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Game Notes: NC State
10/12/2020 3:17:00 PM | Football
DURHAM, N.C. – Duke travels to nearby Raleigh to face N.C. State on Saturday for its sixth consecutive contest of the 2020 season.
Kickoff between the Blue Devils and Wolfpack is set for 3:30 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on RSN.
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Saturday will mark Duke's first trip to Carter Finley Stadium since October 10, 2009, when the Blue Devils defeated N.C. State, 49-29, behind a record-setting performance from QB Thaddeus Lewis ... in the win, Lewis completed 40-of-50 (.800) passes for 459 yards with six total TDs (5 passing) to outduel Wolfpack QB Russell Wilson and set the school single-game record for pass completions (record was later eclipsed by Sean Renfree vs. Boston College in 2001 [41]) ... in the process, Lewis became Duke's all-time leader in touchdown throws by surpassing the previous standard of 55 set by Ben Bennett from 1980-83.
Saturday's RSN broadcast will feature Tom Werme, James Bates, and Lyndsay Rowley on the call. The game can also be heard on the Blue Devil Sports Network from Learfield IMG College through the TuneIn app or goduke.com
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HOW TO FOLLOW
Duke (1-4, 1-4 ACC) vs. NC State (3-1, 3-1 ACC)
Saturday, October 17, 2020 • 3:30 PM
Raleigh, N.C. • Carter-Finley Stadium
TELEVISION • RSN
RADIO • Blue Devils IMG Sports Network
GAME NOTES • Duke Notes (PDF) •  NC State Notes
LIVE STATS • GoPack.com
TWITTER • @DukeFOOTBALL
GAME NOTES
Two Blue Devils -- senior TE Noah Gray and senior DE Victor Dimukeje -- are nearing program records ... Gray is two catches away from breaking Stan Crisson's career mark for pass receptions by a TE (98), while Dimukeje is 3.0 career sacks away from eclipsing Charles Bowser's all-time school standard (22.0).
Saturday's game will mark the first on opposite sidelines for brothers Zac and Kurt Roper ... Zac Roper serves as Duke's Baxter Family Deputy Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator/QBs while older brother Kurt is an Assistant Coach/RBs at N.C. State ... the brothers worked together at Ole Miss (2001-04) and Duke (2008-13) under current Blue Devil head coach David Cutcliffe ... Zac and Kurt are sons of Bobby Roper, who played at Arkansas and helped the Razorbacks to the 1964 national title before entering the coaching ranks, where he served stints at Alabama, The Citadel, Virginia, Iowa State, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Oregon State and Texas A&M ... notably, Bobby Roper served as Pittsburgh's defensive coordinator under Johnny Majors in 1976 as the Panthers claimed the national championship.
Duke jumped into the win column last Saturday with a 38-24 victory at Syracuse ... the Blue Devils accumulated 645 yards of total offense for the third highest offensive production in the David Cutcliffe Era ... RBs Deon Jackson (30-169) and Mataeo Durant (23-163) led a rushing attack that amassed 363 yards.
CUTCLIFFE, DUKE IN OCTOBER
Duke is 20-25 in the month of October under Cutcliffe ... on the road, the Blue Devils are 12-12 ... against ACC opponents Duke is 14-25.Â
CUTCLIFFE SUPERLATIVES
Against Syracuse, the Blue Devils added numerous single-game highlights, including having two rushers gain 150+ yards in a game for the first time in program history ... Duke also had its third highest offensive production total when it accumulated 645 yards ... the Blue Devils final rushing yardage (363) was the third most under Cutcliffe as well ... finally, Duke held the edge on time of possession in the game, holding the ball for 39:43, which was the third highest during Cutcliffe's tenure in Durham.Â
SETTLING IN
After transferring from Clemson, redshirt junior Chase Brice has started Duke's opening five games in 2020 ... in his first five career starts, Brice has compiled 104-of-193 (.539) passes for 1,271 yards with five TDs and eight INTs ... the Grayson, Ga., native has thrown a season-long 55-yard reception to both sophomore WR Eli Pancol and TE Jake Marwede ... Brice finished last week's game against Syracuse with three passes of 20+ yards ... in total during his short Duke tenure, he has registered 25 passes of 15+ yards ... Brice has recorded at least six passes of 15+ yards in three of five games this year (7 vs. Notre Dame, 6 vs. Virginia & 6 vs. Virginia Tech) ... in four of five games this season, Brice has competed 20+ passes, including a season-high 23 against Boston College.
