Duke has already become bowl eligible and NC State is one win win away from doing the same.
Duke has a 6-3 record with four games left, and NC State has won its last two games to improve to 5-4, and could play three or four more contest.
Duke plays at NC State at 3:30 p.m. Saturday on the ACC Network at Carter-Finley Stadium.
Five Duke players to watch
Weakside outside linebacker Alex Howard
Howard has 60 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and five sacks this season, including a season-high 14 stops in the 26-20 double-overtime win at Northwestern on Sept. 6. The 6-foot-2, 230-pounder from Cincinnati also had two sacks against Florida State in a 23-16 win. Howard played his first three years at Youngstown State.
Senior wide receiver Jordan Moore
Moore and fellow quarterback recruit Riley Leonard arrived at Duke in the class of 2021. The former Rivals.com three-star prospect eventually switched to wide receiver and he’s been an impact performer. The 6-0, 195-pounder has 39 catches for 556 yards and five touchdowns this season. He has 161 career receptions for 2,047 yards and 18 touchdowns in 45 career games.
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Maalik Murphy
The 6-5, 230-pound Murphy attended Texas after being the No. 129 overall player in the class of 2022 by Rivals.com coming out of Gardena (Calif.) Serra High. Murphy transferred to Duke and has gone 189-of-321 passing for 2,121 yards, 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions this seaosn. He isn’t a factor running the football with 14 carries for minus-66 yards. He threw for a season-high 325 yards last Saturday in the 53-31 loss at Miami, with three touchdowns, but three interceptions.
Redshirt sophomore right tackle Brian Parker
Parker leads the offensive lineman, and is second overall with a Pro Football Focus grade of 77.3 this fall. He is an impressive pass-blocker with a team-best 86.6 grade. The 6-5, 300-pounder from Cincinnati (Ohio) St. Xavier High was a Rivals.com three-star prospect in the class of 2022. He started seven of 12 games in 2023.
Senior rover Jaylen Stinson
The 5-8, 177-pound Stinson has been through the battles over the years. He has 44 tackles, four passes defended and one forced fumble this season. The Opelika (Ala.) High product had 88 tackles, six passes defended, one sack and one interception last year for the Blue Devils. The former Rivals.com three-star prospect briefly entered the transfer portal, and then elected to come back to Duke. Stinson has 261 career tackles and three interceptions in 58 games.
What to watch for from Duke
1. Mystery at quarterback. Duke has four quality defensive lineman that they’ll turn loose against NC State.
Duke has 26 sacks this season in nine games, plus 77 tackles for loss, and will be aggressive Saturday.
Junior defensive end Vincent “V.J.” Anthony has grown to 6-6 and 250 pounds coming out of Durham (N.C.) Jordan High, where he was a Rivals.com four-star prospect in the class of 2022. He has 19 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, four sacks and two passes defended this season.
Sophomore defensive end Wesley Williams complements Anthony, and has 30 tackles, six tackles for loss, one forced fumble and four sacks this season. The 6-3, 245-pounder was a Rivals.com three-star prospect coming out of Haymarket (Va.) Battlefield High in the class of 2022.
On the interior, senior Kendy Charles and redshirt junior Aaron Hall anchor the 4-3 scheme. The 6-4, 290-pound Hall, who attended Southern Durham High in the class of 2021, has 31 tackles, seven tackles for loss and three sacks this season. The 6-0, 280-pound Charles played his first four years at Liberty, and has 33 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and half a sack this season.
2. Ground game getting boost. Duke had a quality 1-2 punch last year with Jordan Waters and Jaquez Moore combining for 269 carries for 1,493 yards and 18 touchdowns.
Waters entered the transfer portal following the coaching change and picked NC State. Moore got hurt Sept. 6 against Northwestern and has had one carry since, and could be in line to redshirt this season.
In their place, former junior college and New Mexico State running back Star Thomas has stepped up this season. The 6-0, 210-pound Thomas has rushed 163 times for 706 yards and five touchdowns this season. He had three straight 100-yard games to end Sept.
