Looking at the box score from Duke's 13-6 win against Army Saturday afternoon, not many modern college football fans would consider the game fun or exciting.
With Hurricane Matthew causing heavy rain and wind throughout the game, the Blue Devils and Black Knights barely combined for 400 yards, with neither team even attempting passes downfield for much of the game.
But ask Duke's players about the contest, and you might get a very different response.
“Me and Corbin [McCarthy] woke up this morning and said ‘Hey, I’ve dreamed about this since I was little,’" sophomore linebacker Ben Humphreys said. "You go down to the field, it’s raining outside. We dream about playing mud football and our field is way too nice to get muddy but it was a dream come true."
As fun as it may have been for the players, the wet conditions clearly affected how both coaches approached the contest. For Duke head coach David Cutcliffe and offensive coordinator Zac Roper, that meant giving quarterback Daniel Jones a bigger role, but a different one than the redshirt freshman has gotten used to in his first year under center.
Jones carried the ball 21 times for 55 yards, collecting just 41 yards through the air on 7-of-15 passing. With the torrential conditions affecting the passing game by causing dropped passes and changing the path of the ball, Jones was asked to limit the number of exchanges between him and any other member of the offensive backfield to prevent fumbles.
It did not help matters that the Charlotte native was sacked five times when he did drop back to pass, with veteran running back Jela Duncan and center Austin Davis exiting the game early due to injuries and leaving Jones more vulnerable than normal.
“Early in the week [the weather] wasn’t a huge focus for us, we were mainly focused on the game plan," Jones said. “Towards the end of the week, as we could see how the weather was going to play out, we prepared for it, we were ready for it, obviously it changes your game plan but the type of offense we are, we can attack a lot of different ways and that’s what we did today."
Jones and company entered the game leading the nation with 17 turnovers through five games. And although Jones lost another fumble Saturday, limiting the damage to one giveaway was all Duke's defense needed to pin its ears back and secure the win.
Because of Army's triple-option attack, the Black Knights were not expected to throw much anyway, meaning the weather barely affected the Blue Devils' game plan. Army threw just 11 passes Saturday afternoon.
Jim Knowles' unit had lapses, allowing a 45-yard touchdown run and a few other chunk plays, but when the game was on the line, it did not break. Duke held Army to a 2-of-17 performance on third and fourth down, and allowed just 165 rushing yards to a team that came into the game averaging almost twice that amount.
In a low-scoring defensive struggle, the field position game holds greater importance, and by recovering two fumbles, one of which came inside the Army 10-yard line, the Blue Devil defense set up the only two scoring plays for the offense.
The other component of the field position game is special teams, and the kicking units for both teams struggled mightily in the wind and rain. Field goal kicking was essentially scrapped as an option for Duke and Army, but the kicking game still suffered from miscues with slippery snaps on extra points and punts. Both teams failed to convert extra points on touchdowns following botched snaps.
Blue Devil punter Austin Parker had a punt blocked and nearly had another stuffed after he bobbled a snap, and both punters had issues kicking into the wind. But when Duke's redshirt freshman punter did get kicks away with the wind at his back, he made an impact, booming one punt 68 yards and pinning the Black Knights inside their own 20-yard line three times.
The Blue Devils were not perfect, but their execution showed an impressive level of preparation for the tough weather. Cutcliffe noted following the game that he had to remove his glasses to be able to see, and said that the team was prepared to communicate without headsets and bring Roper down to the field from the coach’s box.
Even though not many people were on hand to watch Duke get back to .500 this year—the official attendance mark was 20,613, but the stands were largely empty—that didn't spoil the true team win for the Blue Devils.
“There might not have been many people in the stands but it didn’t matter, we were just having fun,” Humphreys said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.