Game Commentary: Roof a defensive coach?

When Duke University replaced head football coach Carl Franks with defensive coordinator Ted Roof three weeks ago, there was little optimism that the offense would improve. Roof was a first-team All-ACC selection as a tough-nosed linebacker at Georgia Tech in the 1980s, and he had spent his entire coaching career on the defensive side of the field.

In his first game as head coach of anything, Roof led the Blue Devils to 21 points of inspired football over the heavily favored North Carolina State Wolfpack before losing the game by seven points. Though Duke's offensive scheme against the Wolfpack was nothing short of imaginative--Roof used defenders Ryan Fowler and Matt Zielinski at fullback in short-down situations and rotated quarterbacks--the Wolfpack have one of the worst defenses in the ACC, giving up 28.3 points per game.

Then, in the second game of the Roof era against Tennessee, the Blue Devils moved the ball surprisingly well, but put only six points on the board.

Going into the Georgia Tech game this week, offense expectations could not have been high. The Yellow Jackets are owners of the No. 1 rushing defense in the ACC (94.8 yards per game) and the No. 12 scoring defense in the country (16.0 points per game).

"The surge the [the offensive line was] getting off the ball was incredible," Douglas said. "It doesn't take much skill to get through the holes they were creating. In one of the long runs I had, you could of driven a truck through there. I have been saying they were the best offensive line in the conference [all season]."

Duke scored on the first possession of the game with a five-minute, 62-yard methodical drive, and the Blue Devils did not slow down as the game progressed.

In addition to his running game successes, Roof has been brilliant with tight ends since taking over. The tight ends--Ben Patrick, Andy Roland and Calen Powell--accumulated 84 of the Blue Devils' 141 receiving yards Saturday. Nearly all of these yards occurred on bootleg plays that have been wildly successful in Roof's tenure, including Roland's seven-yard touchdown grab from quarterback Chris Dapolito in the second quarter. Dapolito claims that the play has always been in the playbook, but it was not until Roof was promoted that the maneuver was even attempted against ACC defenses.

"[The bootleg] is not new, it's just that our offensive line and Chris Douglas are doing so well...it's tough to cover everybody out there," Dapolito said.

But even with players on hot streaks, there is no clear explanation as to how Roof is improving the performances of his offensive players on a weekly basis. Offensive coordinator Jim Pry is still calling all the offensive plays--just as he did in the days of Franks--and Roof maintains that he is not an offensive specialist.

But perhaps it is because of Roof's defensive expertise that he understands how to coach offense. Roof knows what is hard to defend, and what methods of offense drive defenses crazy better than any offensive coach would. Maybe it is because Roof can see what opposing defenses do well that he knows which offensive schemes will expose the other team. Franks was a psychology major when he was a student at Duke, but Roof has specialized in reverse psychology while leading Duke to its best offensive showings in years.

This theory seems all the more plausible for the Georgia Tech game because only two seasons ago, Roof coordinated the Yellow Jacket defense. He recruited most of Georgia Tech's defensive players, including All-ACC candidates Keyaron Fox and Daryl Smith. No one knows the Yellow Jacket defense like Ted Roof, and Duke's offense proved it.

Roof left Georgia Tech for Duke when current Yellow Jacket head coach Chan Gailey wanted to demote him to linebackers coach. On Saturday, Gailey and the Yellow Jackets now reap what they sowed.

"I feel embarrassed," Yellow Jacket free safety James Butler said. "I feel like we just got our butts handed to us by Duke."