Looking at Duke-Georgia Tech

Huge ACC game in prime-time

Duke and Georgia Tech first met on the gridiron on December 2, 1933. Tech won 6-0, handing the Blue Devils their only loss of the season, after nine wins.

Duke was coached by Wallace Wade, Tech by William Alexander. Both are members of the College Football Hall of Fame.

Fun fact. Alexander graduated from Tech in 1912 with a degree in civil engineering. He was valedictorian of his class. No dummy here.

Fun fact, 2. Alexander replaced John Heisman as head coach at Tech.  

Yes, that Heisman.

Duke and Georgia Tech played each other every season after that, different conferences, World War II, COVID-19, you name it, Duke and Tech were staples on each other’s schedules. Tech won more often than not, including an 11-3 mark against Bill Murray and a 10-game winning streak that spanned the Duke tenures of Ted Roof and David Cutcliffe.

Then again, Cutcliffe finally got Paul Johnson’s number and Duke won five of six.

The rivalry came to a screeching halt last season, when the schedules didn’t mesh in the gargantuan ACC.

Again, for the first time since early in FDR’s first term.

The rivalry is back on for the next three seasons, assuming the ACC doesn’t add or lose anybody until then.

Duke will travel to Atlanta for a Saturday night kickoff. Some pundits have called the 5-0 Blue Devils the worst undefeated team in the country, which is better than being the worst winless team in the country.

Tech is 3-2 but favored by a touchdown.

Cue Rodney Dangerfield and “don’t get no respect.”

Or it could be home-field advantage. Or it could be Duke playing a high-profile, energy-draining rivalry game, while Tech had an open date, extra time to heal the bumps and bruises, extra time for extra film work.

Or it could be that Georgia Tech is pretty good.

They opened their season with a high-profile win over Florida State, in Ireland. Maybe that win doesn’t look as good now as it did then. But it’s one more win than Duke has ever had over the Seminoles. Tech posted easy wins over Georgia Southern (35-12) and VMI (59-7). But they’ve lost two conference matches, 31-28 to Syracuse and 31-19 to Louisville.

Both losses were on the road, however.

Tech certainly does some things well and many of them start with quarterback Haynes King. Through five games he’s thrown for more yards than Duke’s Maalik Murphy, on 39 fewer passes. King has thrown six TDs against one interception. And he hasn’t been sacked. Not one, single, solitary time.

King is second on the team, with 216 rushing yards, trailing tailback Jamal Hayes’ 238. Malik Rutherford (29 catches, 398 yards) and Eric Singleton (21, 338) are his top targets.

In other words, a Duke defense designed to create chaos is going against an offense that hasn’t made very many mistakes this season.

Tech also didn’t allow a sack in their bowl game last season. How does a team go six games without allowing a sack?