Associated Press
DURHAM ó Coach David Cutcliffe’s tenure is just four games old, and already Duke has moved beyond raw celebration each time it wins.
The Blue Devils snapped a 25-game ACC losing streak Saturday with a 31-3 victory over Virginia. Afterward, Cutcliffe showed praise but also criticism: silly penalties, poor pass protection. It’s an attitude symbolic of the change under way at a school known for basketball.
“When you can win 31-3 and have a lot to learn from it, that beats the heck out of getting beat and learning from it,” Cutcliffe said. “(It was) a real positive day for our team.”
That’s an understatement in Durham, where bowl scouts watched his team get halfway to postseason eligibility.
Duke (3-1, 1-0 ACC) took advantage of five second-half turnovers, giving fans at Wallace Wade Stadium a conference victory for the first time since Nov. 13, 2004, against Clemson.
Thaddeus Lewis completed nine of his first 10 pass attempts after halftime, and the Blue Devils scored three touchdowns in a 10-minute span.
Duke intercepted Virginia’s Marc Verica four times in the second half. Jabari Marshall returned the third interception 42 yards for a touchdown for Duke, off to its best start since the 1994 team started 7-0.
Duke’s senior class had not won an ACC game, but that changed when the Blue Devils broke free from a 3-3 halftime score.
“I’m real proud first of all for our seniors,” Cutcliffe said. “The challenges of continuing to fight through adversity and pick up their first ACC win to me, it wasn’t about a streak, it was about our seniors.”
Seniors Lewis and Eron Riley helped get Duke going in the third quarter. The Blue Devils led 10-3 and had the ball back after Leon Wright’s interception. On a quick count, Lewis fired a pass to Riley on the left side, and he raced 30 yards for a score and a 17-3 lead.
Riley, Duke’s top receiver, was held without a catch in the first half, but he had three for 36 yards in the third quarter, including his sixth touchdown of the season and 20th of his career.
In the fourth quarter, Marshall snared a tipped pass off the hands of tight end John Phillips and dashed into the end zone for a 24-3 lead. He was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for somersaulting into the end zone, and Cutcliffe did not allow Marshall to return to the game.
It’s all part of the cultural change at Duke, one of two teams in the ACC’s Coastal Division without a loss. The Blue Devils are seeing dividends in their new-found discipline.
“It lets you know that everything you did in the offseason, all the hard work, it’s paying off,” said Lewis, who finished 18-for-32 for 160 yards.
Not much has improved for the Cavs (1-3, 0-1), out-scored 144-20 this season.
“We had a couple of opportunities early in the game, and clearly if we would have taken advantage of those, we probably would have gotten a positive spark,” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “That’s the story of the season, though, not being able to take advantage of those opportunities.”