Category: Game Recaps

After getting eight total turnovers, three interceptions, six sacks and seven tackles for loss, Duke’s Instagram models absolutely dominated Miami and head into the bye week at 5-3 after a 45-21 victory on the road. For a guy who could only listen to the radio and watch the condensed game on YouTube, I’ll say that it sure sounded like the Blue Devils decided to perform a repeat of the UVA game and just physically overwhelmed the Hurricanes. The highlight, of which there were many, was probably when Brandon Johnson took an interception to the house, broke the U and then flipped it upside down. Somewhere, Deon Jackson and Ben Humphreys smiled.

Despite the lopsided score, it wasn’t a pretty start. Jalon Calhoun fumbled on Duke’s opening drive and Miami pulled ahead to a 7-0 lead. Things settled down a bit after that and the Blue Devils managed to put together a 17-7 lead at halftime. But it was a deceptive lead. The defense was playing outstanding and gave the offense short fields to score on. Which was great because the offense really, really struggled through the first thirty. (The scoring drives consisted of 23, 22 and -1 yards respectively.)

It looked like things were going to completely fall to pieces in the second half when, despite an injury to Tyler Van Dyke, the 32 Hurricane fans in the stadium energized the home team. Miami came out hot and pulled ahead 21-17. But then the Blue Devils calmed down. And by “calmed down”, I mean the defense said, “We got this, bro.” More sacks, TFLs and interceptions followed. The Hurricanes, who only converted 4/12 third downs, collapsed. Duke, on the other hand, calmly moved the ball a bit better than in the first half and put up three unanswered touchdowns, including a nice shovel pass to Dalmolin on a 4th and Goal, before the aforementioned Johnson interception pushed the score to 45-21.

A quick survey shows that every Blue Devil fan is excited about the win and is even more excited about being 5-3 after eight. But knowing that Coach Elko is Coach Elko, he’s going to look at the tape from this game and tell his team, read “offense”, that they have to play better. Eight turnovers is not something a team can replicate each week, so the offense is going to have to step up. And while the 24 point win was exciting, it is hard to win games when the passing offense puts up an anemic 136 yards on 13/25 passing. While Leonard ran well, the leading receiver was Eli Pancol who had 3 catches for 39 yards. While Eli had some critical catches, 39 yards to lead a receiving corps isn’t not the sort of stat line you expect from a team with Pancol, Calhoun, Hagans, Robertson and Dalmolin.

Coach Johns is going to have to find a way to get the unit to be more consistent throughout the game. One way to accomplish this may be to forego the running back committee and go with the hot hand. Jaquez Moore had a nice game yesterday and Waters did, too. Perhaps we should limit the number of backs we use to two and make one the primary? I know I’m old school when it comes to the running game, but I’d like to see one guy get most of the touches and be the feature back.

Another thing that could spark the offense would be to let Hagans return punts and create more opportunities through better field position. I was listening to the Duke radio crew, who were great (s/o to Jamie for the suggestion), while catching up on some overdue marketing work for the law firm (I mean, do I really have to put my case reports on the website? I’m already the Legal Mamba. Isn’t that enough? I submit that’s enough), and missed out on who returned punts. The box score said it was Luca Diamont, who I would like to see on the field more, but I think we can all agree that Hagans needs to be the guy. If anyone knows who actually returned punts, please let me know. I apologize for this oversight and will do better in the coming weeks.

All things considered, I’m pretty excited about this win and where the Blue Devils are at this point in the season. Let me know what you think about this team, and what you think about what I think generally, in the comments or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

We all know how Duke “lost” to UNC last night. (Thanks, refs.) After throwing what should have been a game winner to Jalon Calhoun, Riley Leonard joined a long list of Blue Devil quarterbacks who have watched wins get taken away by refs suddenly deciding to call penalties for no apparent reason. Oh, wait, scratch that. He joined that group last week against Georgia Tech (and I know that was the right call, but you get my point). The touchdown got taken off the board, Duke couldn’t convert a third down for a second time and then Charlie Ham missed a field goal to push the lead to seven.

What happened after that is already well known, so I won’t recap it here. I’m also not going to go through a long, traditional game recap. Instead, I’m resurrecting the Five Things from last year to give you all five reasons that the Blue Devils lost the game that weren’t related to a “chop block” and an equally, if not more so, terrible unnecessary roughness call on DeWayne Carter.