Former Rivals.com three-star prospect Peyton Jones has provided a stark in recent weeks. The former Norfolk (Va.) Maury class of 2023 standout has rushed 69 times for 298 yards and three scores this season. He’s smaller than Thomas at 5-10 and 192 pounds, but he rushed 12 times for 71 yards and one score, and caught three passes for 61 yards and a touchdown in the loss against Miami (Fla.) last Saturday.
3. Kicking game has highs and one low. Duke junior kicker Todd Pelino had been rock solid in his Blue Devils’ career, but missed two field goals and an extra point against SMU in the 28-27 overtime loss Oct. 26. He missed a 42-yard field goal, and then had his 30-yard field goal blocked during the third quarter.
Pelino has gone 11 of 16 on field goals with a long of 53 against Connecticut, and has made 24 of 25 extra points.
The former Concord (N.C.) Cannon School kicker has gone 37-of-48 on field goals in his career and has missed one extra point in 86 attempts.
Punter Kade Reynoldson has punted 51 times for an average of 44.3 yards. The Australian has landed 19 inside the 20-yard line and 11 over 50-plus yards.
Three keys to the game for NC State football
1. NC State’s secondary will likely get challenged by Duke quarterback Maalik Murphy.
Murphy has thrown at least 40 passes in four games this season, including 48 in the double-overtime loss against SMU. The more he throws, the more he sometimes throws risky or ill-advised passes. Murphy has eight interceptions and two fumbles this season.
Murphy went 25-of-41 passing for 325 yards and three touchdowns against Miami, but also three interceptions. Two of the picks were passes that never had a chance.
NC State cornerbacks Brandon Cisse, a sophomore, and senior Aydan White haven’t gotten too many interception chances, but White has one this season. However, junior backup cornerback Devon Marshall has two interceptions.
Senior safety Bishop Fitzgerald has two interceptions, and senior safety Donovan Kaufman and redshirt freshman nickel Tamarcus Cooley both have one pick.
What makes Duke dangerous this season is that the top three receivers — senior Jordan Moore, senior Eli Pancol and junior Sahmir Hagans are all playmakers. Hagans in particular, caught nine passes for 139 yards and a touchdown in the Miami loss.
2. NC State will know if the Stanford game solved the running game issues against a squad like Duke.
NC State struggled to run the football last year in the humbling 24-3 loss at Duke. The Wolfpack rushed 30 times for 112 yards, and upon closer inspection, that included a combined 18 carries for 71 yards from quarterback M.J. Morris and wide receiver Kevin Concepcion.
NC State broke out against Stanford for 40 carries for 281 yards and five rushing scores in a 59-28 victory last Saturday. Former Duke back Jordan Waters sprinted for a 94-yard touchdown run, and redshirt freshman Daylan Smothers had a 52-yard touchdown run.
NC State didn’t have sophomore running back Kendrick Raphael due to injury, but Waters and Smothers filled the void.
3. Another week, another change in what kind of quarterback NC State is facing.
NC State’s defense played a semi-mobile Fernando Mendoza of California at quarterback and he rushed seven times for minus-seven yards and was sacked four times — twice by senior defensive end Davin Vann.
Stanford quarterback Ashton Daniels was the opposite of Mendoza in some ways, and rushed 11 times for 129 yards and two touchdowns, and his backup had 12 carries for 25 yards and one score. The Wolfpack defense had three sacks, with Vann getting one of them.
Enter Maalik Murphy of Duke, who brings terrific size at 6-5 and 230 yards, but doesn’t look to run. He might be more like Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord, who NC State sacked twice in a 24-17 loss Oct. 12.
Three numbers of note
26 Stanford quarterbacks who have been drafted by NFL teams, including four future No. 1 overall picks — Bobby Garrett (1954), Jim Plunkett (1971), John Elway (1983) and Andrew Lucks (2012). Other first-round picks include John Brodie, who went No. 3 in 1957, and Frankie Albert, who went No. 10 overall in 1942.
30 Bowl appearances for the Cardinal, who have gone 15-14-1. The last bowl game was the Sun Bowl in 2018, a 14-13 win over Pittsburgh.
32 Recruiting team ranking for Stanford by Rivals.com, with 20 verbal commitments in the class of 2025.
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