Author: BullCityCoordinators

It was an ugly start. NCA&T imposed its will on Duke’s defensive line. The linebackers seemed to let the secondary do all of the tackling. And the NCA&T defense filled the box to stop Mataeo Durant and force Gunnar Holmberg to win by throwing the football.

Challenge accepted.

Gunnar and the offense looked good for the second week in a row, putting up 42 points in three quarters before the starters were pulled and the Blue Devils adopted a run heavy approach. Holmberg completed 20 of 27 passes for 270 yards and two rushing touchdowns. He did this while being careful with the football and not turning it over. And while Mataeo Durant and Jordan Waters weren’t running the ball particularly well (18 total rushes for 50 yards), Durant scored 3 touchdowns including a crucial one at the end of the first half to give Duke the lead. While those two struggled to run the ball consistently, the team combined to rush for 150 yards on 38 carries which comes out to 3.9 yards per attempt. It took time for the team to come together and hit its stride, but, in the end, the fans at Wallace Wade watched the Blue Devils get a win. It was nice to see Duke right the ship after a more than disappointing loss to Charlotte. Hopefully, this will be the first of many this season.

While the 45-17 victory over a well-coached Aggies team gives the appearance of a dominating win, let’s not read too much into it. This is game 2 of 2 on the season and the Blue Devils are 1-1. Like I said last week, I am not going to put too much into a single victory and will wait until we get to Week 4 before I get a good sense of what this season has in store for us. With that in mind, I’d like to address a few things I noticed that concerned me (and probably you, too). If you have to onside kick against an FCS school, things probably aren’t as rosy as the final score suggests. So, with that in mind, here is what concerned me about last night:

1. We weren’t running between the tackles.
   1. I’m not sure why we kept stretching the field, particularly in the third quarter. As the game went on, Durant started to get yards up the middle. Sure, not huge chunks, but you saw the OL open up more holes when running between the tackles and begin to control the pace. This crazy idea of running straight ahead worked perfectly when Durant scored the touchdown to close out the first half (which was risky because Cut had just burned his last timeout and a stop short of the goal line would have been disastrous), so why not do more of it?
   2. It may have something to do with the fact that Boyette, a former running back and offensive player, isn’t the one calling the plays. If we don’t see more between the tackles running going forward, Cut might want to give Boyette full control of the offense.
2. Our 2nd string DL > our 1st string DL.
   1. Maybe it was just me (but I did talk to a person at the game during halftime who concurred with my assessment), but our 1st string DL isn’t looking so hot. DeWayne Carter is getting isolated and Ben Frye and the rest aren’t doing much to get pressure on the quarterback. We didn’t register a single sack last night.
   2. But when Ja’Mion Franklin and Christian Rorie came in, we saw a little more discipline, a little more imposing of wills and a little more containing of the Aggies’ offense on 3rd down.
   3. If it were me, I’d switch up the DL starters and get Carter with Franklin and Rorie. I’d shuffle the others until everyone gets comfortable, but I like what I saw from Oben and Oppan. I’m just not sure who the fourth guy should be at this point.
3. I’m not sure what our LBs are doing.
   1. Maybe Heyward is trying to do too much, but he didn’t make an appearance until late although he did lead the team in tackles. Our co-DCs may want to consider putting someone else with Heyward to take the pressure off of him.
   2. I liked Masui, but part of me thinks that Colby Campbell may need a few snaps. He’s got a lot of experience and should be able to direct everyone. That may allow Heyward to just go out and play.
   3. Heyward did settle in late, so I’m hopeful he is just getting adjusted to his new role.
   4. I liked how our secondary played, but they can’t do everything. And if your DL and your LBs aren’t getting pressure, it is going to be a long season for Josh Blackwell, J’Marick Woods, etc.
4. Why even have 3rd down?
   1. Nothing new here. We still struggle getting stops on 3rd down. I think this has been the case for about 18 millennia or something. I’m sure we’ll figure it out in the fullness of time.
   2. Maybe the 3rd down gods just hate us?
5. Cutcliffe’s decision making is a little confusing.
   1. Gunnar Holmberg is making plays. I know this was against an FCS team and we’ll know more after seeing him against Northwestern, but he’s had consecutive weeks with real nice stat lines. He was 20/29 against Charlotte and repeatedly led the team down the field to regain the lead. He followed it up with a 20/27 performance last night. Those are good numbers from anyone, but particularly from a guy who hadn’t started a college football game before this season.
   2. In addition, Gunnar is getting rid of the ball quickly. The OL isn’t looking particularly great, but Gunnar isn’t getting fazed by it and isn’t letting a muddy pocket stop him. He’s calm, poised and in control. He also had a couple of real nice runs last night. I don’t want to use the phrase “game manager” because that has a negative connotation, but he is doing just that (and being a “game manager” is what you should want from your QB, I’ll die on this hill). Gunnar is being smart with the ball, making quick decisions and putting the ball in places where only the WR can catch it. That’s exactly what you want from your QB1.So, what does this have to do with Cut’s decision making process? Let me explain.
   3. WHY DID WE PLAY A TRANSFER ALL OF LAST SEASON WHEN WE HAVE A GUY WHO CAN DROP DIMES TO NICKY DALMOLIN?
   4. I’m not sure what Cut saw in Gunnar that caused him to go get Chase Brice. We won’t even get into the failure to bench Brice last year, I just don’t have the energy for that. While two games is a small sample size, if Gunnar keeps this up, we’re all going to start getting angrier about what happened last year.
   5. And I, for one, and 100% Team Gunnar.

