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Duke beats N.C. State
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Published: October 10, 2009
RALEIGH - Quarterback Thaddeus Lewis of Duke had finished all the post-game interviews with the media in the bowels of Carter-Finley Stadium.
As he slowly walked out to the team bus from the locker room, there were about 50 lingering Duke fans waiting and cheering. That group included Lewis' mother. He gave her a big hug, completing the hug nearly as easy as he picked apart N.C. State in a 49-28 victory on Saturday.
"I'm going to relax, I'm exhausted," Lewis said about how he would celebrate last night. "That's about all I've got."
All he did was compete 40 of 50 passes for a career-best 459 yards with five touchdown passes. For good measure he also scored on a short touchdown run in the first quarter.
What made the performance that much better was the high praise he earned from Coach David Cutcliffe, who in his long coaching career has tutored such players as Peyton and Eli Manning. "I'll probably upset a couple of my former quarterbacks," he said, "but I believe that's the finest game I've had a quarterback have in college … He was really special."
Lewis' statistics could have been better, had his receivers not dropped five catchable balls, but it hardly mattered in the outcome.
The win for the Blue Devils (3-3, 1-1 ACC) halted an 11-game losing streak to the Wolfpack (3-3, 0-2) and it's the first time the Blue Devils have won here since 1984. It was also the first time the Blue Devils won on the road in the ACC since 2003 when it beat North Carolina.
Lewis' five touchdowns gave him 59 for his career, setting the all-time record in school history.
But more importantly for Lewis was he set the record and the Blue Devils won. "I don't think we've beaten an in-state rival since I've been here," he said. "For us to come on the road and get this victory is big."
Lewis came out firing completing 16 of his first 20 passes and the four he didn't complete were dropped. The Blue Devils scored on their first three possessions for a 21-14 lead, but the Wolfpack and quarterback Russell Wilson were just as hot. At haltime the game was tied at 21, but the Blue Devils cranked up their defense in the second half and Lewis continued to roll.
"I wasn't thinking about it, I was just going out and tossing the ball around," Lewis said about his career day. "Just knowing that if I got it to the vicinity of those great receivers that I have they will make plays and they did tonight."
Lewis couldn't help by smile again when asked where this day ranks in his career.
"It was fun out there," Lewis said. "I would say not since the Little League days, but that was a lot of fun to go out there and toss it around."
The Wolfpack managed just one touchdown in the second half, and that was on a 93-yard kickoff return from T.J. Graham. With Lewis chewing up yardage and taking time off the clock Wilson didn't get on the field as much.
The Blue Devils dominated the time of possession 40:24 to 19:36. In the second half the Wolfpack managed just 74 yards of offense.
Coach Tom O'Brien of the Wolfpack, whose secondary struggled for the second week in a row, said his message to his team afterward was simple. "We need to take more responsibility as a team," he said. "We were out-coached and out-played."
After Graham scored on the kickoff return the game was tied at 28, but Lewis didn't back down. He drove the Blue Devils on a 10-play drive in 72 yards and hit wide receiver Austin Kelly for an 8-yard touchdown pass.
A key 19-yard completion to Donovan Varner (7 catches for 154 yards) on third down kept the drive going. Lewis picked apart the Wolfpack's defense thanks to his pinpoint control on quick passing routes. Lewis very rarely took a deep drop, and the offensive line rose to the challenge.
Center Bryan Morgan said: "I was having a ball out there… Thad did a fantastic job."
The Blue Devils held late in the third quarter and Lewis put the finishing touches on his night with another quality drive. This time he took the Blue Devils 89 yards in 11 plays, but a key breakdown on special teams by the Wolfpack kept the drive alive.
The Blue Devils were forced to punt from their 45 and after Jeff Ruiz' punt came down it hit Justin Byers of the Wolfpack and the Blue Devils recovered on the Wolfpack's 11. It was that kind of night for the Blue Devils, because three players later Lewis found Varner for a 5-yard touchdown pass, his fifth of the night and it made it 42-28.
Cutcliffe wouldn't say if this was the biggest win of his two years at Duke, but it's a big one.
"Let's put it this way, a (game ball) will wind up in my office somewhere," Cutcliffe said.
The Blue Devils rolled up 502 yards and were an incredible 13 of 19 on third-down conversions.
"That was about as fine as a team victory that you can have," Cutcliffe said. "There's never perfection but they absolutely kept plugging and kept playing."
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