With last Saturday’s mistake-filled 24-21 loss at East Carolina, the Blue Devils (0-1) learned a helpful, if not painful lesson: they have little margin for sloppy play.
“It’s one thing to get beat by a better man, or a better player, or a better football team,” head coach Ted Roof said. “Our margin for error right now is so small. I hope that they learned that—they took that away as a very painful lesson from last week.”
With seventh-ranked Virginia Tech (1-0, 1-0 in the ACC) and a large turnout of the Hokie faithful expected to roll into Wallace Wade Stadium Saturday, Duke will be forced to play as clean a game as possible for a shot at a potential upset.
“We’ve got to work on the big plays on defense and the turnovers on offense and we’ve gotta just execute,” Roof said. “We’ve got to see how many plays we can go 11-for-11. Because if we do that, we’re not going to beat ourselves.”
Duke’s success will largely rest upon the arm of quarterback Mike Schneider, who threw three interceptions against the Pirates last weekend and was pulled from the Blue Devils’ 55-21 loss at Blacksburg, Va. last season.
“The quarterback gets way too much credit when you win and way too much blame when you lose,” Roof said. “We certainly need to make better decisions and take more care of the football.”
The Duke ground game will recieve a boost this week with running back Cedric Dargon back to full strength after playing last Saturday, while still recovering from a bout with a virus. Both Dargan and sophomore Justin Boyle, who ran for 53 yards and two touchdowns against the Pirates, will split time against the fast and explosive Hokie defense.
“We are trying to make sure we can keep them fresh for the entire ball game,” Roof said. “Both of them are going to play and we need both of them to be productive.”
Defensively, the Blue Devils will focus on containing Hokies’ quarterback Marcus Vick, who, like his superstar brother Michael, is a threat both in the pocket and on the run. In his first career start last Sunday at N.C. State, Vick threw for 108 yards and a touchdown while scrambling for an additional 31 yards against a Wolfpack defensive line which Roof considers tops in the country.
“I wish we could put about 22 spies on him, because I think it would take that many to hem him up,” Roof said. “I don’t know if you’re ever going to stop him. You just try and limit his operations so you know where he is, so you can deal with it and play a disciplined defensive game.”
Vick’s legs will be complemented by one of the most dangerous, young receiving corps in the ACC. As freshmen last season, Eddie Royal led Virginia Tech with 28 catches for 470 yards and three touchdowns while Josh Hyman was second with 491 yards and a team-high five touchdown receptions. In addition, tight end Jeff King has proven to be an attractive option in short yardage situations, recording 304 yards and four touchdowns on just 25 receptions last season.
“[Virginia Tech is] very physical and they don’t really have too many weaknesses,” Roof said. “They take care of the football and they are sound in the kicking game. They are very talented and well coached. It will be quite a challenge this week to be able to do this.”
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