked off a pass late for his first career interception.

Forcing Turnovers
The Duke defense forced six turnovers against Virginia with two fumble recoveries and four interceptions. The Blue Devils have now caused 11 turnovers in four games with two or more turnovers in three of the four contests this season. Duke forced three turnovers against James Madison and two against Navy.

Akinbiyi Tallies Second Sack
Senior defensive end Greg Akinbiyi sacked Virginia's Marc Verica on third down of the Cavaliers' opening possession. Akinbiyi's two career sacks have come this season. He has a sack in back-to-back games after earning his first career sack against Navy.

First Downs
Virginia recorded seven first downs in the first quarter compared to Duke's one first down. Duke then recorded 10 of the game's next 11 and finished just one short of the Cavaliers, 17-16, on the game. The Cavaliers recorded a first down at the 11:43 mark of the second quarter and did not have another one until there was 6:28 left in the third quarter.

Duke Defense Dominate On Third Down
The Duke defense limited Virginia to 5-for-15 on third down in the game. Coming in to the game the Blue Devils were ranked tied for sixth in the nation in third down conversion defense, holding opponents to a .235 conversion percentage.

30-Points
Duke coach David Cutcliffe is now 31-6 as a head coach when his teams score 30 or more points. His teams were 28-6 at Ole Miss when doing so. Add to that a 59-3 mark at Tennessee's offensive coordinator, and his teams are now 90-9 when scoring 30 or more points. Duke has three 30-point games this season, the most in a season since 1995 (also with three).

Tielor Robinson
TE Tielor Robinson now has two rushing touchdowns on the season on two carries for three yards. In his career, he has six touchdowns at Duke and 13 in his career (six at Army). His seven touchdowns at Duke are in 57 career touches.

Six Rushing TDs Matches Last Year's Total
Tielor Robinson's rushing touchdown gives the Blue Devils six on the season, matching last year's total. Last season, Duke had 376 rushes for 1,205 yards and 6 touchdowns. This season, the Blue Devils have 163 rushes for 559 yards and 6 touchdowns.

Margin of Victory
Duke's 28 point victory is the largest margin of victory for the Blue Devils ...

Overall since a 44-10 win at Northwestern on Sept. 12, 1998, just over a decade ago.
At Wallace Wade Stadium since a 43-7 win over Army on Sept. 24, 1994.
In an ACC game since a 57-20 win over Wake Forest since Nov. 3, 1990.
Against Virginia since a 51-17 win at home on Sept. 25, 1982.

Scoring Defense
Duke has now held two opponents to just one score and under 10 points this season. This marks the first season since 1987 that has happened. That season, the Blue Devils defeated Colgate 41-6 to open the season Sept. 5 and then fell at Rutgers 7-0 on Oct. 3. The last time the Blue Devils held an opponent under 10 points in two wins in a season was 1981, a 14-7 win over Virginia Tech on Oct. 10 and a 17-7 win over N.C. State on Nov. 14.

Staring The Season 3-1
The Blue Devils are 3-1 for the first time since 1994 when they started the season 7-0 and a earned a No. 16 ranking in the AP poll.

Attendance: 25,527