With Duke starting RB Jaquez Moore injured, can Blue Devils run the ball and keep winning?

Jaquez Moore gained eight yards on a first-quarter running play for Duke, one of the best rushing outbursts the Blue Devils managed last Friday night at Northwestern.

When he got up after the play, Duke’s starting running back hobbled before being helped to the bench while not putting weight on his foot. He later returned to the sidelines in the second half wearing a protective boot.

The Blue Devils won the game 26-20 in double overtime, but lost a big part of their running game after that play.

As Duke (2-0) prepares for Saturday’s home game with Connecticut, and the start of ACC looming less than two weeks away, its rushing offense has yet to have a breakout performance. It’s statistically near the bottom of the ACC.

Losing Moore, a senior who ran for 634 yards and six touchdowns in a reserve role last season, to that lower body injury won’t help.

Duke’s coaching staff expressed confidence in Star Thomas and Peyton Jones, the two backs they used after Moore was injured at Northwestern.

But, so far, Duke is No. 16 in the 17-team ACC in both rushing yards per carry (2.67) and rushing yards per game (152).

Can the Blue Devils get more production from their running game in nonconference games the next two weeks before beginning ACC play with North Carolina on Sept. 27? They are confident they can.

Duke head coach Manny Diaz saw progress against Northwestern as compared to his team’s 26-3 season-opening win over Elon.

“We were more efficient in our run game, while not being as explosive as we still want to be,” Diaz said. “But our four-yard gains went up from what it was in week one.”

Those four-yard gains, while not eye-popping or fodder for highlight reels, are crucial, particularly on first downs, Duke offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer said.

“We were in a lot of second-and-6s, second-and-4s,” Brewer said, “which opens up a lot for me to call plays when we’re not in second and 10s in that world. So I felt like we made a huge stride in the running game.”

The Blue Devils gained only 93 yards rushing, averaging 3.1 yards per carry against Northwestern. Only four of Duke’s first downs were gained on the ground.

But, as Brewer pointed out, his offense relies on run-pass option plays, where Duke’s quarterback pivots to a run or pass play depending upon how the defense reacts. When Northwestern, like Elon a week earlier, had an extra defender up front to slow the running game, Duke quarterbacks Maalik Murphy and Henry Belin throw short passes.

“I know it didn’t show up on the stat sheet,” Brewer said, “because what y’all don’t see is that the reason he’s throwing RPOs is because they’re overloading the box. If they’re not overloaded box, then we’re getting four to eight yards in the rushing game each time we hand the ball off off.”

Thomas, the graduate transfer who played at New Mexico State the last two seasons, led Duke in rushing with 88 yards at Northwestern. His biggest run of the night covered 11 yards. He added two other nine-yard runs.

Jones, a sophomore, gained 15 yards on five carries at Northwestern.

Moore has shown the ability to make defenders miss tackles, allowing him to extend running plays for extra yards. The Blue Devils will certainly miss that while he’s recovering.

In the meantime, Thomas and Jones are the featured backs.

“They’re the two guys that have been getting the most reps,” Brewer said. “It was good to see Peyton go in the game and finally kind of cut his teeth in a real live game. Like, hey, this is it. It’s your time to shine. Star obviously took the majority of the reps and he has so much experience anyway, so it wasn’t a big shock to him.”

So whether it’s purely by running the ball better or by identifying situations to get some easy throw-and-catch yardage, the Blue Devils want to keep being successful on first down even while Moore is sidelined.

“It allows us to not be in pure second and 10 offense,” Brewer said. “Second and 10s lead to third and sevens. Third and sevens lead to extreme pass rush. And so for us, we have to be able to either run the football or throw the ball in the perimeter for easy completions with our quick, RPO game to get us going.”