And that’s that, as far as only scoring 26 points.

Duke exceeded the total it had been stuck on in the first quarter of a 45-17 win at Middle Tennessee on Saturday at Floyd Stadium.

The Blue Devils (4-0) wrapped up their first unbeaten non-conference slate for the first time since 2018 with an early onslaught that featured three touchdown passes by Maalik Murphy and a 1-yard rushing score by each of Star Thomas and Peyton Jones.

Three of those scores came after Duke’s defense recovered fumbles and gave its offense short fields — one of which was at the 1-yard line. That’s part of the explainer for how Duke had 28 points and only had 168 yards at that time; the last touchdown drive of the first half was eight plays, 86 yards, ending with a 34-yard pass to Jordan Moore — and that drive was extended by a roughing-the-punter penalty.

“Proud of our team, proud of how we handled a week where it’d be easy to lose our concentration, focus and attention,” first-year coach Manny Diaz said. “You’re going on the road to play a team that’s been struggling, and everybody knows what we have next.”

That part, if you’re unaware, is the start of ACC play with a game against North Carolina. Next weekend starts a stretch of eight ACC games across the next 10 weeks.

Beating Middle Tennessee (1-3) required a dialed-in effort and some patience, given there was a delay of 1 hour, 40 minutes in the middle of the third quarter.

“It’s actually crazy,” said defensive end Wesley Williams, who had two of Duke’s six sacks. “Our position group with the D-ends, we got through the entire game of what we wanted to fix. Like, literally every play (on iPad videos). It’s like having a … position meeting mid-game. It’s unreal that technology allows you to do that.”

Duke didn’t even score first — that was Jaiden Credle scoring on a 66-yard run on the third play of the game.

The answer came quick enough, though. On Duke’s second snap, Murphy threw down the middle to a wide-open Nicky Dalmolin, who ran the rest of the way for a 71-yard touchdown.

Duke’s senior tight end had a career game … in the first quarter.

Dalmolin caught a 7-yard touchdown for the last of Duke’s four first-quarter touchdowns, marking his first career two-touchdown game. The 71-yarder put him over the top for a career-high in yardage, and a catch in the second quarter that was his fourth of the game marked a career-best in catches.

“I think ultimately, great job by Coach (Jonathan) Brewer kind of finding those spaces to attack,” Dalmolin said. “It was great to get those touchdowns and it was fun to get those catches.”

Fumbles were forced in the first half by cornerbacks Kimari Robinson and Joshua Pickett, along with a strip-sack by Williams. On the recoveries were Alex Howard, DaShawn Stone and Kendy Charles.

Duke entered the game even in turnover margin, having committed and forced four each; it was plus-2 after the first half because Murphy threw an interception for the fourth straight game.

Stone had an interception in the second half that set up Thomas’ second touchdown run of the game.

The two-score game was good karma for the running back who went down at the 4-yard line last weekend to seal Duke’s win over Connecticut. Thomas had 111 yards on 17 carries a week after going for 122 yards against UConn.

“It didn’t surprise me at all,” Diaz said of Thomas’ game. “If you look at the way he runs and the way he finishes runs, it was only going to be a matter of time before karma, football gods, you know, put him in the end zone.”

There’s something else, moving to the defensive side of things, that was none too surprising.

Duke had another 12 tackles for loss, six of those being sacks. That gives the Blue Devils 46 TFLs this season and means in three of their first four games, they’ve hit double-digit TFLs.

For some context: Duke had three games in the past three seasons with double-digit TFLs, and Duke had 81 TFLs in 13 games last year.

The game entered a weather delay with 5:41 left in the third quarter and Duke leading 38-10. The break lasted about an hour and 40 minutes, resuming at about 7:10 local time (central).

Middle Tennessee got a touchdown a few minutes after the delay ended, making it a three-touchdown game late in the third quarter.

Thomas’ second touchdown, after Stone’s interception, effectively put the game on ice with about 12 minutes left.

EXTRA POINTS: Duke was missing running back Jaquez Moore for the second straight game, and starting left tackle Bruno Fina was out. Missing Fina meant Justin Pickett moved from guard to tackle and Eric Schon started on the interior. … Senior safety Jaylen Stinson was ejected for targeting about five minutes into the game. He was replaced by Stone. … Howard and Cameron Bergeron led Duke with eight tackles each, and Howard led the TFL charge with 3.5.