Anthony Boone completed a 22-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Blakeney in the second quarter to give Duke a 10-3 lead at Syracuse. In a fairly even game between ACC schools, Duke holds the seven-point lead at the half in the dome.The teams exchanged field goals in the first quarter.
The teams exchanged field goals in the first quarter, and neither offense has been too pretty this afternoon. Duke owns a slight edge in total offense with 132 yards to Syracuse’s 131 yards, but Syracuse also has one turnover and one more penalty than Duke. Boone has completed 9-of-17 of his attempts for 79 yards. Jamison Crowder has caught five of those passes for 33 yards. Syracuse running back Prince-Tyson Gulley leads the Orange with 33 rushing yards.
Duke is looking to keep pace as the leader in the ACC Coastal Division. This is not a division game, but Duke needs a win to guarantee a stay in first place by themselves at the end of this week. Duke has won three straight ACC games and owns a head-to-head tiebreaker with Georgia Tech (playing NC State at the same time this afternoon). A win here helps Duke set up a potential finish that ends with a second straight division title with three home games after this week to close out the regular season.