Following a bye week, Duke football welcomes Virginia Tech for the last home game of the season. After 30 minutes of play, the Blue Devils are clinging onto a 21-17 lead:
Five observations
Senior send-off: It’s that time of the year again. Prior to kickoff at Wallace Wade Stadium, the program honored a sizable group of players who would be taking the home field one last time as a Blue Devil. All in all, 32 athletes walked out to be recognized in front of the Duke faithful, with some heavy hitters among the bunch including star receivers Jordan Moore and Eli Pancol. Notably, Jaquez Moore was not included in the group, as the program announced this week that he would likely be redshirting after missing extended time with injury.
Drones down: Coming into Saturday night, Virginia Tech standout quarterback Kyron Drones was questionable due to a leg injury. Roughly an hour before kickoff, news broke that the redshirt junior would not be available against the Blue Devils. As a result, head coach Brent Pry turned to redshirt senior Collin Schlee to take the ball, robbing the Hokies of one of their most dynamic playmakers before the contest began. After a few drives, Schlee entered the medical tent as Virginia Tech turned to redshirt freshman William Watson III to take the reins as it attempted to replicate Drones’ production.
Costly laundry: In the first five minutes alone, the visitors had two major penalties that wiped away chunk plays. The first came on the opening play of the game, as a 61-yard kick return by Thomas Williams was nullified by a hold, pulling the Hokies all the way back from the Duke 33-yard line and forcing them to initiate offense from their own 14 instead. Later on, what would have been a fourth-down pickup in Blue Devil territory by Schlee also fell victim to a hold, forcing Pry to relegate to a punt and give Maalik Murphy and company the ball back. At the end of the half, the Hokies had five penalties for 50 yards.
Gunslinging: By the time Duke was up 14-0, it had still yet to put the ball on the ground. Through the first two offensive possessions, Murphy had thrown four passes, with two of them going all the way. Even on the passes that did not connect, the redshirt sophomore still seemed intent on pushing the ball downfield, targeting Pancol and Moore multiple times past the sticks as he looked to settle into a rhythm. But in classic gung-ho fashion, Murphy finished the half with just as many interceptions as touchdowns, racking up three each in what can only be described as a tantalizing half of football. The Inglewood, Calif., native ended the first half with 240 passing yards on 10-of-23 attempts through the air.
Fizzling out: It is hard to follow up two touchdowns of 75 yards or more to start the game, but Duke would have liked to do slightly better than what followed. After Pancol’s second touchdown grab of the day, the Blue Devils punted quickly on their next two offensive series, sandwiched by a long score from Virginia Tech wideout Ali Jennings to cut the lead in half. To make matters worse, Murphy coughed up an interception on a telegraphed slant route right near the close of the first period, putting Duke into a tight contest all of a sudden that became knotted up after a 21-yard scamper on a reverse sweep from Ayden Greene.
By the numbers
Pancol receiving yards: Senior night is going much better for the graduate receiver the second time around. After being recognized last year but missing the game due to injury, the Pendleton, Ind., native got another chance to cement his legacy Saturday night. Through one half of football, he has done that and more, exploding out of the blocks and racking up a career-high 163 receiving yards after just two receptions, both of which went for scores. When both teams headed to the locker room, Pancol had tallied four receptions for 182 yards and three scores after boxing out a Hokie defender in the end zone to haul in his final touchdown of the half.
Third-down defense: Much has been made of Duke’s struggles offensively on third down, but its defense was doing a solid job of keeping the Hokies at bay during the first half. Virginia Tech faced 10 third downs in the first 30 minutes, only converting on three of them as a stout Blue Devil defense worked to get the ball back for their counterpart. Despite the relative success in this situation, the Hokies have still had their fair share of big plays, having tallied 261 total yards as they headed into the break.
Rushing struggles: Duke’s ground game has not been a calling card this season, as the team only averaged 99.6 rushing yards per game heading into Saturday. Against a weak Hokie run defense, it seemed as if the Blue Devils might be able to up that number, but instead they are on track to hurt it. At halftime, Duke has only mustered 14 rushing yards on three carries, as the offense has not been able to balance its playcalling effectively.
A play that mattered
Duke wasted no time getting on the board. After forcing a punt on Virginia Tech’s first offensive series, it took just one play for the home team to strike. Starting on its own 14-yard line with roughly 13 minutes left in the first quarter, Duke found paydirt in just 10 seconds, as Murphy unloaded a deep ball under pressure that found Pancol perfectly in stride over the middle of the field, resulting in a 86-yard score and an early 7-0 lead.
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