Sean Renfree scorched Boston College last week to the tune of 41 completions and 368 yards, largely carrying an offense that has struggled running the ball in the red zone this season. Saturday afternoon against Tulane the backfield made a statement that was impossible to ignore.
Three different Blue Devils combined to score five rushing touchdowns, doubling their season total in just three quarters of play against the Green Wave.
“I’m really proud of our staff and the plan they had on both sides of the ball,” head coach David Cutcliffe said. “If you watched Tulane dismantle UAB last weekend, you would know how well they had us prepared. Our captains stepped up today and played like captains.”
The catalyst for the running game was Juwan Thompson, who has carried the load since the second week of the season in the absense of injured backs Josh Snead and Desmond Scott. Thompson rushed for 69 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but the numbers do not tell the whole story. Duke opted to go for the first down on 4th-and-1 from their own 45-yard line midway through the second quarter, a decision that paid off after Thompson gained 12 yards and kept the drive alive.
“We didn’t feel that the eye discipline of Tulane’s defense was good enough to defend both the pass and run,” Thompson said, “Coach has a lot of faith in our offense to be able to get that first down.”
The success on the ground transformed a once pass-happy offense into a balanced attack. Duke ran 43 rushing plays and 36 passing plays, keeping Tulane off-balance all day long. The best example of this came on a second quarter drive that lasted over 8 minutes. On that drive, the Blue Devils ran the ball 10 times and passed eight times, not only chewing the clock but also avoiding penalties along the way. After three straight Renfree passes, Thompson was able to convert that fourth down to extend the drive. Anthony Boone also converted on 4th-and-1 later in the drive and, two plays later, Renfree ran it in from two yards out for a touchdown.
The overall success in the running game led to increased red zone efficiency, where the Blue Devils scored six times. In addition to Thompson’s two scores, Renfree scrambled in twice and Jay Hollingsworth added another. Duke did not score a passing touchdown in the red zone, but having a solid running game in that area of the field is crucial for future success.
“It makes our offense not so one dimensional when we develop a running game like that,” Vernon said. “So now teams in the future are going to have to respect the run more and not just the pass. We’ve struggled in the red zone in the past, so we’ve done some new things to help with that. It’s tremendous to see what the running game can do down there.”
Another area that saw improvement was success converting on third-down. The Blue Devils were 10-of-16 on third-down, 23 percent better than their season average.
“We put an emphasis on [third-down] in practice every day,” senior receiver Donovan Varner said. “We always do third-down conversions. Just going out there and being as efficient as we were, it just comes from working hard in practice.”
Perhaps the person that was most happy with Saturday’s outcome was kicker Will Snyderwine. The senior has struggled mightily to start the season, but his confidence got a boost early in the second quarter when he hit a field goal from 40 yards out. The successful attempt was met with the loudest cheers of the game from the small homecoming crowd. Snyderwine’s kick and Jeffrey Ijjas’ 26-yard field goal were the first two successful tries of the season for Duke.
“Coach [Cutcliffe] never lost faith in Snyderwine,” Vernon said. “That’s just a big time confidence booster for him and the team.”
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