GRAY FINDING HIS GROOVE
This season, senior TE Noah Gray has picked up right where he left off in 2019 ... in four of Duke's five games of 2020, Gray has led or tied for the Blue Devils for the lead in receptions ... he has compiled 217 yards on 21 catches this year and currently ranks second in the ACC and nationally among tight ends in receptions, trailing only Boston College's Hunter Long (31) ... Gray's career numbers have shifted to 97 receptions for 880 yards and eight TDs ... the 97 catches rank second all-time in Duke's career receptions by a tight end ... Gray is one grab shy of matching Stan Crisson's school record of 98 and three short of reaching 100 for his career ... Gray also is chasing two more schools records in most TDs and most receiving yards by a TE ... currently, his 880 yards are 490 yards shy of matching Mike Hart's career reception yards by a TE (1,370; 1998-01) ... he is 227 yards away from breaking into the top four in that category ... with his pair of scoring receptions in 2020, the Leominister, Mass., native has moved into fourth place on Duke's all-time chart for touchdown catches by a TE with eight, trailing Davis Koppenhaver (12; 2014-18), Stan Crisson (10; 1961-63) and Dave Dunaway (9; 1964-66) ... finally, Gray has recorded 20+ receiving yards in 19 games throughout his career, and last Saturday recorded his 17th consecutive game with 2+ receptions.Â
APPROACHING 2K GROUND YARDS
As Duke's leading returning rusher from a season ago, Deon Jackson was tabbed a preseason third team All-ACC selection by Athlon Sports heading into his final season ... he is also a candidate for the Doak Walker and Paul Hornung Awards ... in five games in 2020, Jackson has recorded 412 rushing yards and currently sits eighth on the Blue Devil all-time rushing chart with 1,997 yards ... he is three yards away from becoming Duke's eighth player to surpass the 2,000 career yard mark and 444 yards away from breaking into Duke's top five list.
RUN GAME
The running back duo of Deon Jackson and Mataeo Durant both recorded 150+ rushing yards against Syracuse to become the first Duke pair to rush for 150+ yards in a single game ... the duo also become the first pair to rush for 100+ yards since three Blue Devils did so against Indiana in 2015 ... Jackson's 169 yards and Durant's 163 yards are the fourth and fifth most by a single rusher under Cutcliffe, respectively ... Jackson currently sits eighth in the ACC, averaging 82.40 yards per game.Â
QB1 EMBRACES NEW TEAM, NEW ROLL
After making his first collegiate start against No. 10 Notre Dame in Duke's opener, Chase Brice has thrown for 200+ yards in each of his outings as a Blue Devil ... he became the first Duke QB to register 200+ passing yards in five consecutive ACC contests since Daniel Jones did so in five straight games from Nov. 10, 2016-Sept. 9, 2017 ... Brice's 252.6 passing yards per contest rank fifth in the ACC.
MAKE ROOM FOR MATAEO
Junior RB Mataeo Durant ran for a career-best 163 yards against the Orange last week and recorded his first multi-score game with two rushing TDs ... among ACC running backs with 25+ rushing attempts on the season, Durant ranks fifth in average yards per attempt (6.67), trailing Virginia Tech's Khalil Herbert (10.44), North Carolina's Michael Carter (10.33), Notre Dame's Kyren Williams (7.48) and Miami's Cam'Ron Harris (6.83) … last week at Syracuse, Durant rushed for a career-high 163 yards on 23 carries, good for a per attempt average of 7.08 yards.
