Both Duke and East Carolina entered last Saturday’s season opener looking to reverse long strings of defeat.
Since the Blue Devils beat the Pirates Sept. 2, 2002—a victory that snapped a 23-game Duke losing streak—they had won just seven of its 34 games. East Carolina’s record had been even worse since that game, posting a 6-27 mark.
In last week’s game both teams were ushering in new members of their coaching staffs, or in ECU’s case, new head coach Skip Holtz. But Duke failed to capitalize on its opportunity to start offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien’s era off with a win.
And although Duke head coach Ted Roof said after the game he was disgusted, his attitude toward the team’s opening-day performance was more optimistic at his weekly press conference Tuesday.
“As disappointing as last weekend was, I think there were a lot of positives,” Roof said. “It is obvious that this particular football team right now has very little margin for error with where we are and want to build our program.”
One of the positives Roof mentioned was the way the defense played for much of the game. Although the Blue Devils surrendered 338 yards of total offense to the Pirates, 198 of them came on seven plays, including a 50-yard touchdown pass on a third-and-seven in the first quarter.
Of the 57 snaps ECU took on offense, the Blue Devils held the Pirates to less than three yards on 39 of them and stopped East Carolina at or behind the line of scrimmage on 21 of those plays.
“We saw the opportunities we had, and we really didn’t play that bad,” senior defensive end Phillip Alexander said. “As a whole we just had a couple of mistakes that ended up costing us the ball game. If we eliminate those mistakes we will put ourselves in better position to win more games.”
The Blue Devils also have to correct their ineffectiveness defending third-and-long situations, a problem that plagued them Saturday.
“We just didn’t execute like we should have,” Alexander said. “We are just hoping to eliminate those mistakes and play a complete ball game.”
The task ahead will not be an easy one though, as Duke prepares to square off with Marcus Vick and Virginia Tech. In their season-opener against N.C. State, which had last year’s top-ranked defense, the Hokies recorded 232 yards of total offense. But with Vick’s athleticism and game-breaking speed, Virginia Tech’s offense is very dangerous.
In the two teams’ meeting last season Sept. 18, the Hokies totalled 422 yards on offense.
“It started off well, and then they hit a couple of big plays,” Roof said of last year’s meeting. “We kind of just hung in there from then. Our margin of error is small. They certainly earn enough, and we just can’t give them anything.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.