Coach Cutcliffe took his Blue Devils on the road to open the 2015 season and left New Orleans with a dominant victory over the Tulane Green Wave.

The Thomas Sirk era

The Thomas Sirk era opens with a convincing win, but initially got off to a shaky start in the first half with a number of false start penalties and a Johnell Barnes fumble. After those early hiccups, however, Sirk skillfully led the Duke offense to 531 total yards. His favorite targets were Barnes (11 catches for 109 yards and a touchdown) and freshman T.J. Rahming (6 catches for 70 yards). Veterans Max McCaffrey and Braxton Deaver also proved to be reliable targets for the new Blue Devil quarterback. In his first career start, Sirk finished 27 of 40 for 289 yards passing with 2 touchdowns; he added a hard-fought 68 yards on the ground.

Dominant Duke Defense

Led by their veteran secondary, the Blue Devil defense kept Tanner Lee and the Green Wave in check for much of the night. Jim Knowles' unit pitched a shut out with the exception of an early 4th quarter 99-yard touchdown drive. Breon Borders led the way with 6 tackles and a sack, while Zavier Carmichael pulled in an interception and finished with 5 tackles. DeVon Edwards and Carlos Wray also added sacks on Lee. Wray anchored a stout Duke defensive front, which held the Green Wave to just 25 total rushing yards on the night.

Special Teams are Special

The Duke special teams units put together near-perfect efforts in the season opener. Senior Ross Martin kept the Blue Devils ahead on the scoreboard with field goals of 32, 25, and 46 yards. Fellow senior Will Monday was also dominant, with all 3 of his punts downed within the 20 yard line. All-American return man DeVon Edwards put the game away in the 4th quarter with a 95-yard kickoff return touchdown. Ryan Smith was sure-handed in taking over the punt return duties for the departed Jamison Crowder, breaking one return for 25 yards.

The Stable

Behind an at times disjointed offensive line, senior Shaquille Powell and sophomore Shaun Wilson shared much of the workload for the Duke running game. After nursing a hamstring throughout training camp, Wilson appeared back in midseason form, finishing with 77 yards on 15 carries. The first Blue Devil touchdown of the 2015 season was scored by Powell, who finished with 24 yards on 7 carries. Zach Boden powered into the end zone from the 1 yard line on the final Duke drive of the game. Overall, the Duke rushing game finished with 207 yards on 48 carries. The Blue Devils were penalized a total of 8 times in the game.

Duke returns to Durham to take on NC Central in the newly renovated Wallace Wade Stadium on Saturday, September 12 at 6:00PM.