The message was clear Saturday night at Carter-Finley Stadium – there are no easy wins in the ACC this year. A revamped Duke team walked onto State’s home field for the first time since 2002 and defeated State, 49-28, in Raleigh for the first time in most current students’ lifetimes.

State ran into an offense the likes of which it will likely never see again. While most schools are recruiting all position and creating well-rounded teams that can field all positions, Duke recruited specific skill players that compliment Cutliffe’s throw-heavy offense and that strategy paid off in full Saturday night. State scored seven points in the second half to Duke’s 28, a statistic that would spell doom for almost any team.

In the postgame, Tom O’Brien and his team seemed flummoxed with what they just witnessed.

“People aren’t even trying to run the ball on us anymore,” O’Brien said. “They had a good game plan for us. They weren’t going to let us pressure the quarterback and threw the ball. Whether we’re playing man or zone, we sometimes weren’t even in the same area code as those guys.”

Defensive end Willie Young had a far simpler explanation.

“They’re on the rise right now,” Young said of Duke.

The Pack gave up 502 yards, of which 459 were passing, which translated to 40 completions of 50 attempts with no interceptions. Duke ran the ball 35 times, and gained an average of 1.2 yards per carry. The Blue Devils avoided the run whenever possible and opted to play to its strengths, averaging 9.2 yards per pass in the air.

Senior Bobby Floyd said this trend was something the coaching staff prepared the team for.

“Duke hasn’t been a big running team all season – they’ve been a big throwing team,” Floyd said. “They’ve got a big quarterback and a big core of receivers that are playing well, and they stayed true to that.”

Meanwhile, State threw 16 of 30 with two interceptions, with one each coming from Russell Wilson and Mike Glennon.

Thaddeus Lewis became the second opposing quarterback in two weeks to set a personal record against the Pack in the first quarter. Lewis tied Duke’s record with his 55th career touchdown and notched 25 first downs against the Pack. He completed 22 of his 28 passing attempts for 233 yards.

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Wilson said Lewis’ play allowed the Devils to play at a higher level.

“Thaddeus played a great game, as did the rest of their team, and we just have to play better,” Wilson said. “I’ve got to do better; the rest of the team has to do better.”

The first stanza progressed at a dizzying pace as each team completed a touchdown in each of its first three possessions. There was not a single field goal attempted throughout the game.

O’Brien called the first half a “track meet,” one in which State could never gain an advantage.

“We could never get ahead of the curve,” O’Brien said after the game. “It’s something we’re going to have to evaluate, the lack of production in the second half.”

Senior running back Toney Baker said Duke didn’t change its defensive game plan around in the second half, but State’s offense couldn’t keep up with the scoring onslaught.

“We’ve yet to play a full game on the offense, and that’s on us. Our job is to score more than the opposing team and we didn’t get it done.”

The Blue Devils picked apart State’s secondary as Lewis connected for five passing touchdowns.

“We think we’re playing our best guys, but whatever we’re asking out of them, we’re not getting it,” O’Brien said.

Floyd said he and his fellow defensemen were barraged from all sides Saturday night.

“A lot of people are going to try and spread us out,” Floyd said. “We knew that coming into the game.”

Rather than a Pack collapse, the true game story lay in how efficiently Duke used its strength against what many consider to be a strong State team. Whether Duke uses Saturday as a launching point remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, O’Brien said even though the Pack is 0-2 in the ACC after two crushing losses pundits expected to go the opposite way, the season is far from over.

“We’re halfway through the year. We have a lot to play for,” O’Brien said. “I don’t think these kids have any quit in them.”