Month: August 2022

September 2, 2022. 7:30 p.m. Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium. Duke takes on Temple to start the Elko Era. I don’t know about you guys, but I can’t wait.

In trying to put together a game preview for Temple, I realized that I can’t rely on my trusty trends from last season because, well, there are no trends for this incarnation of Duke football. We have a new head coach, new coordinators, new staff, new running back, new quarterback and, well, you get the idea.

Well, what about the opposing team? Surely there are some trends for the Owls, right? Not really, Temple is in the same boat that the Blue Devils are – a new coach looking to turn around a program that has fallen from prior heights. Dating back to 2006 when Al Golden took over at Temple, the Owls had done pretty well under four different head coaches (Golden, Steve Addazio, Matt Rhule and Geoff Collins) until Rod Carey came to town and the bag broke when COVID hit. After an 8-5 season and a loss in the Military Bowl in 2019, Temple went 1-6 in 2020 and 3-9 in 2021. Not great. And not that different from our guys in Durham.

So, instead of trends, I’m going to riff on my Five Things from game recaps and state the Five Things we need to see from this Duke team on Friday:

1. A win. This is obvious, but the Blue Devils always have to go at least 3-1, if not 4-0, in non-conference play to get to a bowl game. If Duke wants to go bowling this season, a win against Temple is a must. Sure, this team may not have the toughest non-conference schedule, but you can’t say that wins are guaranteed against Northwestern or Kansas. And while there are 11 chances to make up for an opening loss, history has taught us that the margins are generally thin in Durham. If the season starts with a loss, getting back on track won’t be easy.
2. Tough, physical and intelligent play. We can’t see both linebackers leave a running back open. We can’t continue to get beat on the wheel route. And we can’t tackle shoulders. If these Blue Devils want to win, or at least be competitive, they are going to have to be smart. They are going to have to be tough, physical and dominate the line of scrimmage. They are going to have to compete every down. And, more important, …
3. They are going to have to hold each other accountable. Someone, really a collection of someones, is going to have to step up and lead the team. Team cohesion will be critical for this team as it tries to get out of the doldrums that have been around since that one play in 2019 we won’t mention. Accountability and leadership doesn’t happen as a result of one player running the locker room. Rather, each player will have to believe in one another. Not only that, but they will have to hold one another accountable. Each player will have to know what everyone else on the field is supposed to do at all times. That’s what it is going to take.
4. An offense that can control the clock. And also be creative. What I’m hoping to see from Coach Johns’ offense is a hard-nosed, smash-mouth unit that runs the ball, throws to the tight end and gets creative. Our wide receivers haven’t been great at getting separation, so let’s see Jordan Moore in the slot. How about Luca Diamont, too? Be creative and take the pressure off of Jalon Calhoun and new starting quarterback Riley Leonard. And running the ball won’t only help open up the receivers, it will give the defense a chance to rest. Plus, you know the OL will love beating people at the line and opening up big holes for the RBs to run through.
5. A competitive game. While we would all love to see Duke win by 30, I think we would all take a win regardless of the score. The blowout losses have to stop. If this team wants to win games, it will have to find a way to stay in games and keep the score close. So, even if this game isn’t a blowout, I’ll be happy to see this team play a close, competitive and physical game. And winning it would be great, too.

So, those are the five things that I want to see from the Blue Devils against Temple. Let’s hope we get those, and a lot more.

Now, while I was pretty bad at this last season, I’ll go ahead and throw in a score prediction – I’m taking Duke with a 31-27 win over Temple. While I would like to take the Blue Devils by a larger margin, I don’t feel that I know enough about this team to be able to predict with confidence. While I like everything I’ve heard from the players so far, I am going to wait until I see it to start getting bullish about this team. And, for the record, I want to see these guys do it even though I may sound a little pessimistic about things.

Now, before I close this post, you’ll see that I added a new category – “2022 Season” – to help better keep track of each season that I keep doing this.

Since I added a 2022 category, you’re probably asking if I’m going to go back and categories for 2019, 2020 and 2021. To those of you who ask that I say

Anyway, tell me what you think about what I think in the comments or on Twitter.

Go Duke!