Duke football is stuck in a recurring nightmare, and if it wants to turn this season around, it’s time to wake up.
Over the past three weeks, the Blue Devils’ stock dipped more with each game, cultivating in an embarrassing blowout loss at Virginia this past Saturday. Fortunately for Duke, changing the trajectory of its season is very doable, beginning this Saturday at 4 p.m. against Virginia Tech at Wallace Wade Stadium.
“It does become a groundhog thing when you step up every Monday after a loss, talking about getting better,” head coach David Cutcliffe said.
For the first time this year, the Blue Devils (0-3, 0-3 in the ACC) had an opponent’s game film to analyze in practice. When they watched the film, though, they likely realized that their opponent is extremely well-coached.
Head coach Justin Fuente’s Virginia Tech squad put up 45 points in its season-opening beatdown of N.C. State, and it did so with 23 players out due to COVID-19. Leading its offense was transfer running back Khalil Herbert, who ran for 104 yards on six carries yet only accounted for one-third of the team’s total rushing yards.
The Hokies (1-0, 1-0 in the ACC) heavily rode run-pass options to jump out to a big lead. But the impressive part was that whether Braxton Burmeister or Quincy Patterson II was in at quarterback, their offense still found its way into the end zone.
To prepare for this multi-pronged opponent, Duke has returned to its core values.
“We need to finish blocks. We need to finish every play, which would include ball security,” Cutcliffe said. “A play is five or six seconds long. We have to compete through those times. We’re so close.”
Failing to finish the task at hand has been a problem for the Blue Devils this season. There have been strong starts and positives in all three of their games, but by the time the fourth quarter ends, the scoreboard doesn’t reflect it.
Cutcliffe credited a large part of the in-game difficulties to going into the season without ample time to get the players into their usual physical condition. To combat the issue, he placed extra emphasis on conditioning and contact drills in addition to ball security this week.
“We got to win the game on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday before we even play on Saturday,” redshirt sophomore offensive lineman Casey Holman said.
There’s a good chance Duke comes out trying to run the football Saturday. Cutcliffe noted that a successful run game and staying true to read progression can remedy the quarterback situation.
Furthermore, Holman and the offensive line feel they need to give quarterback Chase Brice more time to get comfortable in the pocket—they believe in the Georgia native and want to give him the opportunity to make the accurate throws they have seen him make in practice.
From a defensive standpoint, Duke is having to prepare without knowing which quarterback Virginia Tech will play. Starting quarterback Hendon Hooker is still awaiting medical clearance—not related to COVID-19—so it is unclear if Hooker or Burmeister will open up play against the Blue Devils.
“They got dynamic receivers and tight ends who are great pass catchers, so we can’t sleep on that aspect of their game,” senior safety Michael Carter II said.
Winning this game is going to require 60 minutes of quality play, as Cutcliffe said, but the same could be said for this still largely-unproven Virginia Tech team as well.
Cutcliffe and Fuente are both in the upper-tier of the ACC coaching pool, so the two will be attempting to outduel each other on the sidelines as their team tries to outplay each other on the field.
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Jake Piazza is a Trinity senior and was sports editor of The Chronicle's 117th volume.