2022 Game Recaps – That Hurts

Duke went into Atlanta with a chance to get to 5-1. A chance to get one win away from a bowl. A chance to win two conference games for the first time in a long, long time. And, unfortunately, the Blue Devils came away with a loss. A bad one. From the jump, Georgia Tech looked in control. The Yellow Jackets were more physical, more assertive and more determined to get a win. Duke’s entire team, coaching staff included, looked off. The offense didn’t take a lot of shots down field (probably due to a Jalon Calhoun injury) and the running game never came together (although not a bad 33/142, but the RBs and OL couldn’t manage to set the tone for the game). Riley Leonard had his first bad (read awful) game of the season. He went 20/41 for 136 yards, 1 TD and 1 costly INT. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech kept pushing the ball downfield. Slowly, and methodically, the Yellow Jackets accumulated 412 total yards of total offense. 180 of those came on the ground. That’s not a recipe to get a win on the road.

But, despite that, the Blue Devils had a chance to win. While the defense didn’t do anything great, it did just enough to keep the things close as it held Georgia Tech to 5/15 third down conversions. Despite getting gashed for big run after big run by the Yellow Jackets, the Blue Devils’ defense bent, but refused to break. If a defense can do that when the offense struggles, a team can steal a win. And Duke got our hopes up for just a minute there when it sure looked like this team was going to steal one on the road.

It started when we all learned how Sahmir Hagans should have been returning kicks all year. With about 6:10 left in the game and down 20-6, Hagans took a punt 81 yards to the house and followed it up with another good one for 58 yards. Despite not playing well for most of the game, Leonard drove the Blue Devils down the field with time running out and got the ball to Nicky Dalmolin for a touchdown. A Charlie Ham PAT later, Duke had forced overtime. Somehow. It shouldn’t have happened, but the Blue Devils had a chance as the Yellow Jackets seemed determine to give Duke the win.

And it sure looked like that was going to happen. Georgia Tech got the ball to start overtime and, after a clean hit by Oben and Carter, the Yellow Jackets lost their quarterback and settled for a field goal. And then it all fell apart. After what looked like a conversion on 3rd down, the play came back thanks to an offensive PI call that a lot of people dispute. Coach Elko refused to discuss it after game. Honestly, I don’t remember the play well enough to comment on it. I just saw the penalty flags and died inside. I’ve seen this script too many times not to recognize what was about to happen. Leonard couldn’t get the ball downfield on the next play and Ham missed a 52 yard field goal to end the game. Georgia Tech won. The Blue Devils lost.

Why did that happen? Well, there are a lot of reasons. I’d start with injuries and Shaka Heyward getting DQ’d after a targeting call (and that was the correct call). Waters going down didn’t help, either. And the offense looked lost without Calhoun. But I think we have to admit that the real problem was that Coach Johns called his first bad game. When Duke was driving in the third quarter with a chance to score and down 17-3, a touchdown was a necessity. The drive started to stall in the red zone and we have a 3rd and 8 from the 11 with a chance to still get a first down. So, you’re down two touchdowns in the third and have a chance to get a first down at the 3. Instead of getting the ball to the tight end, utilizing the middle of the field, or generally acting like he had two downs to get the first, the call was a throw to the pylon. It didn’t work. It wasn’t ideal situational football. Why not use both downs and try to convert on a 4th down attempt? Worst case scenario is you pin your opponent and get better field position. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me in the moment and I have real time text messages to prove it.

Consistent with that poor decision making, the Blue Devils absolutely botched a chance to do anything at the end of the first half. With three timeouts and the ball, Coach Johns went conservative and put up a drive that managed six yards and used one timeout after letting the clock run down. There were 57 seconds left in the half when the offense got the ball and we saw an incomplete pass, a run (I think up the middle) and then a run out the clock running play at the end. A chance to score or do something positive down a touchdown was wasted. Why? I have no idea. It’s hard to understand why Coach Johns wasn’t more aggressive given that Duke was going to get the ball to start the second half. Why not take a chance? I didn’t understand it then and I sure don’t understand it now. But, let’s be honest. Not every night is going to be your best night. No one is perfect.

Finally, a lot of anger will be directed at the penalty call at the end. My good friend Lee Rodio put together a sensible argument that it was a bad call. I won’t say whether it was the right call or not because I can’t remember where Hagans was when he caught the ball. If someone has the video, send it to me. Regardless, it looked like the proper call may have been ineligible downfield. Putting aside whether it was the right call, the game shouldn’t have gotten to that point and it isn’t what cost this team a win.

Let’s get real for a minute – the Blue Devils were 4-1 heading into a road game being held on homecoming against a team with a losing record. That’s the exact kind of game you have to win if you want to be a good a team. And given how bad Georgia Tech has been, this is one that you can’t lose because you get outplayed, out-worked, out-coached and because you aren’t as physical as the other team. Maybe the buzz (wrong term, I know) around these guys got too positive, maybe the team looked ahead to next week and maybe the 4-1 start was built on wins against a bunch of bad teams. But none of that matters in the moment – Duke had a chance to win the game and the Blue Devils repeatedly failed to execute. That’s what cost them the win. As if the loss weren’t bad enough, this was a game that Duke had to win if it wants to get to a bowl. I hope it won’t be the case, but this is the kind of loss that could keep the Blue Devils from a bowl game. I sure hope that won’t be the case. Only time will tell.

To be fair, 4-2 after six isn’t the end of the world and a lot (read all) of us would have taken it before the season started. But this isn’t preseason. As we’ve seen this Duke team develop and progress, it’s hard not to get upset that a game like this slipped away for a number of preventable reasons. Those reasons include bad play calls, Leonard throwing a pick in the red zone at the 8 yard line, 7 penalties for 75 yards and a targeting call. Injuries didn’t help, either, but those happen and those didn’t cause the loss. Correctable mistakes did.

(Quick plug – if you want to know more about how the Blue Devils will deal with the injuries, listen to our interview with Steve Wiseman.)

That’s it for the game recap. Let me know what you think about what I think in the comments or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!