2022 Game Recaps – Eight Wins!

Showcasing the ability to play with any team, Duke showed up against what many, myself included, considered a superior Wake Forest team. Despite almost letting the game slip away in the third quarter, the Blue Devils hung around and left Wallace Wade with a win. It was tense. It was nerve-racking. But, most important, it was a win.

Duke got the game off to a solid start when Todd Pelino drilled a 42-yard field goal on the opening drive to take a 3-0 lead. The Demon Deacons weren’t rattled and scored a touchdown of their own after that. The second quarter saw an offensive explosion in which the teams traded points but the Blue Devils kept the lead (going up up 10-7, 17-7 and 20-17). Then, in the second half, Sam Hartman did Sam Hartman things and cut a 27-17 Duke lead to 24-27 before taking the lead 31-27.

At this point, Co-Coordinator Tim remarked “I’ve seen this movie before.” But I, ever the optimist who never gives up on Duke no matter how bad things look, told Tim, “Relax, man, we got this. Hagans is going to get a big touchdown. Just watch.” And for those of you who say that didn’t happen, you’re right. I was pretty worried when Wake took the lead. At that point, it seemed like the Deacons had found their rhythm. Put another way, Wake looked like last year’s team and sure seemed ready to leave Durham with a win.

But that didn’t happen. Riley Leonard and company calmly lead the team down the field and, after a nice 20-yarder to Hagans, the Blue Devils had the lead. Hartman tried to put together another game-winning drive, and it looked like he was going to do it with 2:04 and three timeouts, but after a few nice plays, he missed an open receiver and threw deep. Chandler Rivers disrupted the receiver without getting called for interference and the ball landed in Darius Joiner’s hands. Ball game. Win. 8-4 (5-3) to finish the regular season.

This was a nice one. Riley Leonard had an amazing game (29/41, 391 yards, 4 TDs and 1 INT). Jaquez Moore paced the backs in yardage with 62 on only 6 carries. And the receivers were awesome. Calhoun, Hagans and Jordan Moore all had touchdowns. Calhoun and Hagans both had more than 100 yards receiving. And the defense, well, what can you say? These guys bend, but they don’t break. Heyward and Carter both got sacks and the front seven put just enough pressure on Hartman throughout the game to keep it close and give the Blue Devils a chance to win. While giving up 347 passing yards isn’t something the defense would necessarily write home about, this unit plays some real complimentary football. This has been a solid group that may give up points, but also gets stops and gives the offense chances to win. And after what we saw the last two seasons, none of us really thought we’d get what we’ve gotten from these guys.

I have some more thoughts on the nature of this win which I will post later in the week when I do a regular season recap. Rest assured, there will be a lot more positive talk about this game and what it means for this season.

Now as an aside, it wouldn’t surprise me if Dave Clawson looks around for other jobs with the way that his season ended. I’d like to discuss this in more detail on a podcast episode, but it wouldn’t stun me if he thinks he’s taken the Demon Deacons as far as he can. He’s a good coach and he may want to try his hand at a larger program.

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

As always, Go Duke!