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By Bryan Colbert Jr.
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Nate Sheppard arrived in Raleigh 28 yards shy of a second straight 1,000-yard season and one touchdown away from Duke’s single-season rushing record.
He covered both on his first carry, taking a handoff 69 yards to the end zone just 43 seconds into Saturday’s game.
Sheppard scored twice more and finished with 217 rushing yards in Duke’s 41-3 win over NC State. The sophomore now has 17 rushing touchdowns through nine games, eight of them in the past two weeks.
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A week earlier, he set the school’s single-game record with five in a 47-2 win over Boston College.
The opening run put Sheppard alongside Randy Cuthbert as the only Duke players with two 1,000-yard rushing seasons.
Cuthbert reached the mark in 1989 and again in 1992.
Sheppard is the first to do it in consecutive years, and with 1,189 yards this season, he has already passed the 1,132 he gained in 14 games as a freshman.
NC State answered Sheppard’s first touchdown with a field goal. Early in the second quarter, Duke faced fourth-and-1 on a drive that could have given the Wolfpack the ball back down just 7-3.
Sheppard picked up seven yards, then finished the drive with an 8-yard touchdown run.
Duke added 17 points in the final 3:14 of the half, the last seven coming when Andrew Pellicciotta returned a missed field goal 100 yards for a touchdown.
Sheppard’s final score came on a 4-yard run in the third quarter.
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Saturday was Sheppard’s second 200-yard rushing game of the season. He ran for 227 yards against Tulane in the opener, and his 217 against NC State made him the first player in Duke history to reach 200 twice in one season.
Duke takes a 7-2 record and a 4-2 ACC mark to Miami next Saturday.
In Raleigh, Sheppard ran for 217 yards in less than three quarters. NC State finished with 217 yards rushing and passing combined.
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