RUMPH II, ACT III
Through two seasons on the Duke roster, post-season honors have found their way into Chris Rumph II's portfolio ... heading into the 2020 season not much has changed as Rumph II has been named preseason All-America by The Walter Camp Football Foundation (2nd team), CBS Sports (2nd team) and Athlon Sports (4th team) ... he is ranked as the No. 2 returning edge defender in the country by ESPN.com, while being named a candidate for the Chuck Bednarik Award ... in five games so far this season, Rumph II has accumulated 26 tackles, 4.0 TFL, 3.5 sacks, and three QB pressures ... for his career, the Gainesville, Fla., native has compiled 98 tackles, 25.5 TFL, 13.0 sacks, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, four PBUs and 16 QB pressures ... he heads into Saturday's game against NC State having recorded at least 3+ tackles in 10 of his last 11 games and 1+ tackles in 25 straight outings .. with his 2.0 sacks against Syracuse, Rumph II is now tied with James Kirkland and Ryan Fowler for eighth all-time on Duke's career sacks chart with 13.0 ... he is 1.5 away from breaking into the top-five ... the redshirt junior is also 6.5 career TFL away from breaking into Duke's top-10 list in that category.
DIMUKEJE LEAVING HIS MARK
Senior Victor Dimukeje, who's played 2,363 career snaps, owns 28 games with 3+ tackles and 10 outings with 5+ stops, including a career-high eight tackles against Wake Forest in 2019 ... in Duke's game against Boston College, the Baltimore, Md., native tallied 3.5 sacks to match Chris Rumph II for the second-most in program history for a single game ... Dimukeje is second in the ACC in sacks per game (1.10), and trails Pittsburgh's Patrick Jones who is averaging 1.40 … the last Blue Devil to lead the league in sacks was Shawn Johnson in 2002 … in addition, Dimukeje is aiming to become just the third player in Duke history to pace the team in sacks three consecutive seasons, joining Chris Combs (1996-97-98) and Kenny Anunike (2011-12-13) ... for his career, Dimukeje has four games with 2.0+ sacks and currently sits third all-time with 19.5 ... he is 2.5 sacks away from tying Charles Bowser's all-time school record of 22.0 ... the defensive end also sits 1.0 TFL shy of cracking into Duke's career top-10 list as he currently has 31.0 to his name ... his 6.5 season TFL number ranks tied for third in the ACC as well.
PRESSURE, PRESSURE, PRESSURE
Duke held Syracuse to just 28 yards rushing, the third fewest allowed by the Blue Devils in the Cutcliffe era ... the Blue Devils also registered six total sacks last Saturday which were the most in a single game this season.
SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN THE KICKING GAME
In 2020, Duke had to replaced a pair of All-ACC specialists from a season ago in P Austin Parker and K AJ Reed.
Redshirt freshman Porter Wilson has taken over Duke's punting duties and so far this season has punted 24 times for 1,049 yards for an average of 43.71 yards ... his first career punt against Notre Dame went 60 yards while nine of his boots have been downed inside 20 yard line against zero touchbacks ... against Virginia Tech, Wilson punted a season high nine times for 409 yards (45.44) with four boots of 50+ yards, including a season-long 63 yard kick … the 63-yard effort resulted in a Duke TD as the punt was muffed and eventually the ball was recovered by Duke's Jaylen Stinson in the end zone … Wilson had two punts downed inside the Hokie 10 yard line (1 & 6 yard line, respectively) and had just two punts returned for a combined total of minus-18 yards ... Wilson is fourth in the ACC in punts of 50+ yards with six, and is tied for first in the league with Boston College's Grant Carlson as the only two punters ranking among the league's top 10 in punting average with six-plus boots against zero touchbacks.
Fellow classmate Charlie Ham has replaced Reed on placement kicks and kickoffs ... in seven career games, Ham has registered 21 kickoffs for 1,296 yards (61.71) with eight touchbacks ... Ham has also converted on eight of his nine field goal attempts in 2020, with his lone miss a 35-yarder against Boston College ... against Virginia, Ham booted a season-best 47-yarder ... he leads the ACC with the most made FGs this season.
Kicker Jack Driggers stepped in against Syracuse to help Ham with kickoff responsibilities ... seeing action for the first time since 2018, he totaled 467 yards on eight kicks.
