Discuss the game here. We turned it over too much. That's the bottom line.
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Discuss the game here. We turned it over too much. That's the bottom line.
Well, turnovers certainly hurt. Unfortunately, I think defense is the larger issue. We didn't stop Wake often enough. Even with a good offense, it will be hard to outscore teams that have a decent or better running game.
I expected the defensive front to be an issue; I was a little more optimistic about the secondary because of recent recruiting efforts which have brought more speed to those positions. However, the young DB's seem to have a hard time defending both man and ball, and also bit on some fakes which left wide open Wake receivers.
On a positive, #33 Scott was terrific.
I would love to hear the receivers talk about whether the rain impacted those bobbled passes that turned into interceptions. Same with the punter. The ball just went right through our hands at some very inopportune moments.
We are great on offense, actually had some balance with a running attack at times today, but the D needs to be better and we must eliminate mental mistakes.
--Jason "I shudder to think about our run D versus the Bama rushing attack... shudder" Evans
Yeah, looking at the stats, the major negatives for us were:
100 yds less rushing. Is that worth 6? Usually.
1 more TO than Wake. Not good, but not always worth 6.
Defense gives up 500 yards to Wake. Wow. That's a lot of yards.
I thought sophisticated game theory or some kind of statistical analysis had more or less demonstrated the wisdom of going for it on 4th down a whole lot more than historically common. It depends on where you are on the field, of course, but we were down 10 with maybe what - 9 minutes to go? - and inside their 20 yard line.
Had we gotten the first down - what an emotional punch in the gut it could have been for Wake. I guess we'll never know, but I think you show some onions there and stare them down in their own backyard. It's just one yard, gotta man up.
I can see the point that we got 2 more possessions, so we could in theory take the "sure" 3 and get the TD later, but boy, you're that close... Maybe if you're at the 30 you kick it. Of course, our kicker, though he's good, apparently doesn't have anything like NFL range. Career long of 46 is nice but that leads you to think you've got to be inside the 30 to take a FG. I wonder how common that is in college.
I'd like to hear that too. Don't they wear gloves, though? I'm not sure what type of gloves are allowed, but there are rubberized gloves that are quite grippy even when wet.
We did have some balance running, but let's admit, Wake REALLY had balance. 271 air, 229 ground.
VT just went down - and so did Boise State's chances of playing for the national title, even if they have a perfect season. I'm not sure they even play if there are no other undefeated teams. That VT win looks like yesterday's coffee grounds now.
Look, I'm an optimist and I truly believe Coach Cut has Duke FB on the upswing but...let's face it, there's no virtually no way we beat 'bama on Saturday. Still, it would be nice to at least play a respectable game against them. With the defensive effort I saw today though, I think we'll be LUCKY not to give up 60+ to the Tide on our home field and that makes me very, very sad :(
I would actually be very happy if we could hold them in the 30's and maybe come out with a 35-21 final score but...that just doesn't seem likely with this "D" (or rather the lack of it!)
On the positive side, sophomore Conner Vernon had eight catches for 181 yards including TD catches of 70 and 51 yards. Sophomore RB Desmond Scott rushed for 122 yards. And sophomore QB Sean Renfree passed for 358 yards and four TDs. Yeah, he threw three interceptions, but two came on passes that hit the receivers square in the hands.
2 of the 3 turnovers were just bad breaks (off the receivers hands into Wake's). Renfree and Vernon have a very bright future. If the Blue Devils can improve on the defensive side of the ball they could definitely make some noise.
The ACC may be DOWN this year. GT goes down to KU and VT just lost to James Madison.
Our defense wasn't so hot, but being minus-2 in the TO department in a one score game is the difference. We gave WFU too many opportunities to beat our defense. If we hold on to those passes and don't muff that punt snap we have a good chance to win this game in spite of the deficiencies on our defensive side.
2nd half Offense needs to improve also guys. I know the O is great and all, but this is two games in a row the O has come out flatfooted out of the gate. We look like a Ted Roof team...utterly exhausted.
Can't let that continue.
Yes, but how many games can we realistically expect to win giving up 500 yards and 54 points to a team of WFU's caliber? [btw, stats I saw showed 1 more TO for us not 2].
It's really bad news, because when a team with such an unbalanced attack gives up that much, it's going to be constantly playing catch up, putting it in the air, letting the defense hang back in coverage, better chance for picks. We do have a good offense, but I don't know if it's good enough to overcome what the defense is leaving on the table. We shall see, though the AL game isn't going to tell us anything we don't already know.
