No doubt the Duke coaching staff hopes it's a sign of things to come as the 6'3 new-comer's first career pass found tight end Brett Huffman pass for a 17 yard touchdown to give Duke a 14-10 lead midway through the third quarter. Later, Renfree would find fellow freshman Conner Vernon on a 31 yard scoring pass to extend the lead to 21-13.
Throughout much of the game the Army ground attack gave the Blue Devils fits as the hosts ran for 266 yards led by Eric Mealy's 99 yards on just 10 carries. Starting quarterback Trent Steelman was just as effective on the ground, chewing up 75 yards despite several quarterback sacks and tackles for loss by the Duke defense.
Overall the Black Knight running game allowed Army to enjoy a significant time of possession advantage of just over 12 minutes while the offense as a whole out-gained the Blue Devils by a 385 yards to just 236 for Duke. However, after Renfree's two touchdown passes, the Black Knights were forced out of their comfort zone and into the passing game.
Down by a score and needing to march nearly 70 yards for a score, Army quarterback Carson Williams took to the air and was immediately picked off by Leon Wright who returned the ball 51 yards for a score to put the game out of reach at 28-13.
On the very next Army play from scrimmage, Williams against went to the air where Wright stepped in front of the receiver to make the interception before racing 33 yards to the endzone to extend the lead to three scores.
Defensively Duke was led by middle linebacker Vincent Rey's 10 tackles. Senior linemen Ayanga Okpokowuruk and Vince Oghobaase added 10 and seven tackles respectively.
The Blue Devils return to action next week when they travel to Lawrence (Kan.) to face the nationally ranked Kansas Jayhawks.