This one is going to hurt for awhile.
Duke did so many things to lose Saturday evening’s game at Georgia Tech. Errant throws, dropped passes, questionable play calls. And the penalties. Oh, the penalties.
Despite it all Duke came from 20-6 down in the fourth quarter to send the game into overtime.
Tech opened with a field goal and the road to victory for Duke was wide open.
Third and five at the 20, needing a field goal to extend the game and a touchdown to win Duke saw it all slip away on an offensive pass interference penalty on Robertson, a miscue that turned what would have been a first and goal at the five into a third and 20 at the 35. Instead of running the ball and trying to make the potential tying field goal more manageable Duke elected to pass and it fell incomplete.
Leaving Charlie Ham with a 52-yard field goal.
A tough ask.
Ham was wide left.
Truth be told Duke was totally outclassed for much of the game, out-quicked, out-toughed and frankly out-coached.
And can we please slow down those Daniel Jones-Riley Leonard comparisons?
“The reality is that for three-and-a-half quarters we didn’t make enough plays to win a game on the road in the ACC,” Mike Elko acknowledged. “That’s what it comes down to. We’ve got to execute better. We’ve got to be able to run the football better. We’ve got to be able to make more plays on defense, not give up so many uncontested throws. Those are things that we as a staff have to get corrected.”
And, yes, some key guys were missing, a recipe for failure for a team still trying to build depth.
Elko didn’t mention the undisciplined penalties in his opening statement but several were crucial.
A pass interference call on freshman Chandler Rivers on third down kept alive Tech’s second drive. Duke got a third-down stop on their four-yard line forcing a field goal that gave the home team a 3-0 lead.
Still down 3-0 Duke drove to the Tech 21 only to have the drive stall when Robertson was called for a late hit on a block well after the play had ended.
Did I mention Duke had a delay-of-game penalty immediately following?
Porter Wilson’s punt was downed on the Tech six, a perfect opportunity for Duke’s defense to impose its will and get the ball back in good field position. Maybe even force a turnover.
Instead, Tech simply imposed its will on Duke, moving 94 yards in 18 plays and taking a 10-0 lead. Tech’s offensive line blew open huge holes in Duke’s defense, while giving quarterback Jeff Sims all the time he needed to exploit Duke’s shaky secondary.
An ineligible-man-down-field call stalled another first-half drive, a sack still another. Late in the opening half Duke’s star linebacker Shaka Heyward was flagged and ejected for targeting.
“Obviously, we just didn’t handle our emotions the right way,” Elko said of the penalties. “We don’t want to go through the whistle. We didn’t handle it right. He [Robertson] kind of pushed the defender after the play and we can’t do that. It killed a drive.”
“The play with the quarterback and Shaka? He’s a tremendous leader for us and that’s very out of character for him. He couldn’t pull up and he has to.”
Elko refused to discuss the overtime penalty.
The first half ended with Tech up 10-3, a lead they extended to 20-6 before Duke fought back.
Leonard wasn’t sharp, 20 for 42 for 142 yards. Certainly there were some mitigating circumstances. Leading rusher Jaylen Coleman didn’t play due to injury and Jordan Waters went out in the second half. Starting guard Maurice McIntyre and star wide receiver Jalon Calhoun went down in the first half and didn’t come back.
And Duke never handled Tech’s blitz with any consistency.
“He didn’t have his best game for sure,” Elko said of Leonard. “We didn’t do the best job protecting him for sure. We didn’t put him in the best position to be successful today.”
That said there were some passes Leonard would like to have back. He missed some open receivers deep, including Jordan Moore at the goal line several yards ahead of his defender. And how costly was that third-period interception when Duke had the ball at the Tech eight and Leonard made a bad pass to a covered receiver?
Sometimes a field goal isn’t the worst outcome.
Imagine if that final drive in regulation had started with Duke down by four instead of seven.
But somehow Duke almost pulled it out. Sahmir Hagans--returning punts because Calhoun was injured--went 81 yards on a spectacular TD jaunt and suddenly Duke was down a single score, 20-13, with 5:55 left.
