By Mark Bergin, WRAL senior multiplatform producer

Duke Blue Devils
5Miami Hurricanes
ABC | Saturday, November 2nd 12:00 PM EDT

Durham, N.C. — The Duke Blue Devils football team looks to regroup this weekend coming off an overtime loss in head coach Manny Diaz’s return to Miami.

Duke (6-2, 2-2 ACC) visits No. 5 Miami (8-0, 4-0 ACC), where Diaz served as the school’s head coach from 2019-2021. Diaz was also Miami’s defensive coordinator from 2016-2018.

“There’s a great saying that no man crosses the same river twice, or he’s not the same man or it’s not the same river,” Diaz said. “And, that’s really the way I look at it.

“I’ve grown. I’m different as a coach, as a coach, as a man as I was when I was at Miami. And certainly, the program is in a different place by every metric from when I was there.”

Kickoff between Duke and Miami is set for noon Saturday, and the game airs on ABC.

Duke will need to slow down Hurricanes quarterback Cam Ward, a top Heisman trophy candidate. Ward leads the ACC in passing (2,746 yards), passing touchdowns (24) and efficiency (174.7). He also has three rushing touchdowns on the season.

“He’s having one of the best seasons of any quarterback ever,” Diaz said of Ward.

Miami leads the ACC in scoring (46.8 points per game) and yards per game (560.8).

“[You’ve] got to defend two plays,” Diaz said of Ward. “He’s got great anticipation, [and has] a very quick release [and he’s] very accurate.

“And then, he’s a hard guy to get on the ground. He runs around and can make plays scrambling to throw and scrambling to run.”

Diaz also complimented the Hurricanes’ ability on offense to convert third downs. The Hurricanes have converted 61 of their 102 third-down attempts this season (59.8%), which ranks first in the ACC.

Miami’s defense also ranks first on opponent third-down conversions. Opponents have converted 29 of 100 third-down attempts against the Hurricanes.

Duke is coming off a 28-27 overtime loss to SMU. The Blue Devils had a game-winning field goal attempt blocked at the end of regulation, one of three missed field goals in the game. Duke went for a two-point conversion and the win in overtime, but was stopped.

“Our mindset [Sunday] was you should never rationalize … a loss,” Diaz said.

Miami is coming off a 36-14 win against Florida State.

Source: wralsportsfan.com