On the road once again, Duke fell behind early against Georgia Tech and heads into the half trailing 10-3. With 30 minutes to play at Bobby Dodd Stadium, the Blue Devils are working to catch the Yellow Jackets on the scoreboard.
Five observations:
Coleman out, next man up: With the Blue Devils’ leading rusher Jaylen Coleman out after suffering a lower body injury in the second half against Virginia, Jordan Waters and Jaquez Moore are up to take on the top two rushing roles Saturday. Terry Moore also got in on the action in the second quarter with the carries split 4-6-2 across Waters, Jaquez Moore and Terry Moore, respectively. The run game has been a strength for Duke all season, and the performance early against Georgia Tech shows off its depth. Waters also exploited Georgia Tech’s soft zone coverage on outside routes to gain chunk yardage through the air.
Dual-threat Sims: Yellow Jacket quarterback Jeff Sims is not going to put you away through the air, but rather he will use his feet to get his offense some big yardage plays. Duke looked to alter interim head coach Brent Key’s game plan early—after Sims ran for 17 yards, R.J. Oben broke through for the first sack of the afternoon for the Blue Devils. However, Sims took off again a few plays later to set his team up for the afternoon’s first score. Duke will likely aim to force Sims to throw the ball after he gained 66 yards on the ground. Georgia Tech is ranked 116th nationally in pass yardage.
Duke’s scoreless first: Offensive coordinator Kevin Johns’ unit went scoreless in the first quarter for the first time this season. A zero is in the books after the Blue Devils entered Saturday out-scoring their opponents 66-7 in opening frames.
Moving the chains: Georgia Tech gained 14 first downs in the first half compared to Duke’s nine, and the yardage margin has left the Blue Devils with one of its least effective halves of football on both sides. The Yellow Jackets were able to move the ball in big chunks and Duke could not, with the home side earning 6.2 yards per play and 9.2 yards per completion despite owning a subpar passing offense. In contrast, just as Duke began to move the ball in the waning moments of the first quarter, penalties set it back and the Blue Devil drives since have come to a standstill.
No Calhoun, then no Heyward: Duke’s leading receiver Jalon Calhoun has been absent from Saturday’s box score despite having collected 23 catches for 356 yards in 2022. Star linebacker and captain Shaka Heyward was ejected from the game with a late helmet-to-helmet hit on Sims. Duke is already thin at the linebacker position with injuries to Dorian Mausi and Tre Freeman.
By the numbers
Georgia Tech’s 6.6 yards per rush: On 20 runs, the Yellow Jackets have accumulated 132 yards, making for an efficient start—one that has also kept the clock rolling and extended possessions.
36-31 offensive plays: In a run-heavy first half, the clock just kept on running with the Blue Devils playing from a score behind. The Blue Devils ran 31 offensive plays in the first 30 minutes—all without a touchdown—adding an additional challenge to the comeback effort.
7-point deficit: Although Duke fell behind by as much as 15 against Kansas two weeks ago, Duke almost avoided a new season-high halftime deficit of 10 thanks to its second-quarter field goal.
A play that mattered:
Just after a Riley Leonard fumble was overturned with 14:55 in second and the Blue Devils caught a major break, running back Jaquez Moore was in the middle of a pile pushing toward the sticks and the red zone when wide receiver Jontavis Robertson was flagged for unnecessary roughness for a hit on a defenseless Yellow Jacket defender after the play. The 15-yard penalty set Duke way back and outside of field-goal range, only for the Blue Devils to get called for delay of game before punting the ball away. The drive had looked like Duke’s best chance to score up to that point in the game.
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Micah Hurewitz is a Trinity senior and was previously a sports managing editor of The Chronicle's 118th volume.