One area Duke didn't have to replace was its holder position ... for the third consecutive season, senior Jackson Hubbard is handling the holding responsibilities on placement kicks.
#GoDuke
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Kickoff between the Blue Devils and Wolfpack is set for 3:30 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on RSN.
Â
Saturday will mark Duke's first trip to Carter Finley Stadium since October 10, 2009, when the Blue Devils defeated N.C. State, 49-29, behind a record-setting performance from QB Thaddeus Lewis ... in the win, Lewis completed 40-of-50 (.800) passes for 459 yards with six total TDs (5 passing) to outduel Wolfpack QB Russell Wilson and set the school single-game record for pass completions (record was later eclipsed by Sean Renfree vs. Boston College in 2001 [41]) ... in the process, Lewis became Duke's all-time leader in touchdown throws by surpassing the previous standard of 55 set by Ben Bennett from 1980-83.
Saturday's RSN broadcast will feature Tom Werme, James Bates, and Lyndsay Rowley on the call. The game can also be heard on the Blue Devil Sports Network from Learfield IMG College through the TuneIn app or goduke.com
Â
HOW TO FOLLOW
Duke (1-4, 1-4 ACC) vs. NC State (3-1, 3-1 ACC)
Saturday, October 17, 2020 • 3:30 PM
Raleigh, N.C. • Carter-Finley Stadium
TELEVISION • RSN
RADIO • Blue Devils IMG Sports Network
GAME NOTES • Duke Notes (PDF) •  NC State Notes
LIVE STATS • GoPack.com
TWITTER • @DukeFOOTBALL
GAME NOTES
Two Blue Devils -- senior TE Noah Gray and senior DE Victor Dimukeje -- are nearing program records ... Gray is two catches away from breaking Stan Crisson's career mark for pass receptions by a TE (98), while Dimukeje is 3.0 career sacks away from eclipsing Charles Bowser's all-time school standard (22.0).
Saturday's game will mark the first on opposite sidelines for brothers Zac and Kurt Roper ... Zac Roper serves as Duke's Baxter Family Deputy Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator/QBs while older brother Kurt is an Assistant Coach/RBs at N.C. State ... the brothers worked together at Ole Miss (2001-04) and Duke (2008-13) under current Blue Devil head coach David Cutcliffe ... Zac and Kurt are sons of Bobby Roper, who played at Arkansas and helped the Razorbacks to the 1964 national title before entering the coaching ranks, where he served stints at Alabama, The Citadel, Virginia, Iowa State, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Oregon State and Texas A&M ... notably, Bobby Roper served as Pittsburgh's defensive coordinator under Johnny Majors in 1976 as the Panthers claimed the national championship.
Duke jumped into the win column last Saturday with a 38-24 victory at Syracuse ... the Blue Devils accumulated 645 yards of total offense for the third highest offensive production in the David Cutcliffe Era ... RBs Deon Jackson (30-169) and Mataeo Durant (23-163) led a rushing attack that amassed 363 yards.
CUTCLIFFE, DUKE IN OCTOBER
Duke is 20-25 in the month of October under Cutcliffe ... on the road, the Blue Devils are 12-12 ... against ACC opponents Duke is 14-25.Â
CUTCLIFFE SUPERLATIVES
Against Syracuse, the Blue Devils added numerous single-game highlights, including having two rushers gain 150+ yards in a game for the first time in program history ... Duke also had its third highest offensive production total when it accumulated 645 yards ... the Blue Devils final rushing yardage (363) was the third most under Cutcliffe as well ... finally, Duke held the edge on time of possession in the game, holding the ball for 39:43, which was the third highest during Cutcliffe's tenure in Durham.Â
SETTLING IN
After transferring from Clemson, redshirt junior Chase Brice has started Duke's opening five games in 2020 ... in his first five career starts, Brice has compiled 104-of-193 (.539) passes for 1,271 yards with five TDs and eight INTs ... the Grayson, Ga., native has thrown a season-long 55-yard reception to both sophomore WR Eli Pancol and TE Jake Marwede ... Brice finished last week's game against Syracuse with three passes of 20+ yards ... in total during his short Duke tenure, he has registered 25 passes of 15+ yards ... Brice has recorded at least six passes of 15+ yards in three of five games this year (7 vs. Notre Dame, 6 vs. Virginia & 6 vs. Virginia Tech) ... in four of five games this season, Brice has competed 20+ passes, including a season-high 23 against Boston College.
