Duke Blue Devils

Dominant Second Half Pushes Miami Hurricanes over Duke 40-21

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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After a Sluggish First Half with three drives ending in Field Goals, the Miami Hurricanes Erupted for 24 points after the break on their way to a 40-21 win on Senior Day at Hard Rock Stadium.

The Hurricanes got on the board first with a nine play 45 yard drive that ended in a 47 yard Michael Badgley field goal. Miami and Duke traded scores on the first five drives. That culminated with a Badgley’s second field goal that cut the Duke lead to 14-13. A 33 yard Badgley field goal, his third of the half on the ‘Canes last drive game Miami a 16-14 lead at the break.

The teams traded punts on their first three drives of the second half before two Miami Touchdowns and a field goal blew the game open. The Hurricanes took a 33-14 lead after three and extended that to 40-14 before a late Duke touchdown finished off the scoring.

Brad Kaaya finished the game with 396 yards and four touchdowns without an interception. He had 282 yards and three touchdowns after halftime. In the process Kaaya broke Ken Dorsey‘s Miami career passing record. Kaaya accomplished the feat in 37 games, six fewer than Dorsey.

Kaaya has 9,686 career passing yards. He has a good chance to become the first Miami Quarterback and just the fourth in ACC History to top 10,000 yards. If Kaaya decides to stay for his senior year, he would need 3799 yards to break Philip Rivers’ ACC record. He can move into third all-time with 379 yards in Miami’s bowl game.

Kaaya had several big performances from his receivers against the Blue Devils. Tight End David Njoku had two receptions for 134 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Stacy Coley had a career high nine catches for 118 yards and a touchdown. Mark Walton finished with 75 yards rushing and four receptions for 46 yards and a touchdown.

Kaaya set the school passing record on a 76 yard touchdown pass to Njoku, who had his best day as a Hurricane. Kaaya finished nine yards shy of his career high in passing yards set last season in a loss to Florida State. It was his high yardage mark this season.

Four Seniors captained the Hurricanes for their last game at Hard Rock Stadium. Jamal Carter, Sr., Corn Elder, Danny Isidora and Justin Vogel were designated as the captains against Duke.

Carter and classmate Rayshawn Jenkins led the defense on Saturday. Carter finished with 13 tackles and Jenkins finished with ten. Freshman linebackers Shaquille Quarterman also had ten tackles and had one pass breakup and two Quarterback Hurries.

The Hurricanes will now wait until Sunday night to determine their Bowl fate. The most likely destinations seem to be the Tax Slayer (Gator) Bowl in Jacksonville, the Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando or the Belk Bowl in Charlotte.