2020 Game Recap – Duke Beats Cuse

I don’t believe it, but the Blue Devils got a win. After two weeks of looking somewhat better on offensive, Duke put enough of it together throughout four quarters to come away with a win. The Blue Devils beat Syracuse 38-24 to improve to a less than pedestrian 1-4 on the season. It’s not great, but we can celebrate a win, right? I mean, it’s a win. We should be excited about it. Right?

Maybe, but the win masks a lot of obvious flaws this team still has. But before we get to that, let’s talk about the good things. DJ, Durant and the offensive line were unbelievable. Duke ran for a total of 363 yards. DJ accounted for 169 and Durant notched another 163. The OL blocked well for them and protected the quarterback. Brice threw for 270 yards and Holmberg added another 12. On top of that, Charlie Ham continued to perform well as the field goal kicker going 3/3. The defense got six sacks. Tack on two touchdowns on some big plays by the WRs and you have to think it was a pretty fantastic day.

But like I said, don’t get too hyped about the win. Despite gaining 665 yards (are you kidding me?), the game was close until late, very late. Duke struggled to put Syracuse away and wasn’t able to until 5:26 in the 4th when Durant got his second TD and Brice got the two points on a run. Why was it so close despite the Blue Devils only giving up a total of 379 yards?

Because Duke continued to turn the ball over and gave up several big plays on defense. You can excuse the big plays because of the injuries in the secondary, but you can’t excuse FOUR, count them FOUR, turnovers. This is an older and experienced team. While DJ fumbling once on 30 touches is understandable, Brice’s fumbles (one was lost) and his pick, along with Holmberg’s fumble on a botched hand off, should worry all Blue Devil fans. Duke will not be able to win many games when they lose the turnover battle 4-0.

While I’m glad Duke got the win, I’m concerned about what will happen next week when the Blue Devils play NCSU. And what about when Duke plays NC? Do you think the team can win continuously despite giving up the ball four more times than the opponent? I don’t.

This is season 13 for Cutcliffe. His team continues to be undisciplined and sloppy with the ball. If this continues next week, expect Duke to return to its losing ways. Let’s hope for a change, but let’s also be optimistic.