GRAY FINDING HIS GROOVE
This season, senior TE Noah Gray has picked up right where he left off in 2019 ... in four of Duke's five games of 2020, Gray has led or tied for the Blue Devils for the lead in receptions ... he has compiled 217 yards on 21 catches this year and currently ranks second in the ACC and nationally among tight ends in receptions, trailing only Boston College's Hunter Long (31) ... Gray's career numbers have shifted to 97 receptions for 880 yards and eight TDs ... the 97 catches rank second all-time in Duke's career receptions by a tight end ... Gray is one grab shy of matching Stan Crisson's school record of 98 and three short of reaching 100 for his career ... Gray also is chasing two more schools records in most TDs and most receiving yards by a TE ... currently, his 880 yards are 490 yards shy of matching Mike Hart's career reception yards by a TE (1,370; 1998-01) ... he is 227 yards away from breaking into the top four in that category ... with his pair of scoring receptions in 2020, the Leominister, Mass., native has moved into fourth place on Duke's all-time chart for touchdown catches by a TE with eight, trailing Davis Koppenhaver (12; 2014-18), Stan Crisson (10; 1961-63) and Dave Dunaway (9; 1964-66) ... finally, Gray has recorded 20+ receiving yards in 19 games throughout his career, and last Saturday recorded his 17th consecutive game with 2+ receptions.Â
APPROACHING 2K GROUND YARDS
As Duke's leading returning rusher from a season ago, Deon Jackson was tabbed a preseason third team All-ACC selection by Athlon Sports heading into his final season ... he is also a candidate for the Doak Walker and Paul Hornung Awards ... in five games in 2020, Jackson has recorded 412 rushing yards and currently sits eighth on the Blue Devil all-time rushing chart with 1,997 yards ... he is three yards away from becoming Duke's eighth player to surpass the 2,000 career yard mark and 444 yards away from breaking into Duke's top five list.
RUN GAME
The running back duo of Deon Jackson and Mataeo Durant both recorded 150+ rushing yards against Syracuse to become the first Duke pair to rush for 150+ yards in a single game ... the duo also become the first pair to rush for 100+ yards since three Blue Devils did so against Indiana in 2015 ... Jackson's 169 yards and Durant's 163 yards are the fourth and fifth most by a single rusher under Cutcliffe, respectively ... Jackson currently sits eighth in the ACC, averaging 82.40 yards per game.Â
QB1 EMBRACES NEW TEAM, NEW ROLL
After making his first collegiate start against No. 10 Notre Dame in Duke's opener, Chase Brice has thrown for 200+ yards in each of his outings as a Blue Devil ... he became the first Duke QB to register 200+ passing yards in five consecutive ACC contests since Daniel Jones did so in five straight games from Nov. 10, 2016-Sept. 9, 2017 ... Brice's 252.6 passing yards per contest rank fifth in the ACC.
MAKE ROOM FOR MATAEO
Junior RB Mataeo Durant ran for a career-best 163 yards against the Orange last week and recorded his first multi-score game with two rushing TDs ... among ACC running backs with 25+ rushing attempts on the season, Durant ranks fifth in average yards per attempt (6.67), trailing Virginia Tech's Khalil Herbert (10.44), North Carolina's Michael Carter (10.33), Notre Dame's Kyren Williams (7.48) and Miami's Cam'Ron Harris (6.83) … last week at Syracuse, Durant rushed for a career-high 163 yards on 23 carries, good for a per attempt average of 7.08 yards.