Those are my thoughts on the game. Let me know what you think. Go Duke!

Why are we allowed to play night games? Seriously, why?

Duke lost a nail-biter to Charlotte Friday night, dropping the opening game of the season 31-28. The Blue Devils lost to a team it beat last season. A team it beat last season by 34 points. The best thing about this game was the fact that I didn’t get to see it – I was in Boston with Mrs. Bull City Coordinators on a mini-vacation with friends from law school. Thank whatever god or gods you believe in for life’s small miracles. Anyway, the nature of the loss reminds me of one of my son’s travel lacrosse tournaments over the summer.

During the first tournament of the season, the boy’s team beat what would be considered a vastly superior opponent. After that game, we noticed the losing team practicing in between the remaining games that day. While practicing the kids that often in very, very hot weather on top of the games that day was risky, if not foolish, it got the desired result. That team slaughtered the boy’s team in the rematch the next morning. It was a remarkable turnaround. One parent summed up the opposing team perfectly, “You can say what you want about their tactics, but they won.”

I tell that story to highlight what happened in between this season and last. Charlotte improved, scoring more points and giving up fewer. Duke didn’t. Despite moving the coaching staff around, the Blue Devils continued to struggle defensively in crunch time, remained susceptible to big plays and made crucial mistakes on offense (basically, the same problems that have haunted us since 2019’s Jump Pass continue to haunt us). As to those mistakes, a dropped TD and a fumble around the goal line by new QB Gunnar Holmberg could have changed the outcome (and don’t give me the “Gunnar cost us the game” crap I’ve seen online. This wasn’t on him – our defense gave up 14 points in the 4th and there was a dropped TD pass. Plenty of people could have done things differently. Not one person is responsible for this loss). But, even if Duke got those TDs and won, it would have hidden what should be obvious – Charlotte’s team improved during the off-season. And, despite all the talk from Coach Cutcliffe during the off-season, his team sure looks like it continues to do things the same way that it always has. And, given the duration of his tenure in Durham, other coaches have figured that way out. It shows in the score of Friday night’s game and in the general trend of teams like UVA and Georgia Tech, who Cutcliffe used to consistently beat, consistently getting wins against the Blue Devils.

What does this loss mean? Well, given the razor thin margin a team like Duke has year in and year out, this is not a game that can be lost and still lead to a bowl game at the end of the season. But one thing the podcast has taught me is to be patient. And that’s what I’ll be here.

While the loss is a huge negative, there are some positives to take away here. First, a lot of teams struggled this week. UNC lost, Tulane took Oklahoma down to the wire, Montana beat Washington and Vandy got dominated by ETSU. So, maybe it isn’t so much that this team is bad. Perhaps it’s just that this team hasn’t settled in. And, to the second point, the Blue Devils lost four players to the NFL draft and several other older players to the transfer portal. Guys like Big Vic, Chris Rumph, Deon Jackson, Noah Gray, Derrick Tangelo and Drew Jordan are hard to replace. Especially given the way that Cutcliffe slowly advances players. And I can’t be the only one who is thinking it would have been nice for Holmberg to get more time last season so he wouldn’t have such a learning curve this season. Same for the defensive line. And the linebackers. But I digress. Back to my points.

Third, the offense put up points, and yards. Mataeo Durant set a school record for rushing yards in a single game. Gunnar had a real nice stat line and didn’t throw a pick. The offense also reclaimed the lead multiple times before finally running out of time. Given the amount of turnover on the offense and defense, the new offensive co-coordinators and the new play caller, the fact that the game was close shouldn’t have surprised us. The fact that this ended in a loss, however, should be. And it’s okay to be upset about it. I am, and I think we all should be.

That said, this is just one game. Before we start demanding that people get fired, and I will say that Cutcliffe probably didn’t want to lose his first game under new athletic director Nina King, let’s table those comments for now. Let’s see how the first 4 games of the season go. We’ll know a lot more about where this team is after the first third of the season is over. That will tell us whether this team has come together or whether it’s going to be a long and painful season.

Until then, I’m going to withhold judgment on any sort of staff changes. While I will note that this is an alarming and upsetting loss that will hopefully cause the players to take control of the team, I am not going to panic over a single loss. Am I concerned? Of course. Do I think that Cutcliffe needs to do a lot of introspection and be more flexible than he typically is? Yes. Yes, I do. And the fact that I’m saying that the players need to take control should tell you what level of confidence I have in Cutcliffe and his staff at this point.

But does this necessarily mean the season is over? No, it doesn’t. Mataeo looked real good, Gunnar showed promise and the offense could have scored over 40 had it not been for a dropped pass and a turnover. If Gunnar can go 20/29 for 228 yards each week, if Mataeo gets close to 30 touches each week, if Jake Bobo can snag 7 catches each week and if Jordan Waters can average 13 yards per carry (let’s not overlook that), then this is an offense that can be dangerous. And if the defense solidifies, this could be a fun team.

So, while I am concerned, I’m also optimistic about what this offense can do. So, I’ll just keep saying it – Go Duke!