Duke Routs N.C. State 49-28

Saturday, October 10

Raleigh, N.C.

4 p.m.

Duke University

NC State

Duke Routs N.C. State 49-28

10/10/2009 7:15:00 PM | Football

By: Duke Sports Information

RALEIGH, N.C. - Duke senior quarterback Thaddeus Lewis completed a school record 40-of-50 passes for a career-high 459 yards and accounted for six touchdowns to lead the Blue Devils (3-3, 1-1) to a 49-28 victory over North Carolina State (3-3, 0-2) in ACC football action this afternoon at Carter-Finley Stadium. Lewis' five touchdown passes this afternoon pushed him to the top of the Duke career charts at with 59 overall.

The win snaps a 20-game ACC road game losing skid for the Blue Devils with the last road win coming in 2003 at North Carolina. Lewis' six touchdowns accounted for ties the Duke single-game record, while his five touchdown passes and 459 passing yards are second and fourth all-time, respectively, in Duke single-game history.

"I will probably upset a couple of my former quarterbacks, but I believe that is the finest game that I have had a quarterback has in college," head coach David Cutcliffe said.

"He was really special. We handled their pressure and we handled their zone and when you can do that you can throw the football."

Donovan Varner led all receivers with seven catches for a career-high 154 yards. Conner Vernon made a game-high 10 catches for 86 yards for the Blue Devils.

"I can't say enough about the receiving corp," Cutcliffe said. "They are becoming that. You can see it. Those of you that have been watching us the past few weeks have seen the difference."

Duke took the game's opening drive 70 yards capped off by Lewis's two-yard touchdown strike to Brett Huffman. Lewis completed 7-of-8 passes on the drive for 63 yards. The touchdown marks the third time the Blue Devils have scored on their opening drive this season.

Following Duke's 11-play opening drive, N.C. State returned the favor on its first offensive series with Russell Wilson running the ball 10 yards into the endzone to notch the score at 7-7.

Duke responded on its second drive thanks to a two-yard touchdown dive by Lewis. The Blue Devils covered 71 yards in 12 plays to go up 14-7 with 30 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Lewis completed a 13 yard pass to Huffman from the N.C. State 18-yard line on 3rd-and-13 to extend the drive.

The Wolfpack tied the game at 14 eight seconds later on a 63-yard touchdown pass from Wilson Owen Spencer.

Duke went back up 21-14 with Lewis finding Re'quan Boyette in the end zone for the 7-yard touchdown pass. For Boyette it was his first career touchdown catch, while Lewis set the Duke career touchdown passes record, eclipsing Bennett.

Staying on the heels of the Blue Devils, N.C. State matched Duke again to tie the game at 21 on a nine yard run from Tony Baker.

The defensives settled in late in the second quarter. Duke turned the ball over in the redzone followed an N.C. State punt and a Duke punt with the Wolfpack content to let the first half end.

The Blue Devils continued their defensive pressure in the second half forcing a Wolfpack punt , which led to Duke putting together a 9-play 97-yard scoring drive to go up 28-21. Lewis hooked up with Danny Parker for his third touchdown pass of the game and Parker's first career touchdown reception.

T.J. Graham returned the ensuing kickoff 93 yards for the score to tie the game at 28.

Just over four minutes later the Blue Devils went back ahead 35-28 hooking up with Austin Kelly for the eight yard score and Lewis's fourth touchdown pass of the game. Kelly, Varner and Vernon each had two catches on the scoring drive.

On the next Duke possession a sack of Lewis on third down brought the punt team to the field. Kevin Jones booted the ball 34 yards with the football bouncing and striking an N.C. State player inside the 10-yard line. Tony Foster recovered the loose ball for Duke regaining possession at the N.C. State 11-yard line.

Three plays later Lewis punched it in the end zone again, hitting Vernon for the five-yard touchdown putting Duke ahead 42-28. The touchdown pass was the fifth of the game for Lewis.

Down two scores, NC State got the ball back with just over seven minutes left to play. The Wolfpack gained eight yards on first down with a pass from Wilson to Donald Bowens, but could only get one more yard in the next two plays to set up a 4th-and-1 situation. NC State elected to go for it, but the tandem of Ayanga Okopokowuruk and Charlie Hatcher stuffed running back Toney Parker at the line of scrimmage to give Duke the ball back on its own 40-yard line on downs with 6:05 left to play.

The Blue Devils whittled 2:44 off the clock, but were unable to get a first down and forced a Jones punt. The 48-yard punt landed at the 12-yard line and deflected off of NC State's Owen Spencer and bounced into the end zone where junior Adam Banks fell on the ball for his first career touchdown.

With the game nearly in the books, Duke completely sealed the victory with consecutive interceptions on NC State's final two drives of the contest. Leon Wright picked up the first takeaway and Lee Butler grabbed the second in the closing seconds.

Defensively, Duke was outstanding in the second half, holding the Wolfpack to just 74 yards of offense and forcing four turnovers. The Blue Devils scored 14 points off of turnovers.

Catron Gainey led the defensive effort with seven tackles. Okpokowuruk registered six stops, including five solo tackles, and one sack for nine yards. Matt Daniels also made six stops in the contest. Banks and Foster both recovered fumbles for the Blue Devils

Duke is off next week but returns to action on Oct. 24 at home against Maryland. For tickets please go to www.goduke.com/tickets or call 919-681-BLUE.