2022 Game Recaps – Duke WINS!!!

It had been since September 25, 2021 that Duke last won a game. After almost a year, eight straight losses, a coaching change and a lot of new faces, the Blue Devils delivered a 30-0 win over Temple and got the Elko Era off to a good start.

It may not have been perfect, and we’ll get into that in the Five Things below, and it may not tell you much about what to expect from this team over the next eleven games, but it was a win. And if any program needed a win, other than Temple, it was Duke. The Blue Devils did a great job controlling the tempo, running the ball, utilizing multiple weapons in the passing game (eight different guys, including two tight ends, caught passes) and being in the right place on defense. Coach Johns put together an outstanding game plan and the co-defensive coordinators, Coaches Smith and Simpson, put the right guys on the field and let them make plays. Duke took a 7-0 lead on the opening drive, sparked by a wheel route in the making that Jordan Moore took almost to the house, and never looked back. It was a fun game to watch.

With that in mind, let’s get to the Five Things starting with the Five Things I liked:

No. 1 – Better personnel usage. On offense, we’ll start with Jordan Moore as a wide receiver. I’ve talked about the need to get our fast guys out in space and it looks like Coach Johns, who I’m sure doesn’t read my blog, already knew that which is why he’s got such a good track record as a player-caller. Moore helped open up the offense and give Calhoun, Pancol and Hagans opportunities to make plays. That helped the running game and it also gave Leonard, who had a really nice game, a chance to take his time, find the right guy and get the ball to that person. The best example of Moore’s ability was the wheel route (more on that below) that he took to an almost-touchdown. Let’s see more of Moore and more creativity on offense. To have a winning program, you need coaches who put players in the best position to make plays and it looks like Coach Johns knows how to do that.

On defense, we saw a guy on the defensive line who didn’t get enough snaps last season finally get the opportunity he needed. I’m talking, of course, about Ja’Mion Franklin. I tweeted, probably daily last year, about how he needed to be on the field more. And two fumble recoveries later it sure looks like I’m not completely crazy. Nor is everyone else who thought the same thing.

I’ve spoken highly about both Moore and Franklin for a while and I’m glad to see them get opportunities. Let’s hope it continues.

No. 2 – We didn’t get hurt by a wheel route. Believe it or not, Duke stopped a wheel route on defense last night. And I don’t mean stop by letting the other team score a touchdown like we saw oh so many times last year. I mean stop by not letting Temple convert a third down. It was a small thing, but I loved it.

And, as mentioned, the Blue Devils ran a wheel route and almost scored a touchdown. Beautiful, just beautiful.

No. 3 – Better tempo on offense. It looked like Coach Johns heard all of our collective complaints and slowed things down. It seemed like there was a concerted effort to run the clock down closer to zero before snapping the ball. There weren’t a lot of forty second drives. Instead, we saw a more methodical, time-consuming approach offensively. While it working against the Owls probably doesn’t mean a whole lot, it should help the defense stay fresh as the season goes on.

No. 4 – Utilizing the tight ends. Look, four catches for thirty-nine yards isn’t a lot, but it tells the opposing defense that the tight ends can’t be ignored. And if you put a body on a tight end, it means you can’t double-cover Pancol, Calhoun or Moore. The tight end is a young quarterback’s best friend, so let’s keep calling for throws to Finney and Dalmolin to help Leonard develop.

No. 5 – Being right. If you look back at my last post, you’ll see that I said there were five things we had to see from Duke. Those five things included: a win; tough, physical and intelligent play; an offense that controls the clock and puts Moore in the slot (I can’t recall where he lined up the most because I was watching TV, drinking an adult beverage and playing old-time music); and a competitive game that referenced how much we’d all love to see the Blue Devils win by 30. Sound like Friday night’s game? Maybe I do know a little bit about this football thing after all.

And an honorable mention goes out to friends of the pod Mem Factor and the Section 17 guys. We saw the back of Mem Factor on TV and we also saw a lot of Bleed Blue shirts. It was pretty cool.

Now, here are the Five Things I didn’t like:

No. 1 – Sloppiness. There were more false starts than I’d like to see. While it didn’t hurt Duke on Friday, it will against better teams. That’s going to have to improve over the course of the season. So, too, will the less than stellar second half. The Blue Devils came out firing on all cylinders to start the game, but after coming away with no points on the last drive of the first half, the offense seemed a little disjointed and like it was looking ahead to Northwestern. Duke scored twenty-four in the first half followed by just six in the second. Not keeping the foot on the gas will hurt this team as the season goes on.

No. 2 – The kicking teams. Consistent with the sloppiness discussed above, Charlie Ham missed three field goals including two short-range field goals. The 51 yarder doesn’t concern me, but the two short-yardage ones do. I’ll give Ham a pass on the one at the end of the first half because it looked like a bad snap, but the Blue Devils can’t afford to leave points on the board. A good kicking game can win you at least two games a year. It can also lose you a lot more.

No. 3 – Clock management at the end of the first half. It sure seemed like Coach Elko should have called a timeout once in the red zone instead of letting the clock get down to about nineteen seconds before the snap (I didn’t write this down as it happened, so my memory may be a little off on the exact time). I also think that Duke had time for one more play before attempting, and missing, a field goal. Again, these little things can win and lose games.

No. 4 – Lack of fans in seats. Nothing new here, but a lot of the fans dressed as empty seats. I hate to see that. I have my own excuses for not being there – three hours away, moving into a new house, starting a new law practice, etc. – but you can bet I’d be there if I lived closer to Durham. I hate that more weren’t on hand. Now, the attendance may have improved as the game went on, but it isn’t like the lousy announcers would tell us anything.

No. 5 – I actually don’t have a number five, so I’ll just grumble about the fact that the TV commentators weren’t great. I think that me and the Section 17 crew, with Freddie Hodges on the field, would be a perfect combo. Any takers?

Let me conclude by saying this – getting a win against what looks like a pretty bad Temple team doesn’t really tell you a whole lot about what to expect from this team. The Northwestern game is likely to be tough as is the Kansas game. We’ll know a lot more after those two games than we know now. That said, I’m excited for the players. This group has been through a lot of misery. The Jump Pass, the nightmare of a season that was 2020 and then, obviously, the disaster that was last year. I’m real glad to see these players to get a win. It’s great for them to be playing for a coach they’ve clearly bought into. And I’m excited that Coach Elko started his tenure as the Blue Devils’ head coach off with a win. But I’m not changing my prediction from 4-8 just yet. This team has to do a little more before I fully buy in. But, again, I’m really, really happy for this team to get a win and I hope to see a lot more of them this season.

And that’s it for the first game recap of the Elko Era. Let me know what you think about what I think in the comments or on Twitter.

Go Duke!