2020 Game Recap – Duke Wins!

Despite playing at night and on Halloween (Duke fans know how disastrous both situations generally are for the Blue Devils), Duke came away with a win against Charlotte. When the last second ticked off the clock, the Blue Devils got their second victory of the season by beating the 49ers 53-19 (sorry for the jumble of numbers, but I didn’t give Charlotte a numerical nickname).

Duke copied the blueprint for victory used against Syracuse – Run. The. Damn. Ball. Mataeo Durant and Deon Jackson both ran for over 100 yards and each notched two rushing touchdowns. Jordan Waters and Gunnar Holmberg also got in on the fun and added rushing touchdowns of their own. Chase Brice managed one touchdown through the air to Jalon Calhoun. But other than that pass and a nifty one-handed catch by Jarrett Garner, Brice had a lousy night. He finished the evening with 106 passing yards and 8 completions on just 14 attempts. Not great although you don’t need to throw if you’re running well. Holmberg also had a few drives and finished with 21 yards (2/3 on pass attempts) and one pick on a deep ball that sure looked like it had a defensive PI on it.

The defense looked good despite some penalties that kept a drive going. Rumph had 3 sacks and Heyward and Dimukeje both got one. The kicking teams blocked two punts. On the whole, those units played well. The team did enough on all fronts to overcome Cutcliffe’s lousy 4th down call (Go. Under. Center.) that had the potential to spark a rally. It was a nice night under the lights at Wallace Wade.

So, what do we take from this win? Not much.

Charlotte is a non-conference opponent that is now 2-3. The 49ers haven’t beaten anyone of note this year and aren’t at ACC level competition. This is a game that the Blue Devils are supposed to win. By doing so, Duke continued to punch at (or below) its weight class (the team is 2-5 this year). Also, if your quarterback can barely complete more than 50% of his passes against Charlotte, you can’t expect much against UNC next week.

While it was nice to get a win, I wouldn’t read too much into this game. Just like with the victory over Syracuse, I can’t say that Duke will turn it around and play great for the rest of the season. Don’t be surprised if there’s some regression towards to the mean against the Tar Heels.

Sorry to rain on the parade, but we have to be honest about our expectations for the remainder of the reason. While I’m happy that Duke won and scored a lot of points, I’ve seen this before and won’t get too excited about it.

That said, I’m going to leave you on a positive note. I recently came across Gunnar’s mom’s Twitter account and all I can say is Jennifer Holmberg is the best account you’re not following. I love how she engages with the crowd and promotes her son. As a parent, I can’t help but love it!