2022 Game Recaps – Military Bowl Champion Duke Blue Devils

Coming into the Military Bowl, Duke had a chance to finish off a great season with a bowl championship. This was an opportunity to make a statement about what the Blue Devils had done this season and what the ACC should expect next year. Duke took a swing and didn’t miss. Instead of a whiff, the Blue Devils knocked it out of the park. Home run. Grand slam. Whatever term you want to use, it fits. Duke came out of the gate running and didn’t stop. When it was over, the Blue Devils defeated UCF by a score of 30-13. After finishing the first quarter tied at seven, Duke closed the half up 20-7 and outscored the Knights 10-6 in the final thirty.

The Blue Devils won this game the same way we saw them beat UVA; Duke was methodical, forceful and more physically dominant than their opponent. Nothing was particularly exciting or unique from a scheme perspective (to the extent you can tell that from TV). It was old style football full of running, hitting and being more physical than the opponent. The teams put up close to the same number of yards (350-326), but the Blue Devils won the turnover battle (2-0) and made the most of their opportunities. It was a nice win over a team that will be a P5 next season.

Since I had to skip out on most of the second half to spend time with the family on our vacation (and, for the record, Duke scored again when I got back to the TV, so can someone tell Coach Johns I’m sorry for the second half funk? Great, thanks!), I’m going to spend some time discussing what this win means for the program by going back to last season’s Five Things:

One – With nine wins this season, Coach Elko set the record for most first season wins by a head coach in Blue Devil history. Fred Goldsmith had eight, but couldn’t win the Hall of Fame Bowl. Coach Elko is in the record books. Congrats, Coach!

Two – By getting to, and winning, a bowl game, the overwhelming majority of players on this team can forget all about the hellscape that was 2019-2021. Two-and-a-half lousy seasons are, without question, in the rearview mirror. Congrats, guys! We’re all ecstatic that you got to experience a season like this one. You deserved it.

Three – I’d like to see what Josh Cox’s Facebook relationship status is vis-a-vis Todd Pelino. Todd went 3/3 for the game with a long of 48. It looks like Duke has the kicking position locked down for the foreseeable future.

Four – The Blue Devils will have a target on them all next season. After going 8-4 (5-3) and losing four close games, Duke won’t be the ACC’s best kept secret in 2023. With a year of film for opposing staffs to digest, and a lot of good opponents on the schedule (Clemson, Notre Dame and Florida State, among others), the Blue Devils won’t be able to sneak up on anyone. In 2023, a victory over Duke won’t be a given and it won’t be taken for granted. The opponents will all want to beat the Blue Devils because doing so will amount to a statement win. For Duke, a bowl game will be expected, not a surprise. This is different from a lot of seasons we’ve seen in Durham. And with expectations this high, we’ll get to see exactly what this staff and this team are capable of.

Five – As I pointed out on Twitter, yesterday’s Military Bowl victory marked the fourth straight bowl win for the Blue Devils. Dating back to the Pinstripe Bowl in 2015, Duke has won every bowl it has played in. We are a long, long way away from where Blue Devils have been most of my life. From 1981 to 2012, Duke had only been to two bowl games (and I know there weren’t as many bowl games when I was young as there are today, but you get my point) and hadn’t won either of them. Since snapping a bowl victory drought that dated back to 1960 with a Pinstripe Bowl championship in 2015, the Blue Devils haven’t looked back. Let’s hope this continues next year and for many, many seasons thereafter.

And that’s it for the game recap. I’ll plan on doing a season recap in January and will try to follow it up by discussing some other great seasons in program history. I’ll also keep working on scheduling interviews (which I fell behind on).

So, with that, let me know what you think about what I think in the comments, on Mastodon, on Reddit, on Post, or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!