RUMPH II, ACT III
Through two seasons on the Duke roster, post-season honors have found their way into Chris Rumph II's portfolio ... heading into the 2020 season not much has changed as Rumph II has been named preseason All-America by The Walter Camp Football Foundation (2nd team), CBS Sports (2nd team) and Athlon Sports (4th team) ... he is ranked as the No. 2 returning edge defender in the country by ESPN.com, while being named a candidate for the Chuck Bednarik Award ... in five games so far this season, Rumph II has accumulated 26 tackles, 4.0 TFL, 3.5 sacks, and three QB pressures ... for his career, the Gainesville, Fla., native has compiled 98 tackles, 25.5 TFL, 13.0 sacks, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, four PBUs and 16 QB pressures ... he heads into Saturday's game against NC State having recorded at least 3+ tackles in 10 of his last 11 games and 1+ tackles in 25 straight outings .. with his 2.0 sacks against Syracuse, Rumph II is now tied with James Kirkland and Ryan Fowler for eighth all-time on Duke's career sacks chart with 13.0 ... he is 1.5 away from breaking into the top-five ... the redshirt junior is also 6.5 career TFL away from breaking into Duke's top-10 list in that category.
DIMUKEJE LEAVING HIS MARK
Senior Victor Dimukeje, who's played 2,363 career snaps, owns 28 games with 3+ tackles and 10 outings with 5+ stops, including a career-high eight tackles against Wake Forest in 2019 ... in Duke's game against Boston College, the Baltimore, Md., native tallied 3.5 sacks to match Chris Rumph II for the second-most in program history for a single game ... Dimukeje is second in the ACC in sacks per game (1.10), and trails Pittsburgh's Patrick Jones who is averaging 1.40 … the last Blue Devil to lead the league in sacks was Shawn Johnson in 2002 … in addition, Dimukeje is aiming to become just the third player in Duke history to pace the team in sacks three consecutive seasons, joining Chris Combs (1996-97-98) and Kenny Anunike (2011-12-13) ... for his career, Dimukeje has four games with 2.0+ sacks and currently sits third all-time with 19.5 ... he is 2.5 sacks away from tying Charles Bowser's all-time school record of 22.0 ... the defensive end also sits 1.0 TFL shy of cracking into Duke's career top-10 list as he currently has 31.0 to his name ... his 6.5 season TFL number ranks tied for third in the ACC as well.
PRESSURE, PRESSURE, PRESSURE
Duke held Syracuse to just 28 yards rushing, the third fewest allowed by the Blue Devils in the Cutcliffe era ... the Blue Devils also registered six total sacks last Saturday which were the most in a single game this season.
SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN THE KICKING GAME
In 2020, Duke had to replaced a pair of All-ACC specialists from a season ago in P Austin Parker and K AJ Reed.
Redshirt freshman Porter Wilson has taken over Duke's punting duties and so far this season has punted 24 times for 1,049 yards for an average of 43.71 yards ... his first career punt against Notre Dame went 60 yards while nine of his boots have been downed inside 20 yard line against zero touchbacks ... against Virginia Tech, Wilson punted a season high nine times for 409 yards (45.44) with four boots of 50+ yards, including a season-long 63 yard kick … the 63-yard effort resulted in a Duke TD as the punt was muffed and eventually the ball was recovered by Duke's Jaylen Stinson in the end zone … Wilson had two punts downed inside the Hokie 10 yard line (1 & 6 yard line, respectively) and had just two punts returned for a combined total of minus-18 yards ... Wilson is fourth in the ACC in punts of 50+ yards with six, and is tied for first in the league with Boston College's Grant Carlson as the only two punters ranking among the league's top 10 in punting average with six-plus boots against zero touchbacks.
Fellow classmate Charlie Ham has replaced Reed on placement kicks and kickoffs ... in seven career games, Ham has registered 21 kickoffs for 1,296 yards (61.71) with eight touchbacks ... Ham has also converted on eight of his nine field goal attempts in 2020, with his lone miss a 35-yarder against Boston College ... against Virginia, Ham booted a season-best 47-yarder ... he leads the ACC with the most made FGs this season.
Kicker Jack Driggers stepped in against Syracuse to help Ham with kickoff responsibilities ... seeing action for the first time since 2018, he totaled 467 yards on eight kicks.
One area Duke didn't have to replace was its holder position ... for the third consecutive season, senior Jackson Hubbard is handling the holding responsibilities on placement kicks.
#GoDuke
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