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Game commentary
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Blue Devils lack offensive imagination against Tigers**
CLEMSON, S.C. -- Does anyone know if Mike Ditka was calling the offensive plays for the football team during the first half against Clemson on Saturday? There was no official report, but he's probably the only person in the nation who could have commanded such a conservative offense.
The first decision the Blue Devils made in the game was after losing the opening toss. Clemson deferred until the second half so the Blue Devils got to make the call. Duke could have picked to receive the kickoff, but instead opted to pick the west side of the field, allowing Clemson to receive the ball at the start of both halves.
"It may seem a little unusual since we've been poor on defense this year," head coach Fred Goldsmith said. "But I think it was the right thing to do. For one thing. . .when you're playing in that much mud like it was early in the ball game and there was a significant wind early on anyway. With that perilous of field conditions, you need to stick the other team on their end of the field.
"That was my whole thinking, start each half trying to stop them down there in that mud and make them punt where we can start in plus territory or close to it."
Most coaches that are 15-point underdogs with the 107th-ranked defense in the nation probably wouldn't do that, but it was the best decision he could have made. Unfortunately, it was about the only good decision that was made in the next 30 minutes of football.
Goldsmith's choice to kickoff worked out exactly as he had hoped. On Clemson's third play from scrimmage running back Michael Allen fumbled the ball, but Duke just couldn't come up with it. Despite that, Duke fielded a short punt and was starting its first drive at Clemson's 48-yard line. A much better start than receiving the ball and beginning at its own 20.
The risk had paid off, so obviously more risks would follow, right? Wrong. Not once did Duke look like they were really trying to reach the end zone. No reverses, no trick plays. Duke didn't even try a play action with a deep pass downfield. It was the same offense full of handoffs and short passes we have seen all year.
It was apparent Clemson has seen it too, so they brought in the safeties close to make tackles on the running plays. This left Duke's receivers in single coverage on the sidelines, but no fly patterns were thrown.
The result of this offense was that Duke was able to get only six first downs and zero points in the first half. The Blue Devils longest gain was a 17-yard draw play on third-and-10 that actually caught Clemson off guard.
Catching the Tigers off guard was something which Duke rarely did. After Duke had fallen behind 14-0, it once again managed to push the ball into Clemson territory with just under two minutes left in the half. Duke was facing a third-and-one and needed to score before halftime, since Clemson would receive the kickoff to start the second half. Any guesses as to what play was run next? That's right. Any fan who has followed Duke football this year was ready for quarterback Spence Fischer to sneak the ball over the center. Clemson had seen the film and was ready for him, dropping him before the first down marker.
Duke needed points, so the Blue Devils decided to go for it and ran its second most popular play, the fullback dive to Laymarr Marshall. Clemson's powerful front line was ready for it and Marshall never even had a chance.
Every coach will tell you that you have to play to your strengths, not the other team's weaknesses. But when you are 3-7 (1-6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) and do not have many strengths, you must alter something.
"I don't think it was a lack of imagination," wide receiver Jeff Hodrick said. "I think it was more just settling down and getting adjusted."
The Blue Devils did some tinkering in the second half and the difference was night and day. On Duke's second drive of the second half it faced a fourth-and-one from Clemson's 49-yard line. Having learned their lesson and adjusted to Clemson's style of play, Duke ran a quick swing pass to A-back Reco Owens for a first down.
On that same drive, Fischer threw a long ball to sophomore wide receiver Corey Thomas that would have been a touchdown had Thomas held on to the ball. And later, Hodrick hauled down a 33-yard pass that led to Duke putting its first touchdown onto the board.
"I think we just settled down and we realized that we were stopping ourselves, they weren't really stopping us," Fischer said. "We started doing the things we had been working on and just built on it. We hit a couple of deep balls and that loosened them up."
Later in the second half, Fischer hooked up with Owens for a 63-yard gain on a fly route when the safeties had been pulled up. If Duke wants to have any chance against UNC in Chapel Hill next week, it must throw the ball deep early to stay in the game. The Blue Devils don't have the defense to fall behind by 24 points against a talented team on the road and then roar back for a win.
In addition, Duke needs to bring back the trick plays from last year. Twice in the first half, Duke faced a fourth-and-one, and both times it ended up punting.
"I wasn't going to [go for] it because early on in the football game, under those circumstances, anything can happen," Goldsmith said. "When you're sitting out there in that mud, anything can happen, so you need to punt the ball."
Anything can happen, and that's why the Blue Devils need to try something. People can make excuses that Duke's injured, it has inexperienced players--not the same level of talent. But the fact is that it is losing games and until something different is done, it will continue to lose. North Carolina has been susceptible to trick plays many times this year. It almost lost a game to Louisville earlier this year when Louisville took a fake punt nearly 70 yards, which led directly to a touchdown.
Next Saturday is the last game of the season for Duke, and Carolina must win to go to a bowl game. It's obviously time for a little razzle-dazzle.
The old joke was that the Chicago Bears and New York Giants of the 1980s would tell you where they were running the ball, would run the ball there and would still win. It seems that Duke has taken that philosophy, but since we are not the Bears or Giants, the joke is on us.
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