But, before we get to that, the botched UNC kick return wasn’t a safety last night. If you look at Rule 8, Section 5, the call was correct. It wasn’t a safety for a number of reasons, the main one being that the defense wasn’t responsible for the ball being behind the goal line.

Okay, now here are the Five Things:

No. 1 – Critical downs. This team is not great at critical moments. Let’s start with a bad (read “really bad”) fourth down call by Coach Johns. On 4th and 2 at the UNC 3, the call is for a sort of swing pass to the right out to Calhoun. Incomplete. Turnover on downs. How about a running play there? You have a mobile quarterback who can go under center and get pushed ahead. You also have a good RB committee who, checks notes, ran the ball really well last night. The team had been running well throughout the first half and, instead of a run, you call a high level of difficulty pass play? It didn’t make sense at the time and it makes less sense now that the game is over.

Consistent with that call, there was a third down and like six or so that Maye allegedly picked up on a scramble. It didn’t look like Maye had the yardage on the TV, and we weren’t on Bally Sports, so I have a higher degree of confidence that Maye didn’t make it. Given what we saw on TV, I expected Coach Elko to take a timeout to allow for a review. But that didn’t happen. UNC gets the first down and keeps rolling.

Look, I like what this staff is doing overall, but it has to improve in those critical moments. If the coaches aren’t good when it matters most, the players won’t be good, either. Which brings us to the second point.

No. 2 – Too many penalties. We can talk about the ones that shouldn’t have been called, and the holding calls on Carter that repeatedly weren’t, but, as the Section 17 guys noted, you can’t win a game with 8 penalties for 85 yards (ESPN had the number at 85 yards, not 90. I don’t care which is right in this context because five yards doesn’t matter). You also can’t win games when your LB captain picks up a 15 yarder for a facemask on what turns out to be the game winning drive for your opponent. Mistakes happen, I get that, but when a team averages six penalties a game, we can’t be stunned by close losses. And, close losses takes us to point number three.

No. 3 – The kicking teams. These first three points tie together well as they all relate to critical moments. As I regularly say, a good kicking unit can win you two games but can lose you a lot more. The latter is what we saw unfold last night. Instead of going for a field goal early and getting a chip shot for three points, Duke comes away with nothing. To make matters worse, Charlie Ham missed a 43-yarder late that would have gotten the game to 38-31 and likely forced overtime. The announcers thought there was a bad snap which may have contributed to the outcome. I don’t know if that’s the case and I won’t watch it again. What I will say is this – the kicking unit has to be shaken up. It just isn’t working. While we’re on the topic of shaking up the kicking teams, let’s turn to the next point.

No. 4 – Why didn’t Hagans return kicks? Seriously, can someone explain this to me? Is there something occurring at practice that makes what he did against the Yellow Jackets irrelevant?

No. 5 – WE GOT FREAKING HOSED! WHAT KIND OF COUNTRY DO WE LIVE IN THAT ALLOWS THIS TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE TO OCCUR?!?! THIS WAS STRAIGHT TRASH!!! I know I promised five things that weren’t related to the penalties called by the refs and I broke that promise. But I don’t care. That was awful, awful officiating.

I am going to conclude by saying that the Blue Devils played real, real hard. They competed on every down, didn’t quit and showed a real ability to not get overwhelmed by the moment. To have the game end the way it did was inexcusable and I’m glad that Coach Elko got the unsportsmanlike call. I think it will further tie the team together. There is nothing more motivating and unifying for a team than being able to credibly believe that everyone is out to get you. After what we saw against Georgia Tech and Chapel Hill College, this team will believe that to be the case. They will be motivated. They will be angry. And hopefully they will ride those emotions all the way to a bowl game.

Let me know what you think about what I think in the comments or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

Before you listen to this, please allow me to qualify it by stating that I am not holding myself out as an expert on college football rules. I read up on some rules this morning to try and get a sense of why the penalty got called. You can view the replay by following this link.

With that qualification, here is my interpretation of the pertinent rules. And, before you listen, keep in mind that the neutral zone is basically the space between the two lines of scrimmage extended to the sidelines. The width is equal to the length of the ball. Got it? Good. Now here’s my take on the rules.

If there’s a rule I missed, PLEASE POINT IT OUT TO ME. I am not an expert on CFB rules. So, please feel free to correct me. I won’t take offense.

