Game Notes: North Carolina A&T

Jordan Waters makes his way up the field during Duke's game with Charlotte.

Game Notes: North Carolina A&T

9/6/2021 4:34:00 PM | Football

DURHAM – Duke welcomes North Carolina A&T for its home opener on Friday night at Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium

Kickoff is set for 8 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on ACC Network (ACCN)

The Blue Devils lead the all-time series 1-0 after a 45-13 victory in Durham during the 2019 season. Quarterback Quentin Harris finished 30-of-42 passing for 345 yards and four touchdowns, while carrying the ball 13 times for 83 yards and an additional score. The Wilton, Conn., native went 21-of-29 for 254 yards through the air in the opening half alone. Three of Duke's five touchdowns were first career scores as Jalon Calhoun (2), Mataeo Durant and Eli Pancol all found the end zone. Defensively the Blue Devils were led by Dylan Singleton, who compiled nine tackles.

Friday's ACCN broadcast will feature Matt Barrie, Eric Mac Lain and Bridget Condon on the call. The game can also be heard on the Blue Devil Sports Network from LEARFIELD through the TuneIn app or goduke.com

HOW TO FOLLOW
Duke (0-1, 0-0 ACC) vs. North Carolina A&T (0-1, 0-0 BIG SOUTH)
Friday, September 10, 2021 • 8:00 PM
Durham, N.C. • Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium

TELEVISION • ACCN
RADIO • Blue Devils Sports Network from LEARFIELD
GAME NOTES • Duke Notes (PDF) • North Carolina A&T Notes
LIVE STATS • GoDuke.com
TWITTER • @DukeFOOTBALL

GAME NOTES
Senior running back Mataeo Durant led the way for Duke during its season opener at Charlotte, compiling a game-high 255 yards on 29 carries with three rushing touchdowns to break the program record for rushing yards in a single game. His total eclipsed the previous school record of 245 yards set by Shaun Wilson in 2014 vs. Kansas.

Durant shifted into the top-20 on the Blue Devils' all-time rushing chart following his performance against the 49ers. His 255 yards helped him move into the 20th spot with 1,576 career yards and is currently 200 yards away from breaking into the top-15.

HOME OPENERS
Under head coach David Cutcliffe, Duke is 10-3 in home openers. Duke enters this week's North Carolina A&T game having won eight of its last nine lid-lifters at Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium. The last time North Carolina A&T made an appearance at Wallace Wade Stadium was during Duke's 2019 home opener.

MAKING THEIR DEBUT
Duke had six players make their first career start against Charlotte in the season opener -- Mataeo Durant, John Gelotte, Gunnar Holmberg, Eli Pancol, Aeneas Peebles, and Michael Reese. Twelve players also saw the field for the first time as a Blue Devil, with seven of those being in their first year of collegiate football -- Cameron Bergeron*, Colby Campbell, Ja'Mion Franklin, Tre Freeman*, Brandon Johnson*, Dominique Long, Nakeie Montgomery*, Jaquez Moore*, Jordan Moore*, Kade Parmelly, Joshua Pickett*, and Carson Van Lynn.
*Indicates first year of collegiate football

DEFENDING WALLACE WADE
In non-conference regular season games held at Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium, Duke is 24-8 (.750) under head coach David Cutcliffe. The Blue Devils' last out-of-conference regular season loss at home came against No. 15 Notre Dame in 2019. Prior to that the last time Duke dropped a non-conference game at home was all the way back to 2015 in a contest with No. 23 Northwestern.

LEADER OF THE RUN GAME
Senior Mataeo Durant burst into the spotlight for Duke in 2020 by rushing 120 times for a team-high 817 yards (6.81) and eight TDs. The Plum Branch, S.C., native's final rushing total from last season marked the third highest in the David Cutcliffe Era and the 15th highest single-season total in program history.

Durant continued that excellence to start 2021 after rushing for 255 yards on 29 carries with three scores in Duke's season opener at Charlotte. His 255 rushing yards set the school record, topping Shaun Wilson's 245 yards against Kansas in 2014. His final rushing total also put him second in the country behind only Michigan State's Kenneth Walker III's 264-yard performance for week one. His two TD runs of 50+ yards (59- and 53-yards) in the game also matched the Blue Devil single-game record. He became just the 22nd person in program history to total 3+ rushing scores in a game and the first since Shaquille Powell ran for three against Georgia Tech in 2015.

300+ RUSHING YARDS
Duke's 352 rushing yards against Charlotte in its opener marked the ninth time under head coach David Cutcliffe that a Blue Devil team registered 300+ rushing yards.

Rushing Yards — Duke
   NUMBER   OPPONENT DATE
1.   373 vs. Indiana 12-26-15
2.   372 vs. N.C. Central 9-22-18
3.   363 at Syracuse 10-10-20
4.   358 vs. Miami 11-16-13
5.   352 at Charlotte 9-3-21
6.   331 vs. Kansas 9-13-14
7.   327 at North Carolina 11-7-15
8.   319 vs. Georgia Tech 11-18-17
9.   308 vs. N.C. Central   9-3-16
*Italics indicates neutral site

TACKLES IN SEASON OPENER
Safety Lummie Young IV led the Blue Devils with 10 tackles in Duke's season opener at Charlotte. That marked the second time in his career he achieved double digit tackles (15 vs. Wake Forest in 2018). Jalen Alexander followed closely behind in the game with the 49ers as the junior recorded a career-high nine tackles to shift his career total to 91.

TAKING DOWN THE QB
Redshirt sophomore R.J. Oben earned Duke's lone sack in its season opener at Charlotte. That take down was the first sack of his career. He finished the game with the 49ers with 2.5 TFL and his first career caused fumble.

PUNTING PERFECTION
In his first year as Duke's starting punter, redshirt sophomore Porter Wilson garnered a Freshman All-America nod from The Athletic and was tabbed a semifinalist for the 2020 Ray Guy Award. The Fairlawn, Ohio, native started all 11 games for Duke last season, totaling 53 punts for 2,276 yards (42.94). He ranked eighth in the league in punting average and had 21 kicks downed inside the opponent 20-yard line to just two touchbacks. Wilson finished the season second all-time on Duke's freshman single-season chart in punting average. Also in 2020, Wilson recorded 12 punts of 50-plus yards to tie for the sixth-most in the conference. His 70-yard punt at Georgia Tech was a career-long and tied for the longest boot in the ACC for the season.

In his first game of 2021, Wilson booted five punts a total of 201 yards for an average of 40.20. Two of those kicks were inside the 20, while one was a touchback.

KICKING WITH HAM
Redshirt sophomore kicker Charlie Ham concluded 2020 by being named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award. The Atlanta, Ga., product wrapped up his first season as the primary place-kicker converting 13-of-15 field goal attempts (29-, 30-, 25-, 47-, 39-, 36-, 45-, 21-, 46-, 29-, 32-, 29- and 35-yards). The 47-yarder was a career long. He ranked tied for second in the ACC and 13th in the country with a .867 field goal percentage. His 13 made field goals finished tied for eighth in the league, along with his 1.18 field goals per game.

In Duke's season opener at Charlotte, Ham converted on all four of his PAT attempts and recorded five kickoffs for 315 yards for an average of 63.00.

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