During the Blue Devils’ current four-year bowl streak, they have never lost coming off a bye week. Duke sits three wins away from a guaranteed bowl berth, so an end to that streak Saturday could derail the Blue Devils’ postseason hopes.
Duke will travel to Atlanta to take on another desperate team in Georgia Tech Saturday at noon at Bobby Dodd Stadium. Both teams have lost three straight conference games and are coming off a bye week. The Blue Devils are tied for the best road mark in the conference since 2013 with a 14-5 record, but will have their work cut out against a strong triple-option rushing attack averaging 5.1 yards per carry.
“[For] everybody in college football, [getting a bowl opportunity is] a big prize. As you get toward late October and November, all of those games play a big role,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. “I don’t ignore the fact that [my players are] all very aware of that.”
Led by redshirt senior signal-caller Justin Thomas, Georgia Tech (4-3, 1-3 in the ACC) averages more than 26 points per game despite taking a lot of time off the clock with its methodical run game. With an array of running backs—including Dedrick Mills, Clinton Lynch and Marcus Marshall—behind him, Thomas has a lot of options out of the backfield to find on a variety of handoffs, pitches, and swing passes to confuse opposing defenses.
But the Blue Devils (3-4, 0-3) have had a lot of success stopping the triple option in the past few years, with defensive coordinator Jim Knowles dubbed the “king of the triple option” by linebacker Ben Humphreys before Duke took on Army Oct. 8. The Black Knights had the best rushing attack in the nation entering the game, but Duke stymied the offense en route to a 13-6 victory—holding the Black Knights to only 165 yards on the ground.
The Blue Devils have had similar success against the Yellow Jackets, winning two contests against them in a row and holding them to 20 points in last season’s game.
Although Duke lost All-American strike safety Jeremy Cash to the NFL, his replacement, Corbin McCarthy, has also looked comfortable around the line of scrimmage. The Blue Devils also have found a pair of weapons in linebackers Humphreys and Joe Giles-Harris, who are tied for the team lead in tackles with 55 apiece. The sophomore and redshirt freshman combined for 17 tackles in the game against Army, and hope they can limit the explosive plays that plagued Duke in losses to Wake Forest, Northwestern, Virginia and Louisville.
Although they do not throw the ball often, the Yellow Jackets are also capable of making big plays through the air. Georgia Tech is averaging more than 10 yards per reception this season, with wide receiver Ricky Jeune leading the team with 227 yards and a touchdown in 2016. Thanks to Thomas’ craftiness with the ball, the Yellow Jackets’ play-action game is lethal with Jeune and wideout Brad Stewart often streaking past opposing cornerbacks caught looking in the backfield.
“A lot of times with these triple-option teams, they’ll lull you to sleep and then get you with the pass,” Duke redshirt junior cornerback Bryon Fields said. “Georgia Tech got us a couple of times in the past. Army tried to get us a couple times, so we have to get ready for that.”
On the other side of the ball, Blue Devil redshirt freshman quarterback Daniel Jones will be without leading receiver Anthony Nash, who suffered a broken clavicle Oct. 14 in the 24-14 loss at then-No. 7 Louisville. Against the Cardinals, Duke focused on ball control with its running game to keep Louisville’s explosive offense off the field. Jones had one of his best games of the year with two touchdowns and no interceptions, and will need to avoid mistakes once again facing Georgia Tech’s ball-control offense.
“Anthony’s made a whole lot of plays for us and been a big part of our offense, so we’re going to miss him,” Jones said. “But Chris [Taylor] and Aaron [Young] and those guys stepping in can certainly do all those things, and we have all the confidence and faith in the plays that they can make and what they can do for our offense.”
Jones’ Achilles’ heel this season has been turnovers, but he could have an easier time against one of the nation’s worst defenses in generating takeaways. Georgia Tech has only forced six this season. With redshirt senior running back Jela Duncan fully healthy after the bye week—he was not listed on the team’s injury report this week—another big game from the Blue Devil offensive line could take more pressure off Jones. Duncan is on the doorstep of becoming the sixth-ever Duke player to rush for 2,000 yards in his career but was limited against Army and Louisville.
Duncan was on the sidelines due to suspension when the Blue Devils won in Atlanta for the first time since 1994 two years ago, and could play a major part in another key Duke win against Georgia Tech.
“It’s a great challenge game for us,” Cutcliffe said. “For us to be successful against Georgia Tech, we can’t make very many mistakes…. We can’t turn the ball over, we know that. [That] doesn’t mean that you can just stop it, you need to make up your mind to do it.”
Sam Turken and Mitchell Gladstone contributed reporting.
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