Never let the same game beat you twice.
Sports cliches 101.
Nobody at Duke is happy with the way Duke played last Saturday at Georgia Tech. Sure Duke overcame 17-3 and 20-6 deficits to take the game into overtime. But had Duke not made so many mistakes--mistakes both of omission and commission--maybe Duke never needs that comeback. Undisciplined penalties, mis-communications, unimaginative play-calling, an inability to consistently handle the blitz, well, you name it.
Sound harsh? Here’s part of what Duke coach Mike Elko told the media Monday afternoon.
“I thought for three out of the four quarters we certainly didn’t play our best football. Credit to Georgia Tech. They earned the win. But I just felt like we consistently shot ourselves in the foot on both sides of the ball. We talked to our team about that, just an overall lack of execution in the first three quarters.”
Safety Darius Joiner certainly got the message.
“We, as a defense, as a team, learned that we have to play better, we have to communicate better, we have to come out with better energy on the road. We didn’t play our brand of football. That’s why we got beat.”
But there’s not much chance Duke is going to linger on that loss, not with the Tar Heels showing up Saturday night for what looks like a capacity Wallace Wade Stadium.
Elko has never coached in a rivalry game like this. Few people have. How many Power-Five schools are located eight miles away from a rival in the same conference in an unbroken series that goes back a century?
But Elko’s style is to stay dialed in and even-keeled and he’s trying to maintain that even for North Carolina.
“I think we have to make sure we handle our emotions. Our kids don't need to be reminded who we are playing. They certainly understand the significance of this game and the significance of this game to our fan base, our community,our alumni, to themselves, so I don't know that you necessarily ratchet it up. We talked a lot about what the energy and emotion is going to be like Saturday night and making sure we handle that the right way, so we can go out and execute the things we need to execute to win the football game.”
Joiner adds his two cents.
“It’s always great to be part of a big rivalry. But to me it’s just a regular game. I’m just trying to approach it the same way I always approach it, lots of film study, get extra work in. But I know it’s going to be rocking Saturday.”
Of course Joiner is a transfer who hasn’t been around for Carolina’s three straight wins against Duke and admits that the players who have may have a different perspective.
“I don’t know about grudges but the guys are very hungry. You can tell how they’re coming in, how they’re working, how they’ve staying late. You see everybody late at night [extra film work]. They’re ready for it.”
North Carolina’s potent offense certainly presents a challenge.
But there was some slippage against Miami, five sacks and two interceptions.
Does Joiner see some opportunities there?
“We have to communicate, we have to tackle well, we have to rally to the ball, be opportunistic and don’t give them any big plays. We have to limit them and get them off the field on third down.”
And force some turnovers. Duke committed one turnover against Georgia Tech and lost the turnover battle 1-0 as Tech had a clean game in that regard.
“That’s one of our goals, every week,” Joiner said, “to get three or more turnovers and we didn’t reach that goal. If we did we would probably have come away with a different outcome.”
Still, nobody expects Duke to completely shut down Drake Maye and company. Duke likely is going to have to score a bunch of points to come out on top and quarterback Riley Leonard knows he and his offense will have to bring their A game.
“We have the guys and the capabilities of being a top-five offense in the nation. As long as I do my job, the offense will go. It just comes down to me. If I throw the right routes, make the right reads, make the right checks, we’ll be just fine on Saturday. If I play well, everybody else can do their jobs.”
Elko acknowledged that Leonard struggled Saturday. But he also said that Duke needs to give him more help.
”I thought the pressure on him started to increase and we didn't do a good job picking blitzes up. We had hats on hats, but we just didn't sustain blocks particularly well. I think that got him a little bit antsy and got him out of rhythm. He missed some throws that he usually doesn't miss and missed a couple reads that he usually doesn't miss. We have to look at what we are asking him to do and make sure he is comfortable with where he needs to go with the football all the time. We will clean that up and get a little bit better with our execution this week.”
Elko says Duke will be ready for the challenge.
“This team is beyond worrying about getting up for the next game. We come back to the same thing, but we have invested so much into this season. We asked the question after Kansas, and we came back against Virginia and proved that we could bounce back. I have no doubt that we'll go out and play better football.”
I hope to see better play from our OL. If that happens, I believe we'll see Riley doing Riley things. Of course, our receivers will have to up their play as well. The defense needs to have plenty of 3rd down stops and get off the field. That will be tough against a good offensive team. I look for it to be a shoot out and the good guys come out on top of the Cheats.
Thanks, Jim. I'm expecting us to play well this Saturday, whether we win or lose. The retrospectives on the GT game seem to indicate that a lot of learning and accountability have been taking place. Tactically, I hope that our O line and the coaching schemes can give Riley the time to throw and our WRs to gain separation.
The one lingering puzzle for me was the O play calling. I wondered whether I was seeing what I was seeing, but Jim and many others saw the same thing. Was Riley so banged up he couldn't execute a wider variety of plays? Did the OC concede that they couldn't give Riley [and the entire backfield] enough time? As I said, a puzzle to me.