Duke Hosts Pitt

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Noon Kickoff on ESPN News.


Let's Go Duke!

 

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Pittsburgh (6-3, 4-1 ACC) at Duke (6-3, 3-2 ACC)
November 14, 2015 • 12 noon • ESPNews
Durham, N.C. • Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium (33,941 • Natural grass)

• Duke (6-3, 3-2 ACC) hosts Senior Day by entertaining Pittsburgh (6-3, 4-1 ACC) on Saturday, November 14 ... Kickoff at Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium is set for 12 noon ... ESPNews will broadcast the game with Jason Benetti (play-by-play) & Rene Ingoglia (analyst)

• Prior to kickoff, Duke will honor 23 individuals as part of the Senior Day festivities: Johndre Bennett, Kelby Brown, Kyler Brown, Jeremy Cash, Jamie Cockey, Braxton Deaver, Britton Grier, Blair Holliday, Michael Mann, Ross Martin, Max McCaffrey, Hud Mellencamp, Will Monday, Dwayne Norman, Lucas Patrick, Shaquille Powell, Keilin Rayner, David Reeves, Cody Robinson, Matt Skura, Eamonn Vain-Callahan, Deion Williams & Carlos Wray

• Saturday’s game will mark the 20th on the gridiron between the two schools, with Pittsburgh holding a 10-9 series advantage ... The series began in 1929 with a 52-7 Pitt win in the first contest played in Duke Stadium

• Summarizing the last two games played between Duke & Pittsburgh:

2013 (Durham): Pitt 58, Duke 55
Total yards: Pitt 598, Duke 532
Boyd: 8-154 receiving & 3 TDs
Connette: 323 pass & 101 rush yards

2014 (Pittsburgh): Duke 51, Pitt 48 (2 OT)
Total yards: Pitt 594, Duke 438
Conner: 38-263 rushing & 3 TDs
Sirk: GW 5-yard TD run in 2nd OT

• Wounded Warrior Project is the game sponsor of this week’s game

• Five Blue Devils were honored with CoSIDA Academic All-District accolades, marking the highest total in the nation ... The Duke contingent also made up 45.5 percent (5-of-11) of the ACC’s honorees ... S DeVon Edwards earned the honor for the second straight year and was joined on this year’s team by OT Gabe Brandner, K Ross Martin, QB Thomas Sirk & DT A.J. Wolf

• Over their last 19 ACC regular season games, the Blue Devils are 14-5 ... Only Florida State (17-2) and Clemson (16-3) have better ledgers

• Dating back to the 2013 season, the Blue Devils are 23-6 in their last 29 regular season games ... The only schools with more wins during that stretch are Ohio State (28), Florida State (27), Baylor (27), Michigan State (26), Alabama (25), Clemson (24) & Wisconsin (24)

• Duke’s Thomas Sirk is one of six QBs among the Power 5 schools to lead his team in both rushing and passing yardage this season, joining Lamar Jackson of Louisville, Dak Prescott of Mississippi State, Joe Hubener of Kansas State, Seth Collins of Oregon State and Jerrod Heard of Texas ... The last Duke player to lead the Blue Devils in rushing and passing yards was QB Mike Dunn in 1976

• Duke is averaging 4.70 yards per rushing attempt to post the fifth-highest total in the ACC ... All four of Duke’s top ground-gainers average at least 4.58 yards per carry — QB Thomas Sirk (4.91), RB Shaquille Powell (4.58), RB Shaun Wilson (4.60) & RB Jela Duncan (7.38) ... Last week at North Carolina, the Blue Devils gained 327 yards on 44 attempts (7.43)

Blue Devils by the Numbers
• 5 — Career kickoff returns for TDs for S DeVon Edwards, including a 95- yard scoring effort at Tulane and 100- yard dash against Georgia Tech ... The only active player nationally with more KORs for TDs is Autrey Golden of UTEP (6) ... In addition, Edwards’ 28.41 career kickoff return average ranks second nationally among active players, trailing only Rashaad Penny of San Diego State (29.14)

• 5-0 — Duke’s record when S DeVon Edwards returns a kickoff for a TD ... The five victories have come against N.C. State (2013), North Carolina (2013), Pittsburgh (2014), Tulane (2015) & Georgia Tech (2015)

• 31.85 — Kickoff return average this year for S DeVon Edwards, a mark that leads the ACC and ranks third nationally behind Evan Berry of Tennessee (40.56) & Rashaad Penny of San Diego State (34.31)

• 16.5 — ACC-leading tackles for loss for S Jeremy Cash ... Cash’s per game average of 1.83 TFL ranks third nationally ... Cash’s total already ranks ninth on Duke’s single-season chart with the school record of 21.5 having been set in 1985 by Reggie Andrews ... In addition, the 16.5 TFL are the most in a season by a Blue Devils since 2003, when Phillip Alexander posted 18.5 TFL

• 390 — Career points for K Ross Martin ... Martin currently sits in fourth place on the ACC’s career scoring chart, three points away from moving into a tie for third place with former Maryland standout Nick Novack

• 13-15 — Rushing TDs & passing TDs for QB Thomas Sirk in his career ... The only other Duke QBs to register double figures in both columns were Anthony Boone (16-38), Mike Dunn (22-11) & Leo Hart (13-23)

• 555 — Rushing yards this season for QB Thomas Sirk marking a total that ranks third on Duke’s single-season chart behind Mike Dunn’s pair of seasons with 757 (1976) and 576 (1977) yards, respectively

• 0.67 — Sacks per game allowed by the Duke offensive line, an average that leads the ACC

• 94 — Percent Graduation Success Rate released November 4 for Duke’s football program — tops in the ACC followed by Wake Forest (90), Boston College (89), Clemson (84), Miami (83), Syracuse (80), Virginia Tech (80), Pittsburgh (75), Virginia (75), Florida State (73), Georgia Tech (72), N.C. State (70), Louisville (63) and North Carolina (62)

• 212 — Combined points for Duke & Pittsburgh over their last two meetings in 2013 & 2014 (106 each)

 

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