No. 5 Miami Beats Duke 36-25 as Darian Mensah Throws for 382 Yards Against His Former Team

Darian Mensah spent Saturday afternoon picking apart the program he used to play for. The Miami quarterback, a transfer from Duke, completed 30 of 41 passes for 382 yards, Javian Mallory turned his biggest touches into three touchdowns, and No. 5 Miami pulled away from Duke for a 36-25 homecoming win at Hard Rock Stadium.

It was the bounce-back game the Hurricanes needed one week after Notre Dame handed them their first loss. Miami improved to 9-1 and 7-0 in the ACC, still unbeaten in league play. Duke, which arrived on a three-game winning streak, fell to 7-3 and 4-3 in the conference. The Blue Devils were within five points late in the third quarter before Miami scored the next 14.

A slow start, then a trade of blows

Nobody scored for the first 15 minutes, and for a while it looked like the kind of afternoon that favors the team with the better punter. Duke punted on each of its three first-quarter possessions. Miami punted twice, and Mensah's offense did not look like the one that came in leading the country at 45 points per game.

The Hurricanes finally found traction on a 13-play, 55-yard march that bridged the first two quarters. Duke held on third-and-10 at its own 21, when Evan Smith broke up a throw to Elija Lofton, and Jake Weinberg kicked a 39-yard field goal to open the scoring with 14:43 left in the half.

Duke answered with a 13-play drive of its own, and Gavin Strange's 37-yard field goal tied it at 9:27. Miami went back ahead on an eight-play, 75-yard drive that Mark Fletcher Jr. finished with a 4-yard touchdown run at 5:47.

Then Nate Sheppard showed why Duke's offense runs through him. On a five-play, 75-yard drive, the Duke running back took a handoff 47 yards for a touchdown at 3:17. Tie game, 10-10. Miami got the last word of the half anyway, driving 67 yards in 11 plays to set up Weinberg's 26-yard field goal with 37 seconds left for a 13-10 lead at the break.

Mallory flips the third quarter

Miami opened the second half with an 11-play, 69-yard drive that reached first-and-goal at the Duke 10 before stalling, and Weinberg's 24-yarder made it 16-10 at 9:48 of the third.

The game's biggest swing came at 2:43 of the quarter. On second-and-10 from the Miami 37, Mensah hit Mallory on a short pass, and the running back turned it into a 63-yard touchdown. The two-point try failed, leaving it 22-10, but the drive covered 83 yards in seven plays and took barely two and a half minutes.

Duke did not fold. A 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Lofton after the touchdown pushed Miami's kickoff back to its own 20, the return reached the Duke 32, and Sheppard ripped off another 47-yard run to reach the Miami 21. Sheppard then threw a 13-yard pass to Javen Nicholas down to the 5 and finished the drive himself with a 5-yard touchdown run at 0:41. It was 22-17, and the Blue Devils had the momentum heading into the fourth quarter.

The turning point: one drive, one pick

Miami's response settled the afternoon. The Hurricanes went 79 yards in 13 plays and burned 7:31 off the clock, and Mallory punched it in from 2 yards out at 8:06 to make it 29-17.

Duke still had time. Sheppard turned a catch into a 20-yard gain to the Duke 45, but a few snaps later Walker Eget's throw was picked off by Xavier Lucas at the Miami 31 with 6:54 to play. It was the only turnover of the game, and Miami made it count immediately. Five plays and 71 yards later, Mallory broke a 39-yard touchdown run at 4:21 for a 36-17 lead.

Duke's final push was a 13-play, 74-yard drive that took four minutes and got some help from Miami, which jumped offside twice near its own goal line. Eget found Jeremiah Hasley for a 1-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal with 21 seconds left, and Eget hit Sheppard for the two-point conversion. That made the final 36-25.

Mensah, Barkate and Mallory carry Miami

Mensah's line was the headline: 30 of 41, 382 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions, against a Duke defense that came in allowing 186.6 passing yards per game. He spread it around, with seven different players catching passes.

Cooper Barkate was his favorite target, with eight catches for 134 yards and a long of 40. Daylyn Upshaw added six catches for 56 yards, Vandrevius Jacobs had five for 44, and Lofton caught five for 39. ESPN's highlights also include a one-handed Lofton try in the end zone that came down out of bounds, a sign of how close Miami was to an even bigger number.

Mallory was the finisher, with a team-high 150 all-purpose yards. He ran 10 times for 71 yards and two touchdowns and caught three passes for 79 yards, including the 63-yard score. Jordan Lyle added 54 yards on seven carries, and Weinberg went 3 for 3 on field goals.

On defense, Toure led Miami with 11 tackles, 10 of them solo. Lucas made the interception and broke up two passes in the first quarter.

Sheppard did his part, and then some

If there is a consolation for Duke, it is that its star running back looked every bit like one against a defense that entered the day as the best in the country against the run, allowing 64.3 rushing yards per game. Sheppard ran 16 times for 131 yards and two touchdowns, with two 47-yard runs. He also caught 12 passes for 93 yards, threw a 13-yard completion and caught the late two-point conversion. Miami's preview noted that Sheppard came into the game leading the ACC with 1,189 rushing yards.

The problem was everything around him. Duke ran the ball only 17 times, and Eget finished 26 of 42 for 195 yards with a touchdown and the interception. Hasley caught six passes for 35 yards and the late score, and Jonah Burton had four for 46. Safety Andrew Pellicciotta led Duke with 11 tackles.

The team numbers tell the same story. Miami outgained Duke 532 to 341 and won the first-down battle 26 to 19. The Hurricanes held the ball for 34:13 to Duke's 25:47, and that gap showed up in the fourth quarter, when two long touchdown drives ate most of the clock. Miami was 6 of 12 on third down; Duke was 5 of 12 on third down and 2 for 2 on fourth. Miami was sloppy, with 10 penalties for 67 yards, including the flag that helped Duke score. But the Hurricanes did not turn the ball over, and Duke did once, at the worst possible moment.

What it means

For Miami, this was about steadying itself after South Bend. At 7-0, the Hurricanes stay alone atop the ACC standings, ahead of 6-1 Wake Forest, with two home games left. They host Virginia Tech on Nov. 21 and Boston College on Nov. 28. Mensah, already a Maxwell Award semifinalist, added a strong résumé game against a winning team.

For Duke, the loss ends a three-game run that included a 47-2 rout of Boston College and a 41-3 win at NC State. The Blue Devils host Clemson on Friday, Nov. 20, then close the regular season at Wake Forest on Nov. 28.

Duke had the best player on the field for long stretches of this game, and it still was not close at the end. That is the gap between a good team and a contender: Miami had more ways to hurt you, and when Duke made it a five-point game, the Hurricanes answered with a clock-killing drive and a takeaway. The loss at Notre Dame raised questions about this team. A calm, 532-yard afternoon against a 7-2 opponent answered a few of them.

Full stats are in the ESPN box score (opens in a new tab), and Miami Athletics has its own game recap (opens in a new tab).

Sources: ESPN box score and play-by-play, Miami Athletics, Duke Athletics.

Photo: Miami Athletics.