Duke Football: 3 takeaways from blowout win over Virginia Tech

2. The Duke defense stood tall against Virginia Tech on the road

While Duke’s offense managed to pile up more than 400 yards and racked up 45 points on the scoreboard, the Hokies found it much tougher to move the football on their home turf. Virginia Tech was held under 300 total yards of offense as they fell by five touchdowns at Lane Stadium.

Deshawn McClease joined Harris in going for more than 100 rushing yards, as the tailback wound up with 102 yards on 17 carries to lead all rushers. The rest of the backfield, however, could only contribute 37 net yards on the ground on 26 attempts. Duke repeatedly won the battle at the line of scrimmage as they ran away with this contest.

That also meant a long night for Virginia Tech quarterback Ryan Willis, who managed to complete only seven of his 18 passing attempts over the course of the evening. Willis did manage to throw a touchdown pass, but he also threw an interception and only contributed a total of 112 passing yards. The quarterback was also held to just five rushing yards.

When the final whistle sounded, Virginia Tech had just 259 total yards of offense and 10 points to show for their efforts. Just like the Hokies defense had no answers for Duke’s offense, the hosts could not crack the code of the Blue Devils defense.