In the first quarter of Saturday's blowout loss to Virginia, head coach Ted Roof had true freshman quarterback Thaddeus Lewis taking practice snaps with his center while the defense was on the field.
This followed Roof's decision to go for it on fourth-and-inches from Duke's 29-yard line, resulting in a fumbled snap and a turnover.
The play and the ensuing action on the sidelines was indicative of a larger trend from Saturday's game-Duke was ill-prepared to win against an ACC opponent. The Blue Devils had two weeks to practice for Virginia after an embarrassing loss to Virginia Tech. But the results were hardly improved.
Four fumbled snaps, three interceptions, a blocked punt, untimely penalties, 100 total yards of offense and no redzone visits summed up Duke's homecoming game.
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"It's obvious we can't make mistakes like that and beat anybody," Roof said. "We're going through some growing pains right now, and we had hoped they wouldn't take us where they did."
Three weeks ago, Lewis racked up over 300 yards passing, threw for the team's only touchdown of the season and had no turnovers. Saturday, the freshman accounted for five-three interceptions and two fumbles.
"I thought we were ready to play," Roof said. "I thought we were well prepared. Then we did some things on the game field that we haven't been doing on the practice field."
There were numerous examples Saturday of the discrepancy between the team Roof has seen throughout the week and the one that lost by 37 to Virginia.
After Virginia muffed a punt return late in the first quarter, Duke recovered the ball and had its best field position of the game. On their first snap of the series, the Blue Devils ran a trick play-Lewis handed the ball off to tailback Justin Boyle, who quickly pitched it back-that resulted in an intercepted pass thrown into double coverage. The turnover swiftly ended one of Duke's prime scoring chances.
Two of the Blue Devils' deepest drives into Virginia territory were stalled by untimely penalties. Midway through the second quarter, a 16-yard pass that would have put Duke at the Cavaliers' 25-yard line was negated by a holding penalty. Later, a 21-yard pass that would have also put the Blue Devils in field-goal range was similarly nullified.
Duke has shown the offensive potential to score at times throughout the season but seems prone to committing mental and physical errors at costly times. It is unclear whether the players or coaches are at fault for the ongoing mistakes, but five weeks into the season, it is clear that the Blue Devils have yet to adequately address them.
To fix an offense that is averaging less than four points per game, Duke must go back to work.
"That is what we do and what we are about," Roof said about his team's resiliency. "There is no other standard and option. That is it. I expect us to come back and play a lot better next Saturday."
If Duke could not stay close to a weak 1-3 Virginia team with two weeks to prepare, then it seems unlikely that one week is sufficient time for the Blue Devils to improve enough to compete with a top-tier program like Alabama.
Duke's winless play has raised many questions, and to this point in the season, Roof and the rest of the Blue Devils don't seem to have the answers.
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