I have not been shy about my disdain with the Blue Devil offense over the past few weeks. Duke looked slow, confused, even befuddled whenever they were on the field. However, when a team scores 55 points, I have to give credit where credit is due. For the Blue Devils, this past weekend’s performance against Pittsburgh epitomized a roller coaster day, and it starts and ends with the performance of quarterback Brandon Connette.
Let’s start with the outstanding individual numbers for Connette. When Boone went down with an injury a few weeks ago, many players weren’t concerned because Connette plays a very similar style of quarterback. When the pocket collapses, Connette can power his way forward, breaking runs of 10-to-15 yards. The redshirt junior had an exceptional day running the ball, leading the team in rushing with 101 yards on only 15 carries and two touchdowns. On the third drive of the game, Connette sprinted down the middle of the field for a gain of 37, leading to a touchdown pass to Max McCaffrey.
With a strong runner such as Connette, head coach David Cutcliffe can draw up more option plays. The reason this hasn’t worked as well in the past is because when Connette was on the field, defenses were able to predict the run and stop plays accordingly. Against Pittsburgh, Connette was able to hurt the defense not only on the ground, but also through the air. Connette threw for 323 yards on 21-of-32 passing and four touchdowns. In other words, the man showed Blue Devil fans he’s capable of being successful at the helm.
Sure the numbers overall were nice, but it was Connette’s fearlessness throwing down field that caught our attention. Thus far, Connette has played very conservatively, throwing to the sidelines or dumping off to a running back. Such plays contributed to a rather uninspiring effort against Georgia Tech. But this week, Duke started to air out the ball more. Of Connette’s 21 pass completions, eight were for 15 yards or more, with four of those going for 25 yards or more. The best example of Connette’s growth as a passer came late in the third quarter. On a first-and-10 on the Blue Devils own 25 yard line, Connette immediately recognized the blitz pressure coming towards him, opting to roll out to his right and hitting Brandon Braxton in stride in what led to a 75-yard touchdown. This was a nice change of pace for Connette, who appeared to play more like a pass first quarterback than any other game in his career.
The problem with taking so many chances is that some of the deep throws can come back to bite a team. Of his 11 incompletions, four of them were picked off. The most notable of the aforementioned interceptions came about halfway through the fourth quarter, with Duke down 10. Only three plays before that, the Blue Devils appeared to have scored on another long touchdown by Jamison Crowder, but Connette forced a pass that could have easily been avoided. On this particular play, Connette was pretty well covered by his offensive line, but mistakenly stared down his receivers for entire routes, allowing the defense to jump routes. Anthony Gonzalez then took it to the house to give the Panthers a 17-point lead. Despite Connette’s lack of experience, he should never have thrown some of the passes he attempted.
With time, Connette will learn more as a starting quarterback and possibly lead Duke to a bowl game overall. Now if only that defense could stop someone…
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