I guess the Canes have to play Thursday nights on ESPN to be impressive.

They beat lowly Duke, 24-14, on Saturday to improve to 4-1. But other than the Thursday night win over Texas A&M, the Canes have not played inspired football. They lost big at Oklahoma and struggled at times in wins over Marshall, FIU and Duke.

Here are the grades for the Duke game:

QUARTERBACKS (GRADE B-) - Kyle Wright continues to be incredibly accurate. But for the second week in a row, he turned the ball over twice. To be fair, though, his first interception today was not really his fault. Freshman WR Leonard Hankerson ran an 18-yard out instead of 12, ruining Wright's timing. The second pick, though, was Wright's fault. Deep in Duke territory, he rolled left and had a lane to run. But he tried to force a pass in the end zone and got picked. Other than that, he made just one bad throw, an overthrow for a harmless incompletion. He also held on to the ball too long on two sacks. His final numbers: 19 of 23 for 230 yards, 2 TDs and 2 INTs.      

RUNNING BACKS (GRADE A) - Freshman Graig Cooper, who for the first time started the game together with Javarris James, continues to improve, gaining 126 yards from scrimmage. He ran for 101 yards, 1 touchdown and 0 fumbles (unlike last week). His average per rush was a sensational 8.4. James had 85 yards from scrimmage, including a 16-yard run in which he trucked a defensive back.

RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS (GRADE B-) - The bright spot was junior-college transfer Kayne Farquharson, who had a breakout performance with 6 catches for 46 yards and 1 touchdown. The TD catch - in which Kayne had to stretch to get the ball - was a 5-yard grab in the back of the end zone. Tight end Dajleon Farr also made a great play on Miami's clinching TD. It was a 33-yard catch and run, with Farr breaking tackles as he roared down the left sideline. Senior Darnell Jenkins was solid with 3 catches for 72 yards, including a 46-yard bomb. He did have one drop, but he also made a key block on Farr's TD. As for negatives, freshman Leonard Hankerson made a mistake on his out pattern (see above). And Sam Shields and Ryan Hill were demoted for undisclosed reasons. That's twice in five games for Shields, the team's fastest player who had seemingly turned a corner last week. Very disappointing.  

OFFENSIVE LINE (GRADE C+) - UM's blockers paved the way for James and Cooper to rush for 158 yards and a 5.6 average. But they gave up two sacks and were whistled for three holding calls - one on LT Jason Fox and two on RT Chris Rutledge. The first sack was a clear coverage sack. The second was also due to Wright holding the ball too long. But there is no excuse for the holding calls. It seems like Reggie Youngblood should be elevated over Rutledge after this performance.

DEFENSIVE LINE (GRADE B-) - The D-Line wasn't perfect but they did get 8 sacks. With that type of pressure, the back seven should clean up. DE Eric Moncur made the biggest play of the game, coming up with a sack on 4th down to stop Duke's final threat with the score 17-14, Miami. But there were a pair of costly  roughing-the-passer penalties - one on Calais Campbell and another on Vegas Franklin. There is also the matter of allowing Duke's running back to gain 71 yards on a 5.1 average.  

LINEBACKERS (GRADE C) - MLB Tavares Gooden turned in another good performance with 14 tackles and a fumble recovery. But OLB Colin McCarthy missed too many tackles, and  OLB Spencer Adkins didn't make much happen, either. The Canes held Duke scoreless in the first half but had some second-half meltdowns. The linebackers are at least partly responsible. The same goes for Duke's first TD, a 41-yard screen pass. Where were the LBs?

DEFENSIVE BACKS (GRADE D) - Former Miami prep star Thad Lewis passed for 241 yards on Miami (18 of 27, 2 TDs, 0 INTs). CB Bruce Johnson had a brutal game. He got beat on a 31-yard TD pass down the sideline. He also got nailed for a pair of holding penalties, the second of which would have forced a fourth down. That nearly beat Miami. Another mistake was made by CB DeMarcus Van Dyke, who tried to run with a fumble and instead failed to grasp it. A positive play was made by Glenn Sharpe, who got his first action from scrimmage this season. He stripped Lewis of the ball and recovered it.  

SPECIAL TEAMS (GRADE C) - The Canes' special teams were what we thought they were - to borrow a famous line - average. Francesco Zampogna made a career-best 47-yard field goal, but he also missed a 42-yarder. Matt Bosher averaged 34 yards per punt but allowed just 5 yards on returns. The Canes did not return any punts and averaged just 21 yards on kickoffs.