Duke at Miami Hurricanes Week 10: Five things to watch

The Miami Hurricanes hope to get back on track on Saturday in front of their home crowd against Duke after losses to Virginia and Boston College in their last two games.

The Miami Hurricanes return to Hard Rock Stadium for the first time in a week with the offense having scored only 27 points in the last two games. Miami’s offense has done very little since they scored 24 points in the first half against FIU on September 22.

In the last 18 halves, the Hurricanes offense has scored 84 points. Fourteen of those points were set up perfectly by the Hurricanes defense against Florida State. The Miami defense forced turnovers on back to back Seminoles drives to give the Hurricanes offense the ball in the red zone.

The Miami offense was able to convert quickly to help the Hurricanes rally from a 20-point deficit against the Seminoles. It’s tough to expect the Miami defense to continue to carry the team as they have tried to do all season.

Miami and Duke will face each other with strength against strength and weakness against weakness. The Blue Devils were expected to have one of the best defenses in the ACC this season, but injuries have decimated them.

Duke’s offense was excellent last week but they lost 54-45 at Pittsburgh. The most  Miami has given up this season was 33 in a season-opening loss against LSU.

Miami crushed Duke 33-6 last season at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, North Carolina. It was the Hurricanes first trip back to Duke after their miraculous eight lateral kickoff return touchdown victory in 2015.

Ahmmon Richards and Mark Walton starred for Miami in the victory over the Blue Devils last season. Miami will not have either of them in this year’s game. Richards had to retire because of a neck injury. Walton is in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals.