If the best defense is a good offense, Duke certainly got it backward last Saturday.
After a 44-7 loss Saturday to Florida State, Coach Fred Goldsmith praised his defense and labeled his offense nonexistent in his press conference Monday.
Although the Blue Devils (0-1) held Florida State to only 221 total yards, Goldsmith emphasized that mistakes were made by both the special teams and the offense. This was quite a turnaround from last year's game, in which Duke's offense managed a then-record 26 points against the vaunted FSU defense. However, the Blue Devil defense did its best Swiss cheese impersonation in that game, giving up a school-record 796 yards in the 70-26 loss.
This year, 34 of FSU's points were scored as a result of miscues by Duke: four Duke offensive fumbles led to 17 FSU points, while two blocked punts and shoddy punt coverage led to another 17.
"Our offense played just as badly Saturday as our defense played a year ago," Goldsmith said.
Despite frequent turnovers, Goldsmith was happy with his team's ability to hold Florida State to field goals on drives where they started with good field position.
"Our defense never quit, even in adverse conditions, all day long," Goldsmith said. "[Our] defense played harder in 60 minutes than any other I've seen in a long time, and for that we should be very proud."
Linebacker Chike Egbuniwe agreed that the defense never lost its motivation throughout the game.
"We established our assignments and alignments and tried to stay with them the whole time, no matter what," he said. "We made some mistakes, but we were able to overcome it by moving to the ball and getting excited and staying motivated."
As for his offense, Goldsmith declared inexperience and the potent FSU defensive line as the main causes of mistakes. He declared the Seminole's front four defensive linemen unmanageable. Physically, his Blue Devils could not block them.
Although Goldsmith gave FSU's defense much of the credit for overcoming his offensive line, he showed some concern about the ability of his offense to come together and block for the rest of the season.
"We've got to be able to do the fundamentals and block somebody," he said.
Although there were a few mistakes-the breakdown of special teams on the opening kickoff, the mishap on the goal line-the loss basically came down to a lack of these fundamentals.
Speculating about this Saturday's game against the Northwestern Wildcats, Coach Goldsmith was positive about the Blue Devils chances of emerging with their first win of the season. He noted that Northwestern had trouble with turnovers in last Saturday's game, and he expects them to come away from their loss with a vengeance.
He would have liked the Wildcats to be in a more upsettable position than they are now, after their 28-27 loss to Wake Forest Saturday, as Northwestern will be hungry for a win over Duke to reestablish its reputation.
"Northwestern has a very talented squad. I expect them to come down here on a mission to try and pound us, run it down our throat and... embarrass us on the field," Egbuniwe said.
To battle Northwestern's vengeful quest, Duke's defense will try to use its defensive speed as it did against the Seminoles. In the battle of size versus speed, Duke is hoping its quick defense will be able to take on the running game of Northwestern's running back, Darnell Autry.
Coach Goldsmith also emphasized the importance of establishing the home-field advantage in this Saturday's game and the need for a lot of fan support.
"I like a full stadium and it starts with the student section," he said. "We need the Wade Wackos! We've got a lot of young players and I think this is a team people can relate to for a few years to come."
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