UM Downs Duke 49-14
MIAMI (AP) — Lamar Miller backed up his words, and ran into the Miami history books.
Days after predicting this would be the week where he topped the 1,000-yard mark, Miller rushed for 147 yards — giving him 1,016 for the season — and two touchdowns, leading Miami to a 49-14 win over Duke on Saturday.
Miller is Miami's first 1,000-yard back since Willis McGahee in 2002.
"Feels very good," Miller said. "That was one of my goals this year. I've been working hard throughout the offseason and the offensive line has been doing a great job of giving me the opportunity to make big runs for the team."
Jacory Harris passed for three first-half scores for Miami (5-4, 3-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), and the Hurricanes scored touchdowns on their first five possessions. Mike James rushed for two touchdowns, and Tommy Streeter, Phillip Dorsett and Chase Ford caught TD passes for the Hurricanes, who are now 7-0 against Duke since joining the ACC.
Sean Renfree completed 19 of 25 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown, plus rushed for another score for Duke (3-6, 1-4). The Blue Devils lost for the 44th time in their last 48 ACC road games.
"I said all week long one word describes Miami — dangerous," Duke coach David Cutcliffe said. "They're a dangerous football team."
And those dangers were on display quickly.
The Hurricanes visit rival Florida State next Saturday. Clearly, Miami was not looking ahead to the trip to Tallahassee.
Miami needed only five plays to march 78 yards for the game's first score, a 1-yard Harris pass to Ford — capping a drive that got done fasters than the officials' review of the scoring play. And on the Hurricanes' second drive, they broke out a slew of offensive surprises, like putting Stephen Morris in briefly at quarterback and running James out of the wildcat formation.
Three different players — Morris, James and then Harris — took snaps on three successive Miami plays on that drive, a march sealed by James' 1-yard run on fourth down. A 2-yard touchdown pass from Harris to Dorsett early in the second quarter made it 21-0, and the Hurricanes were rolling.
"I thought we played all four quarters and in all three phases," Miami coach Al Golden said. "Real pleased with the effort."
Down the stretch, the only drama left was the Miller watch.
Only six yards from the plateau, he took off on a 22-yard touchdown run with 8:56 left, helping give Miami its highest point total against a major-college opponent since beating Virginia 52-17 on Nov. 7, 2009. He also had a 3-yard TD run in the third quarter.
"That's a great accomplishment," said Miami linebacker Sean Spence, who wasn't aware until after the game Miller reached the mark.
Harris completed 14 of 20 passes for 202 yards for Miami, which rolled up 467 yards. Miami ran for 265 yards on just 39 carries, only one of which went for negative yardage.
"Everybody's been working hard this whole week," Harris said. "We've been putting in the work to get better."
Renfree got Duke within 14 points twice, first after engineering a 13-play, 64-yard drive that ended with his 4-yard touchdown pass to Conner Vernon, then again in the third quarter when he went up the middle for a 6-yard score that cut Miami's lead to 28-14.
Cutcliffe went for an onside kick after that score.
"I think it energized us as a team to know coach is going for the throat and he's not letting up at all," Renfree said.
If only it worked.
Miami snuffed out the trick kick, Miller scored six plays later and the lead was 21 points again. Duke lost its last realistic chance to get back into the game with 12:46 left, when Spence — already a three-time ACC player of the week winner at his position this season — got through the line and threw Anthony Boone for a loss on fourth-and-1 from the Miami 11.
The second of Miller's two rushing touchdowns came after Ray-Ray Armstrong's interception of Renfree with 9:44 left, and James' second touchdown of the day was preceded by Boone fumbling the ball away with 7:40 remaining.
A month ago, Duke came to Miami and won, beating Florida International. That was Duke's third straight win, harkening talk of ending a long bowl drought in Durham.
Now the Blue Devils face long odds of reaching the postseason. Duke needs three wins in its final three games to finish at .500.
And for Miami, it's on to Florida State. Golden said he's eager for his first taste of the rivalry.
"A lot of guys grew up this week," Golden said.
(TM and © Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