Finally, it would help if the Rules Committee added on some advisory committee notes to explain the purpose of each rule, suggested calls, etc. in more detail like is done with the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. It’s a helpful thing to have in these situations.

Let me know what you think about what I think in the comments or on Twitter.

As always – Go Duke!

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!

All good things, as they say, must end. Just as the reign of The Five Good Emperors ended when Marcus Aurelius chose Commodus as his successor, the … Sorry, I’ve been listening to The History of Rome again. Let’s try the game recap one more time.

After three games against a questionable level of competition, Duke faced its first real challenge of the season on the road against Kansas. The Jayhawks came in firing on all cylinders after wins against West Virginia and Houston and didn’t miss a beat on Saturday. Kansas shredded the Blue Devil defense on its way to putting up over 500 total yards. The Jayhawks made one big play after another, which included runs of 30, 24 and 17 yards by three different backs (one of whom was the QB). In addition, one Kansas receiver broke off a 73 yard reception and three others had longs of of more than 20. Jalon Daniels came into the game getting hyped for the Heisman. While it may be too early for that discussion, he sure looked like the real deal on Saturday. Daniels made every throw and led his team in rushing. He played great. No question about it. But for getting stopped on 4th and Goal on the opening drive and a fumble in the first quarter, Daniels could have easily put two more touchdowns on the board.

So, with that context, I’m probably going to discuss how Duke got blown out by a score of like 56-20, right? Nope, I’m not going to do that. Because that isn’t what happened. The final score was 35-27. And while a loss is a loss, you can’t say this is a bad one. Despite giving up a lot of yards and a lot of big plays, the Blue Devils managed to hold the Jayhawks to their lowest point total of the season and had a chance to tie the game in the fourth quarter and force overtime. While Duke couldn’t pull off the victory, the Blue Devils hung around despite Kansas running all over the field and generally being in control from start to finish.

In a losing, but valiant, effort, Riley Leonard had a great game, 24/35 for 324 yards and a touchdown plus 54 rushing yards, Jalon Calhoun had 93 yards, Jordan Moore had 7 catches and Eli Pancol had 3 catches for 62 yards with a long of 49. Jontavis Robertson also had a 38 yard catch. This team showed an ability to make explosive plays and stay in the game despite falling behind by 15 in the third. While this game ended in a loss, we can all be optimistic about the remainder of the season. Kansas was by far the best team the the Bull City Boys have played all season and the Jayhawks didn’t run their opponent off the field. Our guys absorbed a lot of punches but managed to keep the game close and were in it right until the end. That’s a good thing – let’s not overlook that in the loss.

I’m going to forego the Five Things in this recap – this specific game didn’t really lend itself to that type of discussion – and will instead note that I liked a lot of what I saw on Saturday even though Duke came out of it at 3-1 and not 4-0. The Blue Devils played hard, didn’t get overwhelmed by the moment and fought all the way until the end. These guys played with a lot of heart and a lot of pride. Those are two things that a team needs in order to win.

Now, while the recap has been overwhelmingly positive, there were a few things that Duke will need to work on in order to do well in conference play. There were a lot of missed tackles yesterday, a lot. Coach Elko has to get that fixed and soon. Consistent with the poor tackling, the Blue Devils were atrocious on third and fourth down, giving up 6/10 and 1/2 respectively (although you can’t read too much into the fourth down numbers alone as there were only two attempts. I’m talking about the two situations as a whole here, not individually). In order to win enough conference games to get to a bowl, the defense will have to tighten up and improve in critical situations. Critical downs (what I call third and fourth) have been a problem all season and the coaching staff has to correct it and fast. In addition, there were a few times where receivers ran routes a yard or two short. That sort of thing can kill a team in close games and will need some attention at practice this week.

But, even with those problems, our team was very close to winning. Despite falling behind 7-0 and generally getting obliterated by the opposing offense, Duke only trailed by eight at the half and saw Charlie Ham, who had struggled of late, connect on two field goals. And after trailing by 15 in the third, the Blue Devils fought back and outscored their opponent 14-7 down the stretch. That takes some character, determination, grit and, if you will, GRIND. So, the loss notwithstanding, it isn’t all doom and gloom.

