Seventh time’s the charm. At least that’s what Duke head coach David Cutcliffe and his squad are hoping will be the case Saturday.
Coming off a much-needed bye week, the Blue Devils will make the trip down to the Peach State to take on No. 22 Georgia Tech at 12:30 p.m. at Bobby Dodd Stadium. After Duke’s last trip to Atlanta ended in heartbreak at the hands of Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl, the Blue Devils will try to leave Atlanta with a better memory in mind this time around. To do so, Duke will have to take down the dreaded spread-option attack employed by a Yellow Jacket squad it has yet to defeat in Cutcliffe’s tenure.
“[Head coach Paul] Johnson is the best in the business at designing and running and managing calling this offense,” Cutcliffe said. “They have really good players. They have speed. They have got an offensive line that comes off the football and they know what they are doing.”
When the Blue Devils (4-1, 0-1 in the ACC) take the field Saturday, they will look to move past their 22-10 loss at Miami Sept. 27.
Against the Hurricanes, redshirt senior quarterback Anthony Boone had his worst showing since last year’s four-interception performance at Virginia Tech. The Monroe, N.C., native went 22-of-51 for 179 yards and a pair of interceptions. But the blame was not to be placed squarely on the signal caller’s shoulders.
“We had three turnovers. We had three botched snaps and 29 incompletions. I was pretty happy that with all that, we scored ten,” Cutcliffe said. “We’ve never had anything like that happen to us before.”
Duke converted just 2-of-16 third downs against Miami, something it will not be able to afford against the Yellow Jackets (5-0, 2-0). In last weekend’s Miami-Georgia Tech contest, the Hurricanes were faced with five third downs and converted only one. If the Blue Devils want to have any success on offense, they will have to take advantage of every opportunity Saturday.
“It’s always an emphasis on the offense to go out there and execute on [third down],” redshirt senior right guard Laken Tomlinson said. “We want to move the chains. That’s just part of our offense. We throw the ball, we run the ball and we do whatever it takes to stay on the field. Obviously what happened last week, the little things we did wrong stopped drives and prevented us from scoring points. We did a good job last week—the bye week—of preparing and training for Georgia Tech.”
The Yellow Jackets dominated the time of possession against Miami, holding onto the ball for a full 21:30 more than the Hurricanes. After a quick 14 points put up the first quarter, Miami was held to three points in the next four quarters, running only 44 plays throughout the duration of the contest. The Blue Devils took notice of this throughout their various film sessions this week and will look to come out with a sense of urgency early Saturday.
“We definitely know that our possessions are at a premium,” senior wide receiver Jamison Crowder said. “We have to execute each possession...because we know with their offense, they’re going to work the clock and limit our possessions. Your mindset definitely has to go up a level.”
Crowder is still searching for a breakout performance, as he has yet to find the end zone since Duke’s week-one victory against Elon. He has racked up 13 catches for 166 yards in his past two games, but the Blue Devils will need for the explosive speedster to find the endzone against the Yellow Jackets if they hope to prevent a repeat performance like the one they had last year, in which Duke put up only 254 total offensive yards.
Despite the recent offensive dysfunction, Duke’s defense as a whole has been solid all season, holding opponents to an average of 13.2 points per game. The Blue Devils may be tested this week, however, as they will be tasked with slowing down a potent Yellow Jacket rushing attack that is averaging 297.2 yards per game, the 11th-best mark in the nation.
Last year, Georgia Tech ran for 344 yards and one score, as the other four touchdowns came through the air. With a solid pass defense in place to slow down Yellow Jacket signal caller Justin Thomas, it will be up to the Blue Devil rush defense to employ a bend-but-don’t-break policy this weekend.
“It’s going to be physical. You have to be patient. You have to be tough. Any team that’s committed to running the football like they have been and like they are, it’s the way they are built,” Cutcliffe said. “You’ve got to know in your mind, you’re getting ready for a long, physical, tough afternoon and embrace the challenge.”
Looking at the big picture, this week’s tilt could end up playing a monumental role in the conference title race, as the Yellow Jackets will take on solid ACC opponents in Pittsburgh, Virginia and Clemson in the coming weeks. With its one loss, Duke will need to pick up as many victories as possible in a Coastal Division race that has seen the emergence of preseason dark horse candidates such as the Cavaliers.
A win against Georgia Tech would put the Blue Devils back on track to make back-to-back trips to the ACC championship game and give them much-needed momentum heading into next week’s matchup against Virginia.
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