When Duke needed the yards, running back Josh Snead was typically able to provide them. Snead ran for a season-best 102 yards, taking advantage of Georgia Tech’s inability to defend the Blue Devils’ read-option game. He had critical third-and-2 conversions on back-to-back drives to open the second half, helping the Blue Devils score 10 points and push their lead from 14-12 at halftime to 24-12.
On the day, Duke ran for 250 yards on 48 attempts, 137 in the second half. It was the second-highest rushing yardage total for Duke in an ACC game under coach David Cutcliffe.
Said coach Paul Johnson, “They were running the zone read and we were closing and taking the back with the (defensive) end and the linebacker was supposed to scrape. Sometimes, he didn’t scrape.”
Linebacker Quayshawn Nealy said that players assigned to defend a particular gap in the line “were peeking in the wrong gaps, and they were finding open gaps.”
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