Now, before we wrap up the game recap, I want to give myself a high five for being pretty accurate in my preview for this game. I predicted a lot of running the ball (correct), a lot of points (more or less correct, but I was off on over the under prediction), explosive plays (check and check), an exciting game (was it ever) and Kansas to win in a game that could have gone either way (check plus). Bonus points for me stating that it will come down to who can run the ball and stop the run the best. Unfortunately for us, the Jayhawks did that on Saturday – our committee put up 139 compared to the other team’s 204). While I’m terrible at score predictions, I think I may finally understand a little bit about this football thing.

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

Go Duke!

The Blue Devils came out firing on all cylinders Saturday night en route to a 49-20 win against the NCA&T Aggies. While the margin of victory makes the game look closer than it was, much of the Aggies’ success came when Duke’s defensive starters were out, this is still an impressive win.

Riley Leonard had a great game under center. He had a 38 yard pitch-and-catch to Nicky Dalmolin, ran for two touchdowns (including one for 56 yards) and, but for confusion on a scissors route, had close to a perfect game. The defensive line looked sharp, too. Aeneas Peebles caused a fumble which DeWayne Carter picked up and took to the house. Ja’Mion Franklin also blew up a play near the goal line. It was a nice game that the Blue Devils had under control from start to finish. Our boys from Durham took the lead on the first drive and never looked back. So, with that, let’s get to the Five Things.

Five Things I Liked:

No. 1 – Jordan Moore. We didn’t see that much of Moore last week against Northwestern. It wasn’t until the second half that we saw him make some plays and get Duke back in the game. Last night, however, Moore had 5 catches for 37 yards including a touchdown in the first quarter. Moore is a big moment type of player who has to be involved early and often. It’s good to see Coach Johns doing that. He really helps get the offense rolling.

No. 2 – Utilization of depth on defense. I noticed from the TV that we were subbing in a lot of bodies early. It was good to see a lot of guys get opportunities to make plays and keep our starters fresh heading into a big, big game against Kansas next week. I’ve talked about depth for a good while now and it’s good to see Coach Elko and the rest of the staff give guys opportunities to make plays.

No. 3 – Riley Leonard. Man, but the kid is looking good. He was 11/12 for 155 yards, tossed two touchdowns and ran for two more. The staff is letting him throw deep, he’s progressing through his reads and he’s running when he has to, not just because he can (although he sure can). Riley is making good decisions with the ball and he’s really coming into his own. I’m excited to see how he holds up in ACC play and, next week, against the Jayhawks. That game is going to be a real test.

No. 4 – Running the ball. Is it just me, or can the Blue Devils run the darned football? Duke ran it 35 times for a total of 222 yards and 4 touchdowns. Jaquez Moore ran for 55 yards with a long of 42, Jaylen Coleman went 10 for 51 and Jordan Waters did, too. Waters also broke off a nice 29 yard run. Factor in the long run from Leonard and it sure seems like the OL is opening up holes for the running back committee. I’ve talked repeatedly about how important running the ball is and I’ll continue to do it. A good running game allows a team to control the clock, rest the defense and get the OL comfortable and generally be in charge of the game. If the Blue Devils can keep running the ball like they did Saturday night, this could be a fun season.

No. 5 – The Nicky Dalmolin touchdown. Just like I love a good running game, I love an offense that gets the ball to the tight end. I won’t go into it again, I’ll just restate how using the tight end puts pressure on the defense. Plus, tight ends block all game and deserve some throws their way. It’s nice to see guys like Dalmolin get a chance to score a touchdown.

Five Things I Didn’t Like:

No. 1 – Not seeing the Dalmolin touchdown in real time. I had a massive TV problem crop up and had to set up my old Sling TV account again. Missed the TD and came in with the game at 7-0. Hated it.

No. 2 – Holes in the defense. Looking at the score and outcome of the game, it’s hard to get too upset about the defensive performance. That said, the Aggies opened up some holes and really ran the ball well after the first quarter. To that point, the Aggies averaged 5.3 yards per carry and racked up 217 yards on the ground. A lot of that could be attributed to garbage time, but the Aggies did have two long drives in the first half. Given that Kansas can, you know, run the ball, this could be an area of concern going forward. And speaking of concerning areas defensively …

No. 3 – Third down defense. Temple was 5/14 on third. Northwestern was 5/17 on third, but 4/6 on fourth. The Aggies were 8/14 on third. That’s a problem. When you take into account all of the drops the Aggies’ receivers had last night, you have to be a little concerned about how this defense will match up against teams with bigger wide receivers and effective ground games. While it hasn’t turned into a problem yet, it sure could against a team like, you know, the Jayhawks. This is an area which will require improvement if Duke wants to make a run. The defense can’t give up conversions on third down or on fourth and still win games.

