In its season opener against Army, Duke secured an easy 34-14 victory behind consistent play from quarterback Daniel Jones and a stellar rush defense. The Blue Zone hands out grades to every Duke unit:
Offense: A-
Pass: Daniel Jones came into the 2018 season with high expectations, and responded with an efficient effort in his first game. The redshirt junior only threw 17 passes but completed 13 of them, including one touchdown strike to Aaron Young, who had a career-high 114 receiving yards. Twelve of Jones’ 17 targets went to either Young or T.J. Rahming, and the Blue Devils will need more weapons to step up throughout the rest of the season.
Rush: The sophomore rushing tandem of Brittain Brown and Deon Jackson carried the rushing offense, as Brown tallied 75 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown while Jackson added his first career score. Daniel Jones showcased his mobility with 43 yards and a touchdown on the ground, but he will need to be careful carrying the ball in order to avoid another injury-plagued season.
X’s and O’s: The Blue Devils were dominated in time of possession with Army’s slow-paced triple option offense, but still put up a great scoring effort with efficient play in just 23:54 of time on offense.
Defense: B+
Pass: Despite the Black Knights averaging 27.8 passing yards per game last season, Duke’s secondary struggled against Army, as Kelvin Hopkins Jr. threw for 197 yards and a score in his first career start. Although Duke’s focus was on stopping the run, preseason All-American selection Mark Gilbert and senior Jeremy McDuffie will need to right the ship against an NFL-caliber QB Clayton Thorson next week against Northwestern.
Rush: The Blue Devils’ front seven showed up strong and never let the Black Knights get any rhythm, holding Army to just 168 yards on the ground, nearly 200 yards below their nation-leading season average a year ago. Sophomores Marquis Waters and Michael Carter II each pounced on a fumble and captain Joe Giles-Harris was key in forcing the quarterback to make a quick decision on the pitch.
X’s and O’s: Outside of the first few drives, Army had trouble hitting the pitch man and getting any sort of big gains. Duke’s only real struggles in defending the Black Knights came on short yardage-to-go scenarios, as Army went 4-4 on 4th down attempts.
Special Teams: A
One of Duke’s biggest question marks coming into Saturday’s contest was their kicking game. Redshirt senior Collin Wareham looked solid in the starting place kicker role, converting all four of his extra point attempts, as well as two field goals from 25 and 30 yards out.
Sophomore Drew Jordan blocked a fourth quarter field goal attempt, preventing the Black Knights from cutting their deficit to 14 with 6:45 remaining in the game.
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