The Duke offense is piling up points and the defense is forcing miscues over the past two games.
The Blue Devils will try to maintain their sudden prowess and stretch their winning streak to three games when they take on Cal on Saturday night in Atlantic Coast Conference play at Berkeley, Calif.
Duke (3-2, 2-0 ACC) scored a combined 83 points in its past two games as it outgunned visiting North Carolina State 45-33 two weekends ago and then mauled host Syracuse 38-3 in a stellar effort last Saturday.
Duke racked up 504 yards at Syracuse and forced three turnovers. The week before, NC State had four turnovers. Over that two-week span, the Blue Devils committed no turnovers.
Blue Devils coach Manny Diaz likes the improvement he’s seeing on both sides of the ball after a lackluster 1-2 start.
“The players like that consistency and structure where you’re not driving the steering wheel across all the way,” Diaz said. “If we keep doing our job, the terms will come. If we keep protecting it, we won’t turn the ball over on offense. And again, that’s always, as everyone knows, that’s the first key to winning any game.”
Duke quarterback Darian Mensah has played solidly with 1,573 yards and 13 touchdowns against two interceptions. The Tulane transfer has thrown multiple scoring passes in all five games.
Cal (4-1, 1-0) is coming off a 28-24 road victory over Boston College. Linebacker Luke Ferrelli intercepted a pass in the end zone with 19 seconds left to seal it.
“I’m super excited, but we definitely have a lot to do as a team to get better,” Ferrelli said. “The main thing for us is to get past adversity.”
Perhaps that was achieved as Cal was drubbed 34-0 at San Diego State the previous weekend.
Freshman Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele bounced back from a shaky game against the Aztecs — he threw a season-worst two interceptions to go with a season-low 44.7 percentage — to pass for 254 yards with two touchdowns and one pick against the Eagles.
“We’ve seen him so much now since January, we’re not all that surprised,” Golden Bears coach Justin Wilcox said of Sagapolutele’s bounce-back performance. “Is it unique to have a freshman with that poise and be able to make the throws? Yeah, it is. He’s just going to get better and better.”
The Golden Bears and Blue Devils have played twice previously — in 1962 and 1963. Duke won 21-7 at home in the first meeting and the teams played to a 22-22 tie in Berkeley the following season.