Duke got a stop and Hagans returned the ensuing punt 40 yards, setting Duke up at the Tech 44.
A dormant Duke team suddenly was energized.
But that drive began with a false start and came up empty.
Duke lost the ball on downs with 3:05 left.
But Duke got the stop it had to have.
“We train to win the fourth quarter,” defensive tackle DeWayne Carter said. “That’s just our training showing through. We knew our offense was capable of driving the ball down and we gave them the ball back with enough time left.”
That final Duke drive was something to behold, 14 plays, 80 yards in barely two minutes. Yes, the Jackets helped with some penalties. “Undisciplined” cut both ways. But Leonard demonstrated what Elko called “lots of moxie.”
“Communication and poise,” senior co-captain Jacob Monk said of that final drive. “We were all on the same page.”
Leonard hit Nicky Dalmolin with eight seconds left to force overtime.
But then overtime happened.
Maybe one day we’ll look back at that final drive of regulation as the drive in which Leonard grew up and Duke’s offense moved into another gear.
Maybe.
But right now I’ll let Monk have the final words.
“Not very happy with the result of the game.”
Well, for one thing Leonard isn't a freshman.
Daniel Jones only had one game as a redshirt freshman in which he completed less than half of his passes. That was 7 for 15 against Army in a hurricane. I think we can give him a pass on that one.
No pun intended.
But he did throw five picks in a 34-20 loss to Virginia. Easily his worst game. But he passed 54 times, completing 33 for 324 yards.
And that 2016 team just wasn't very good. That was the year A.J. Reed couldn't make a kick. Jones was playing from behind a lot.
Don't get me wrong. I like Leonard. A lot. He's shown good pocket presence, an ability to scramble and a nice touch. I think he's a leader. But Duke hasn't exactly faced murderer's row. That Northwestern win doesn't look anywhere near as good now as it did at the time and the same could be said about Temple and Virginia. Duke hasn't beaten a team yet that's going to sniff an FBS bowl game. Jones was 24 for 32 for 290 yards and three touchdowns in a road win over Notre Dame. The Irish weren't that good that year. But still. Beating them in South Bend? Pretty cool.
And Jones threw for 563 yards against a Northwestern team that beat Pitt in a bowl game.
I'm not sure Leonard has anything like that on his resume.
Yet.
But if he leads Duke to a win over Carolina, like Jones did in 2016, well that would help. :)
And yes, I mentioned the play-calling. Let me give two examples, from each end of the game.
First possession. Duke drives to GT 37. Leonard sacked on second down, bringing up 3rd and 10. Too close to punt, too far for a field goal, too far behind the chains to pick up 10 yards on two rushes.
Got to throw the ball past the chains. Instead Duke runs Waters off tackle for three yards. Punt, touchback and Duke picks up all of 17 yards.
And the OT. After the penalty Duke has 3rd and 20 from the 35. That's a 52-yard field goal. NFL kickers do that in their sleep. But not college kickers. That's the extreme end of his range. Why not run the ball? Pick up five yards and it's a 47-yard field goal. Pick up eight and it's a 44-yard field goal. Not a chip shot but doable. And you can set the kick up in the middle of the field. And it's not like Duke was taking a shot down field. Even if that pass in the flat had been complete it wouldn't have picked up much. Jacquez Moore had a better chance of popping a long one on a run, IMO.
In case you're wondering about the post-game presser, I asked two questions and both were negative. I asked Elko about the penalties. Asking about the play-calling seemed a bridge too far, especially when Elko wasn't actually the one calling the plays.
Given where Duke is and how important getting to six wins and a bowl would be to this program, this was a bad loss. No way to sugarcoat it.
Thanks for the feedback and thanks for reading.
Good analysis of a game that Duke almost stole from the Yellow Jackets but in the end the poor OL and DL play, poor QB play, a stupid targeting play by our best defender and captain, shaky wide receiver plays and yes, those penalties cost Duke a win. I did like the fight the team brought at games end even though we were outplayed for the majority of the game. The coaching staff has plenty to work on this week.
GoDuke & beat the Cheats!