Maalik Murphy passed for three touchdowns Saturday as Duke remained unbeaten with a 26-21 home victory over UConn in Durham, N.C.
Murphy finished 28-of-43 for 267 yards with scoring strikes to Que’Sean Brown (11 catches, 87 yards), Jordan Moore (five catches, 73 yards) and Eli Pancol (four catches, 61 yards). Star Thomas contributed 122 rushing yards on 22 attempts for the Blue Devils (3-0).
The Huskies (1-2) overcame a slow start to take a second-half lead, but they were unable to hold it down the stretch. Cam Edwards ran for 106 yards and a touchdown, while Nick Evers was limited to 135 yards on 15-of-29 passing with one touchdown and two turnovers.
Duke marched 92 yards to the end zone on its opening possession. Murphy’s 45-yard pass to Moore ignited the drive, which ended when the duo hooked up for a 4-yard TD strike.
The offenses were then quiet until the Blue Devils made it 10-0 on Todd Pelino’s 53-yard field goal early in the second quarter. Those points were set up by Evers’ lost fumble near midfield, which was forced by Chandler Rivers and recovered by Tre Freeman.
Duke’s next possession featured three big plays. Murphy and Moore connected on a 20-yard completion before Thomas uncorked a 22-yard run. A holding call moved the Blue Devils back, but Murphy found Pancol on 2nd-and-19 for a 36-yard score.
UConn’s seven first-half possessions ended in six punts and a fumble, but the visitors got on the board late in the second quarter on a pick-six by Langston Hardy, then scored a touchdown on each of their first two drives in the third quarter.
First, Edwards’ 1-yard plunge made it 17-14, then Evers’ 13-yard TD pass to Alex Honig gave the Huskies their first lead of the game.
The fourth quarter belonged to the Blue Devils, however.
Pelino kicked a 47-yard field goal on the first play of the quarter to get Duke within 21-20. Then, after Terry Moore intercepted Evers near midfield, Murphy drove the Blue Devils to the end zone, capped by his 20-yard back-shoulder pass to Brown.
UConn missed a 48-yard field goal with under six minutes left and never saw the ball again.