Many will say the turnovers cost Duke the game, and they did hurt but lets face it giving up 54 points to Wake after giving up 27 to Elon is not a good sign.
I cringe to see how many points Alabama will get next week unless some serious adjustments are made. Didn't matter if Wake was throwing or running the defense was awful. They gave up 500 yards of offense and allowed two quarterbacks with a total of 0 game experience run or throw ruff shod all over them.
Numbers like that will probably help Duke end up being the worst defense in FBS. At least the running game looked legitimate and Renfree is the real deal. If Duke is to win many more games they are going to have to out score everybody. It is a shame because it isn't because there is a lack of effort it is just experience, technique and scheme are just all wrong right now.
Both ESPN and Yahoo are showing 4 TOs (3 INT and a FUM) to 2 (2 INT).
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/boxscore?gameId=302540154
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/footbal...d=201009110009
I don't think we're arguing much different points. The D isn't very good. However, if we had held onto the ball, we could have won in spite of it today. I agree the D needs to improve for us to have a successful season.
One of WFU's TO's was the equivalent of a WFU 40 yard punt w/ no return by Duke. It was 3d and long and the WFU QB chucked it up there 40 yards from scirmmage and Duke intercepted. Functionally, it was more like 4 turnovers to 1. And of course 1 of our 4 was an immediate TD.
Snyderwine made a 51-yard FG last year against WFU. A bit more on our 'good' kicker:
Second team All-ACC choice ... Academic All-ACC selection ... Lou Groza Award semifinalist ... played in 11 games with 10 starts ... did not play against North Carolina after suffering leg injury during pregame activities ... connected on 17-of-20 (.850) field goal attempts and all 24 PAT conversions ... led Duke in scoring with 75 points ... set school single-season records for both field goals made and field goal percentage ... point total ranks as the ninth-highest single-season total in Duke history ... in the ACC, ranked tied for first in PAT percentage, second in field goals per game (1.55), fifth in field goal percentage and 10th in points per game (6.8) ... nationally, ranked 15th in field goals per game, 21st in field goal percentage and 75th in points per game ... top scoring day came against Virginia with five field goals and one PAT for 16 points ... against the Cavaliers, booted field goals covering 25, 28, 34, 43 and 44 yards to match the second-highest single-game total in Duke history and earn ACC Player of the Week honors ... after missing first career attempt at Army, successfully booted 12 straight before having a 52-yard attempt blocked against Georgia Tech ... connected on a 51-yard attempt against Wake Forest to equal the 11th-longest field goal in school history ... recipient of the Bill Keziah Award as Duke’s Special Teams MVP.
The only problem with the defense is that we are slow, weak and inexperienced. Also, tired late in the 4th quarter, but that was to be expected. While Cut has the program and on upswing; remember we were the worst Division 1 program most of the previous decade and a slight improvement doesn't yield much. My concern is how competitive we can be in the weak ACC. Can we pick up a couple of ACC teams and Army?
Geez, I really feel bad for our punter who had the ball slip through his hands for a Wake TD. He should have fallen on the ball but tried to hard to make up for his mistake by attempting to pick it up and kick it. That is a fundamental mistake and Cut was none too pleased about it.
The punter is a Junior, got yanked right after that play and did not get to kick again. The replacement kicker averaged what, 50 yards a punt? I would hate for someone who has been starting for three years (I am pretty sure) to lose his job over ONE play, but it looks like the fate might have it that way. We lose by 6, if he doesn't bobble the snap or just falls on it maybe we get those points back...lots of maybes in this one.
Fun game to watch minus the outcome. The secondary did look lost as on a couple of Wake TD's their guy was wide open, nobody even close. We are young and talented, but you can tell the communication just isn't there as far as coverages and what corner has safety support. Wake ran a nice fake reverse to get that one TD, but you always have to stick with your man no matter what...again, mental mistake. Kudos to their second string QB for playing like he did. Gutsy performance.
I am still confident in Renfree's abilities; two Int's were not really his fault, one of which was a ridiculously lucky play by Wake.
Finally, we have a placekicker who can actually hit a FG! In past years we would have found a way to miss that FG that was called back due to holding. This makes me very happy, we could have easily beat Wake two times of our last 3 meetings (not counting today) if we had a kicker who could hit a FG and even an extra point.
All I want fore Christmas is a defensive backfield. Refree is way too acurate. He should never hit his receivers in the hands. All and all I did not mind siting in the rain watching this team play. They're exciting!