Notes: Miami 34, Duke 16

11/21/2009 4:00:00 PM | Football

By: Duke Sports Information

Duke vs. Miami Notes

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Pregame:

Game captains: Duke - Thaddeus Lewis, Brian Moore, Ayanga Okpokowuruk, Vincent Rey,
Miami - Randy Phillips, Chavez Grant, Jason Fox

Duke won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. The Hurricanes received and defended the west endzone to start the game.

Weather at kickoff: 81 degrees, sunny, 63-percent humidity, wind SE at 2 mph

Duke Game Starters: Offense - QB Thaddeus Lewis, RB Desmond Scott, WR Austin Kelly, WR Donovan Varner, WR Conner Vernon, TE Brett Huffman, LT Kyle Hill, LG Brandon Harper, C Bryan Morgan, RG Brian Moore, RT Jarrod Holt; Defense - LDE Patrick Egboh, DT Kinney Rucker, NG Charlie Hatcher, RDE Ayanga Okpokowuruk, MLB Vincent Rey, WLB Damian Thornton, CB Leon Wright, CB Chris Rwabukamba, CB Lee Butler, LS Catron Gainey, RS Matt Daniels.

Miami 34, Duke 16

Lewis Breaks Duke Passing Record
Senior quarterback Thaddeus Lewis broke Ben Bennett's school record for career passing yards with an eight-yard pass to Austin Kelly in the fourth quarter. Lewis now holds the school record with 9,678 yards.

Lewis Extends School Records
Lewis extended his school career passing records for attempts (1,462), completions (849), total offense (9,599) and touchdowns (64).

Lewis Moves Up ACC Lists
Lewis moved into third in ACC history for passing yards (9,678), passing N.C. State's Jamie Barnette, Duke's Ben Bennett and Clemson's Charlie Whitehurst. He also climbed up three spots into sixth in total offense (9,599).

Senior QB Lewis Climbs Single Season Charts
Lewis continued his ascent up Duke's single season passing lists and now ranks fourth in passing yards (2,943), fourth in completions (246), fifth in attempts (401) and tied for sixth in passing touchdowns (17).

300-Yard Game
Lewis tied Anthony Dilweg's school record with his 10th career 300-yard performance. The 10 300-yard games are tied for fifth most in ACC history. He has thrown for 300 or more yards in six games this season. It is the 23rd time in his career he has thrown for over 200 yards.

Varner's Big Day Vaults Him Into 7th For Season Receiving Yards At Duke
Sophomore wide receiver Donovan Varner caught eight passes for a career-high 165 yards and one touchdown, moving him into the top 10 in Duke single season history for receiving yards. Varner now has 873 receiving yards to rank seventh in school history. He also passed 50 catches for the year (54), marking the 19th time in school history a Duke player has had 50 or more catches. His previous high for receiving yards was 154 at N.C. State earlier this season.

Varner Catches Sixth Touchdown Pass
Varner hauled in a 24-yard touchdown reception with 2:17 left in the second quarter to give Duke a 13-10 lead. The touchdown was the sixth of the season for Varner and seventh of his career.

Varner With Fourth 100-Yard Game
Varner tallied his fourth 100-yard game of the season, all coming in ACC play. He passed the 100-yard mark in the first half with six catches for 129 yards and one touchdown. The four 100-yard receiving games rank tied with Wes Chesson (1968) for the fifth most in a single season and tied for seventh most for a career at Duke.

Vernon Moves Up ACC Freshmen Receiving Lists
True freshman Conner Vernon already holds school records for catches and yards by a freshman and continued to move up the ACC lists, now ranking tied for sixth in catches (47) and fifth in yards (653). He had three catches for 52 yards in the game.

Long Plays
Lewis completed a 64-yard pass to Varner in the first quarter, the fifth play of over 50 yards this season for the Blue Devils. The catch was the longest of Varner's career. He had a 55-yard reception against Virginia Tech earlier this year. Varner also had catches of 21, 24 (TD) and 20 yards in the game to give him 16 catches of 20+ yards on the season. On the day Duke recorded five plays of over 20 yards, including a 34-yard catch by Vernon.

Duke Forces Two Turnovers
The Duke defense recorded two takeaways for a total of 18 on the year. The Blue Devils have forced a turnover in eight straight games and in nine of the 11 games on the year. They have forced two or more turnovers in five games this season. Senior linebacker Vincent Rey recorded his second interception of the season and third of his career in the first quarter. The interception came on third down-and-10 from Duke's 23-yard line and ended up leading to a Duke field goal for the first score of the game. In the second quarter, Kinney Rucker recovered a fumble to give him two career fumble recoveries.

Daniels Posts Career High
Sophomore Matt Daniels notched a career-high 13 tackles, including 10 solo stops to go with two pass breakups. His previous high for tackles in a game was nine against Virginia Tech and Maryland this season.

Kromah Returns From Injury
Redshirt junior Abraham Kromah played for the first time since suffering an injury against Virginia Tech. Kromah missed five games and made his return in the second quarter against Miami. Kromah tallied four tackles with one for a loss in his return.

Snyderwine Makes Three Field Goals
Junior walk-on Will Snyderwine made field goals of 30, 49 and 26 yards to give him 15 made field goals on the season. He is now 15-of-18 (.833) for the year. His 15 made field goals rank tied for third on Duke's single season field goals list while his .833 field goal percentage is currently the highest in single season history. The previous high for field goal percentage was .813 (13-of-16) by Ken Harper in 1984.

Attendance: 38,200