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Hurricanes Are Fortunate To Survive

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The Associated Press

Published: September 30, 2007

MIAMI - Miami quarterback Kyle Wright spent the start of the fourth quarter getting four stitches in his mouth, needing an anesthetic to numb the pain. An upset loss to Duke would have hurt far worse.

'There was no question,' Wright said. 'I was coming back.'

He returned just in time, throwing a game-sealing touchdown pass to DajLeon Farr with 2:15 left as the Hurricanes held off a Duke upset bid for the second consecutive year, beating the Blue Devils 24-14 Saturday.

'They just never quit, no matter what the score is, no matter how hard you're playing,' Miami wide receiver Darnell Jenkins said. 'They brought all they had.'

Fortunately for Miami, the Canes had a little bit more.

This one wasn't a down-to-the-final-play nail biter like last season's 20-15 Miami victory, but still was a major challenge for the Hurricanes. Duke had the ball at the Miami 30 trailing 17-14 with 3 minutes left, but Eric Moncur sacked the Blue Devils' Thad Lewis on fourth down to end that drive.
Two plays later, Wright found Farr - and the Hurricanes (4-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) could relax.

'I was praying to God, 'Please don't let us lose to this team,'' said Miami running back Graig Cooper, who had a 2-yard TD run with 12 minutes left and finished with 101 yards on 12 carries. 'I know we were the better team. They're good too, but we were the better team. We deserved the win.'

Duke felt the same way.

Lewis - a South Florida native - completed 18 of 27 passes for 241 yards and two touchdowns for the Blue Devils (1-4, 0-2), who trailed 10-0 after Miami's first two possessions.

But Duke wound up leaving with its 19th straight loss in league play and its 24th in 25 games overall.

'We could have come out with a win,' said Leon Wright, who had two interceptions for Duke. 'We should have.'

Wright was 19 of 23 for 230 yards and two touchdowns. Calais Campbell had 2.5 of Miami's nine sacks, and Kayne Farquharson had a touchdown catch in the opening quarter for the Hurricanes.

Lewis got Duke on the board when he tossed a screen pass to Ronnie Drummond, a play that wound up going for a 41-yard touchdown with 4:35 left in the third and got the Blue Devils within 10-7.

Cooper's score made it 17-7 but Duke rallied again, scoring on Lewis' 31-yard pass to Eron Riley with 9:46 left. Miami coach Randy Shannon warned his team coming into the game that it could be close and decided by some plays late; sure enough, he was right.

'That's how you define finishing the game,' he said.

The Hurricanes led 10-0 at halftime. Miami hasn't allowed a first-half point in four home games this season.

Antonio Dixon sacked Lewis for a 12-yard loss on the game's first play, setting up a three-and-out, and Miami got the ball for the first time at the Duke 46. The Hurricanes needed eight plays to score from there, with Wright finding Farquharson for a 5-yard touchdown pass.

It was only the second catch of the season for Farquharson, and it was a good one: He found a seam near the back of the end zone and stretched his 6-foot-2 frame high to grab Wright's hard-thrown pass.

Francesco Zampogna's 47-yard field goal 5 minutes later made it 10-0, but the Hurricanes didn't score again in the half, even though Wright was 10-for-11 in the opening two quarters and Miami held a 200-112 lead in total offense.

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