No. 4 – Empty seats. We heard a lot about the sellout, but a lot of those fans must have gotten the date of the game wrong. It’s unfortunate that a team that is performing so well still can’t fill the stands. That’s not on the team, though. It’s a reflection of the fact that the administration ignored the football program for decades until David Cutcliffe came to town.

No. 5 – Hey, would you look at that, I don’t have a fifth thing. How about that?

On the whole, I’m pretty happy with this Blue Devil team. At 3-0, this group is three wins away from a bowl game. With Georgia Tech looking awful, Virginia being inconsistent and that team in the pale blue not knowing how to play defense, you have to think that Duke has a chance to go bowling. But for that to happen, the Blue Devils are going to have to improve. Penalties weren’t a huge issue last night, so that’s a sign that the team is learning and getting better. Let’s hope we’ll see that in the context of critical downs and stopping the run.

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

Go Duke!

In what looks to be a trend for this Duke team, the Blue Devils raced out to a 210-0 lead against Northwestern only to cool down and see the Wildcats make a game of it. Fortunately, Duke managed to hold on, thanks to the intervention of the football gods, and escape with a win. As I said on Twitter, I’d rather be lucky than good. The Blue Devils are now 2-0 on the season after getting the first road win of the Coach Elko era. Excuse me while I celebrate.

This wasn’t, by any stretch of the imagination, a perfect game. After taking a 21 point lead, Duke got outscored 23-10. The secondary, which I’ve been a little concerned about all season because of depth issues, gave up 435 passing yards and our defense was real close to giving up a 75 yard touchdown drive at the end. After kicking a field goal to go up 8, the Blue Devils went into a prevent that Northwestern promptly picked apart as it methodically, and quickly, marched down the field. Fortunately for Duke, Wildcats RB Evan Hull fumbled around the one, the Blue Devils recovered in the endzone and a victory formation sealed the game. Despite the inconsistencies, Duke continued to show promise. I’m foregoing a more traditional game recap to get to Five Things. Let’s start with the Five Things I Liked:

No. 1 – The running game. Earlier this season, I talked about how important it would be for the Blue Devils to run the ball to help the quarterback, control the clock and give the defense time to rest. Well, 35 carries for 221 yards did just that. Coleman and Waters also broke off long runs, including a 42 yarder by Waters for one of his two touchdowns. That’s the exact thing this Duke team will need if it wants to compete all season.

No. 2 – Luck. We’ve talked a lot on the podcast about how the football can bounce in a weird, weird way. For the last few seasons, it hasn’t been bouncing favorably for the Blue Devils. Well, the football gods smiled on the road team Saturday. Northwestern missed a field goal, made an ill-advised decision to go for two in the third and then their all-world RB fumbled right at the end of the game. Oh, and remember that play where quarterback and running back weren’t on the same play and Franklin got a great sack? And that doesn’t even take into account the Three Stooges play that Calhoun made when a ball bounced off a receiver’s hands and landed in Calhoun’s arms. He broke that play for a lot of yards after the catch. To win games, a team needs favorable bounces. And maybe, just maybe, fortune is going to favor Duke for a bit.

No. 3 – Big plays. Man, this is not last season’s offense. The Blue Devils are making big plays that flip the field and put pressure on the opposing defense. Calhoun had a 51 yard catch, Waters, as previously mentioned, broke off a 42 yard touchdown run and, my favorite on the day, Eli Pancol snagged an 81 yard catch that almost went to the house. While Eli didn’t score, he set a record for the longest non-touchdown play in Duke history (if the game announcers were correct). Eli making big plays is exactly what this team needs. When the new staff took over, I thought about how guys who had been around for a while were going to need to step up and make the most of this opportunity. Eli is doing just that. He’s faster, more confident and looks real hungry each time he steps on the field. While I started to think he was becoming a possession receiver, which is something a team needs, his 81 yard run shows he’s got the wheels to be a downfield threat. I love seeing it. If Eli keeps playing like this, the offense could be a lot of fun to watch over the remaining 10 games.

And it wasn’t just the offense. Josh Pickett and the secondary had all the pass break ups at all the right times, Franklin had that nice sack and we got an interception on a two-point conversion attempt. That was huge. Just huge. Oh, and Anthony Nelson recovered a fumble. This defense isn’t perfect, but it’s a lot better than it was last year. I can’t wait to see what the staff can do with this unit in the coming years.

