The premise is simple: In order to win football games, you have to be successful on the offensive side of the ball. Despite its talented quarterback and one of the top receiving corps in the ACC, Duke was unable to move the chains or protect the football in a 35-21 loss to Army Saturday.
The trouble began early. In the first quarter, Duke quarterback Sean Renfree appeared to be confused by Army’s defensive scheme and threw two interceptions that were returned to within the Duke five-yard line. Army was able to capitalize on both turnovers with easy touchdown runs to put Duke in a 14-0 hole. Renfree would end up contributing two more turnovers to Duke’s total of five in the game.
“From an offensive standpoint, we lost this game for us,” wide receiver Conner Vernon said. “We’re not going to be able to have five turnovers and win a game, especially against a team like Army who is a well-developed team, sound, and very disciplined.”
Renfree admitted he had an off-day. For most of the game, he had trouble seeing the field and hitting open receivers. Even though, before the game, both Donovan Varner and Austin Kelly were ranked among the top-five ACC receivers in receptions, for most of the contest it seemed as if Renfree was only looking for Vernon.
In the first half, Renfree did not complete a pass to Varner or Kelly, while Vernon was able to pick up a stingy 21 yards on three catches. Head coach David Cutcliffe thought that there were open receivers that Renfree wasn’t able to find.
“Sean wasn’t as razor sharp as he’s been,” Cutcliffe said. “His accuracy wasn’t quite there. We had people open all day. You saw when we hit them what the results were, but we just didn’t quite get that done.”
It seemed as if Renfree was shaken up for the first three quarters of the game. He was repeatedly inaccurate as he overthrew his receivers or led them into coverage.
“Army had a good scheme,” Renfree said. “They did things a little differently than they had in the first three games…. They were just running a little bit more zone, dropping out more people.”
Renfree’s struggles were intensified by Duke’s inability to hold on to the football or convert on third downs.
After Renfree threw two interceptions that set the tone for the entire game, he added another interception and a fumble in the second half. Vernon added a fumble in the third quarter, and unfortunately for Duke, Army was able to take advantage of the opportunities as it scored 28 points off turnovers.
And if Duke wasn’t turning the ball over, they were punting it away. The Blue Devils were only able to convert one out of eight third downs.
“We turn the ball over and we don’t convert on third downs,” Cutcliffe said. “A team like Army feasts off that. If you can’t convert third downs and you’re forced into the punts, obviously they consume some clock.”
The Golden Knights controlled the clock for the entire game. Duke’s offense was only on the field for 20 minutes compared to Army’s 40 minutes.
The Blue Devils’ offensive woes consistently awarded Army with excellent field position, and the Duke defense was constantly forced to defend a very short field. Of the Golden Knights’ five touchdowns, only two of them were scored off of drives of more than 50 yards. The Duke offense put the defense in a position to fail.
Although Renfree was able to lead two impressive touchdown drives in the fourth quarter, the game was already well out of reach. Duke’s turnovers and offensive inefficiency made sure of that.
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