Notes: Duke 49, N.C. Central 14

9/26/2009 11:00:00 PM | Football

By: Duke Sports Information

Duke vs. N.C. Central Notes
Saturday, September 26, 2009

Pregame:

Game captains: Duke - Thaddeus Lewis, Vincent Rey, Kinney Rucker, Jarrod Holt
N.C. Central - Donald Laster, Anthony Sharp, Saeed Abdul-Azeez

N.C. Central won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. The Blue Devils will receive and defend the south endzone.

Weather at kickoff: 66 degrees, cloudy, 93-percent humidity, wind E at 7 mph

Duke Game Starters: Offense - QB Thaddeus Lewis, RB Desmond Scott, WR Austin Kelly, WR Donovan Varner, WR Johnny Williams, 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 John Drew, RDE Ayanga Okpokowuruk, SLB Abraham Kromah, MLB Vincent Rey, WLB Damian Thornton, CB Leon Wright, CB Chris Rwabukamba, LS Catron Gainey, RS Matt Daniels.

Duke 49, N.C. Central 14

First Time Starters
Junior Brandon Harper and true freshman Desmond Scott each earned the first starts of their careers on offense. Scott made his collegiate debut against the Eagles while Harper played in his 18th career game. True freshman John Drew started for the first time on defense, playing in his fourth career game. Scott is the ninth true freshman to play in a game for the Blue Devils this season.

Duke Scores 40
As a head coach, David Cutcliffe has a 15-2 record when scoring 40 or more points. The last time the Blue Devils scored at least 40 points was against Navy in a 41-31 win on Sept. 13, 2008. The 49 points are the highest by a Duke team since 1994 when it scored 51 in a 51-26 win over Wake Forest on Oct. 22, 1994. It is the sixth time Cutcliffe has led a team to 49 or more points in a game in his coaching career.

Blue Devils Score On First Drive
For the second consecutive week, Duke scored a touchdown on its first drive of the game. The Blue Devils drove 59 yards in five plays, capped by a 14-yard run by Patrick Kurunwune.

Lewis Moves Up Passing Charts
With 189 passing yards, senior quarterback Thaddeus Lewis moved into 16th on the ACC career passing yards list. He now has 7,518 career passing yards, passing Virginia's Matt Schaub.

Lewis With Multi-Touchdown Game
Lewis threw two touchdown passes against N.C. Central to give him 15 career multi-touchdown games. He has thrown two or more touchdown passes in two of the four games this season with three in the opener against Richmond.

Lewis Rushes For Touchdown
Lewis registered his second rushing touchdown of the year on a five-yard scramble in the third quarter. Lewis now has seven career rushing touchdowns and is responsible for 59 TDs in his career.

Renfree Throws Fourth TD Pass
Redshirt freshman Sean Renfree threw his fourth career touchdown pass in the fourth quarter on a three-yard toss to Brett Huffman.

Kurunwune Scores First Career Touchdown
Redshirt freshman Patrick Kurunwune scored his first collegiate touchdown on a 14-yard run in the first quarter. It was the second rushing touchdown of the season for the Blue Devils and first by a running back.

Kurunwune Registers Career High For Rushing Yards
Redshirt freshman Patrick Kurunwune finished the day with a career-high 93 yards from 14 carries. He posted a long run of 26 yards on the day.

Scott Scores TD And Breaks 100 Yards In First Career Game
True freshman Desmond Scott scored on a 23-yard run to put Duke in front 14-0. The touchdown was the first of Scott's career. Scott finished the game with 100 yards on 15 carries. The last freshman to rush for over 100 yards in his first collegiate game was B.J. Hill, who rushed for 121 yards against Western Carolina in 1998. Scott's 100-yard performance is the 14th in school history by a freshman and the first since Re'quan Boyette did so against Florida State in 2005.

Varner Records Touchdown In Third Straight Game
For the third straight game, sophomore wide receiver Donovan Varner caught a touchdown pass. He had his first career multi-touchdown game with two scores in the game, giving him four on the season. He scored on catches of 18 and 14 yards.

Varner Tallies Career High For Receiving Yards
Varner caught six passes for 76 yards and two touchdowns. The 76 receiving yards were a career high, passing his previous best of 73 against North Carolina in 2008.

Huffman Catches Second TD Pass
Redshirt junior Brett Huffman caught his second touchdown pass of the season on a three-yard pass from Renfree in the fourth quarter. Huffman now has three career receiving touchdowns.

Rey Returns Fumble For Touchdown
Senior linebacker Vincent Rey returned a fumble 18 yards for a touchdown, the third fumble return for a score in Rey's career. The three fumble returns for touchdowns are a school record.

Maggio Moves Up Consecutive PATs Made Charts
Junior kicker Nick Maggio was a perfect 7-for-7 on PAT attempts in the game and is now 50-of-50 in his career. His 50 consecutive made PATs rank third in school history. The seven made PAT attempts rank tied for third most in a single game. The 50 career made PATs are 10th most all-time in Duke history.

Attendance: 26,390