No. 4 – Creativity on offense. With Hannibal, in the form of Evan Hull and Ryan Hillinski, at the gates, and the offense on the ropes, Coach Johns dialed up some plays for Jordan Moore. While 2 catches for 14 yards may not look like much, one of those was a touchdown that helped get the Blue Devils going again. Coach Johns continues to show that he’s a smart play caller and knows the importance of getting the ball to his playmakers. I’m excited to see how Coach Johns utilizes his weapons as the season progresses.

No. 5 – Third down stops on defense. We all remember how bad the defense had been the last few years on third down, particularly third and long. We haven’t seen that so far this season. The Wildcats were an abysmal 5-17 on third. That’s a great sign. If Duke can keep up that level of defensive efficiency, this could be a good season.

But, as good as the Blue Devils were on third, we’ll turn to the Five Things I Didn’t Like because …

No. 1 – The Blue Devils defense was terrible on fourth down. Giving up 4/6 conversion attempts won’t get it done. This team will have to do something different if it wants to win games and have a good season.

No. 2 – Inconsistencies continue. Just like last week was a tale of two halves, yesterday was a tale of the first quarter and everything else. In the first quarter and change, Duke put up 21 points and looked like a world-beater. But then things slowed down and the Blue Devils didn’t do much of anything offensively until the 4th quarter. After getting outscored 16-0, and seeing Northwestern get within five points, Duke got a touchdown and a field goal to up 8. But then the defense gave up a long drive to a team with no timeouts. But for the Hull fumble, we may not be talking about the Blue Devils being 2-0 today. Duke will need to be more consistent as the season progresses if it wants to go bowling. Playing well for 15 or 30 minutes isn’t enough. The team has to start putting together complete games.

No. 3 – Penalties. 7 for 85 yards is a problem. I don’t think we need to elaborate on why. This can’t continue.

No. 4 – The kicking teams. Charlie Ham missed another makeable field goal. He finished the day 1/2. Following on the misses from last week, it’s fair to wonder whether we are going to have to play around our kicker. I hope not, but it may be the case.

Likewise, our punt return unit didn’t do much to write home about. Calhoun ran backwards on a return and lost 11 yards. Not great, Bob, doesn’t begin to describe the frustration me and Tim felt seeing that play. While one play doesn’t determine the outcome of a season, that kind of bad decision can kill a team in a close game. Let’s hope this gets fixed. And speaking of bad decisions …

No. 5 – Sloppiness. In addition to the punt return by Calhoun and the penalties, we saw some missed tackles. We also saw a drive near the end of the game where the offense didn’t let the clock run down enough before snapping the ball which gave the Wildcats 25 extra seconds to work with. How big was that at the end of the game? Throw in the decision to take the field goal to go up eight (which I was fine with at first until it blew up) instead of going for it on 4th and 1 at the Northwestern 1, and we’re starting to see some slight clock management issues. These have to be tightened up. But, hey, this is game two of a new era. We can be patient and wait for things to improve.

Let me close with three thoughts. First, it’s great to be 2-0. I mean it; being undefeated, even though it’s only through two games, is a lot of fun. Second, did you all notice the Hellraisers on the staff fleeces? I did. If those fleeces aren’t for sale in the team store when I’m down there for the UVA game, there will be consequences. You hear me, Duke store?!?!?!

Third and final, the Drinking Team Coordinators will take the blame for the inconsistency on offense. Co-Drinking Team Coordinator Tim and I have a routine for noon games that we’ve followed zealously for years. Tim finishes up his coffee and I go straight to a beer at noon. When Tim’s done with the coffee, he transitions to the beer. This time, though, I delayed the beer until the second quarter and, when I did, I didn’t go with the standard frosted mug. Tim also went with a water after his coffee. And that doesn’t even take into account only playing one old-time tune during TV time outs and halftime instead of the several we normally shuffle through during the game (we only played one song because of a project we’re working on, so there was a reason for it).

I think our attempt to psych out the Wildcats backfired. Northwestern clearly got upset that we thought so little of them that we could change up the drinking and music routine that has served us and the Blue Devils so well for so many years. We should have known better and we apologize. We won’t make the same mistake next time. We promise.

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

Go Duke!

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!