Riley Leonard ran for three touchdowns and passed for one, leading Duke to a 45-21 win over the host Miami Hurricanes in an Atlantic Coast Conference game on Saturday afternoon.
Duke (5-3, 2-2 ACC) forced eight turnovers as the Blue Devils scored the game’s final 28 points.
Miami (3-4, 1-2) lost quarterback Tyler Van Dyke to an apparent right-shoulder injury in the second quarter. He completed 11 of 16 passes for 81 yards and one touchdown.
Van Dyke was replaced by Jake Garcia with Duke leading Miami 17-7. Garcia threw two third-quarter TD passes to rally Miami to a 21-17 lead, but Leonard led the Duke comeback.
Duke fumbled on its opening possession as Miami safety James Williams stripped Jalon Calhoun. Williams also recovered the fumble, and that led to a 10-play, 46-yard Miami drive, capped by Van Dyke’s 7-yard TD pass to Colbie Young.
Miami won two video reviews on that drive — on a disputed lateral that was called incomplete and on a fourth-down run that was converted.
But, in the second quarter, Duke started to get the breaks.
A fumble by Miami’s Jaylan Knighton was recovered by Shaka Heyward at the Canes’ 23-yard line. That short field led to Leonard’s 9-yard TD run on a third-and-goal QB draw.
Miami’s Key’Shawn Smith fumbled the ensuing kickoff, recovered by Cameron Bergeron at the Canes’ 22. That led to another Leonard third-and-goal TD run, this time a 5-yarder as he stretched the ball over the line just as he was being tackled.
A third straight Miami fumble — this one on the play that injured Van Dyke — led to Todd Pelino’s 28-yard field goal, giving Duke a 17-7 halftime lead.
Miami scored on its second play of the second half as Garcia threw a 71-yard TD pass to Young, who broke a tackle attempt by Joshua Pickett.
On Duke’s first possession of the second half, receiver Eli Pancol was stripped of the ball by DJ Ivey, who recovered. Three plays later, Miami led 21-17 as Garcia found Will Mallory on a crossing pattern, leading to a 34-yard TD.
Duke regained the lead, 24-21, with 3:38 left in the third quarter as Leonard tossed a two-yard shovel pass to Nicky Dalmolin. That was on fourth-and-goal, and there was also a fourth-and-nine conversion earlier in the drive.
The Blue Devils put the game away with a pair of fourth-quarter TD runs — by Leonard and Jordan Waters — to take a 38-21 lead.
Duke’s Brandon Johnson added a 29-yard pick-six.
Garcia was intercepted three times while completing 13 of 21 passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns.
–Field Level Media
