Another Air Raid

This week's Associated Press boilerplate brings news that Duke is planning to air it out against NC State on Saturday (you can almost see Tom O'Brien's shoulders sag as he notes, "We played a pretty good quarterback last week and we've got another four-year starter this week, so here we go again.") , but that says as much about the Blue Devils as it does about us.  As usual, they've got no running game to speak of, and quarterback Thaddeus Lewis is about as reliable as they come in the ACC. So it's not really news so much as confirmation that it remains business as usual for the Duke offense.

Duke's offensive breakdown against I-A opponents, adusted for sacks:

Army is the only team (including their two I-AA opponents) against which they've thrown the ball fewer than 37 times.  They throw a lot because they're behind a lot, but it's also the only way they're able to move the ball with any sort of consistency.

Lewis will be wearing his arm out again on Saturday (unless things go terribly, terribly wrong for us), but much like Duke's offense as a whole, you can probably expect Lewis to pile up his yardage methodically rather than explosively.  I don't think that's anything to be overly concerned about. Unless you figure that his performance against VT is a sign that the passing game has turned a corner.