Pass/fail for Devils, Pack

It was one of those scenarios defensive backs dread watching on film the next day.

Virginia Tech was facing a third-and-long in the fourth quarter last Saturday, and Duke senior cornerback Leon Wright prepared for a slant pass as he thought back to the scouting report.

With the Blue Devils set to blitz and the Hokies facing 3rd-and-11 from their own 26-yard line, Wright lined up inside the hash mark, with Virginia Tech receiver Danny Coale split out wide. Wright did not count, though, on the Hokies changing plans as the game's momentum shifted.

In a matter of seconds, Virginia Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor dropped back and hit Coale deep on a 38-yard strike. The play set up a touchdown and helped to give the Hokies a comfortable 34-19 lead en route to a 34-26 win.

"I didn't realize what situation we were in," Wright said this week. "I played the correct technique, but it was just in the wrong situation. So they didn't do what I figured they'd do. When I met with my defensive back coach, he pointed that out to me. And I can see that now and adjust to it."

That's life in the defensive backfield. Week to week, cornerbacks and safeties are expected to anticipate the actions of the opposing quarterbacks and wide receivers, adjusting based on the opponents' tendencies they studied all week in practice.

Today, when N.C. State (3-2, 0-1 ACC) hosts Duke (2-3, 0-1) at Carter-Finley Stadium (4 p.m., ESPNU), the spotlight may shine bright on Wolfpack quarterback Russell Wilson and Blue Devils quarterback Thaddeus Lewis, whose team leads the ACC in passing. But it likely will flash also on the secondaries of both teams, two defensive units that spent the week gathering information to try to keep those quarterbacks off balance.

State coaches shuffled their lineup to insert two senior safeties in the secondary after mistakes resulted in a loss to Wake Forest and the Wolfpack surrendering two passing touchdowns on third down. Duke coaches spent the week stressing aggressiveness after watching their defensive backs consistently get outjumped for balls by Hokies receivers. The Blue Devils allowed 327 yards and two touchdowns to a Virginia Tech passing attack that entered the week ranked 11th in the ACC with a meager 135.5 passing yards per game.

It could become clear quickly today which secondary did a better job absorbing its homework.

"We've just got to go out and be on our P's and Q's," N.C. State junior defensive back DeAndre Morgan said. "[Lewis] can hurt us, so we have to not let him get going. We're going to cover our guys the best we can."

A week of study

Duke coach David Cutcliffe likes to say that "you can't talk a player into being a good player." But consistent work in practice, he adds, results in success.

In Durham, the Blue Devils defensive backs' preparation starts Sunday when they receives a DVD with highlights of what the next opponent's quarterback and his receivers have done in at least three previous games.

Duke defensive backs coach Derek Jones wants players to use their Monday off-day to identify tendencies. What formations do they use? What routes do they favor?

When players return Tuesday morning, the defensive backs cover routes half-speed against the practice squad. Jones provides a drawn diagram of every pass play the opposing team has run in the past three games, and the defensive backs are expected to apply the report to their film study. Then they face those plays full speed in practice. By Wednesday, coaches show them film of practice against specific routes, followed by film of their opponent running those routes.

"It's my job to try and find any little edge that we can get," Jones said. "If I see a guy that relaxes a little bit more when he's not getting the ball ... I'll mark those things down."

Duke sophomore safety Matt Daniels spends at least an hour studying film before bed. He's searching for telltale signs that alert him to details of the next play.

How many steps does the quarterback drop? Who are his favorite receivers? How does he look off the safeties and corners? What side of the field does he target?

How large is a wide receiver's split? What foot does he plant forward?

Daniels refers to Duke's formula of "Knowledge + Confidence = Playing fast."

"When I know what's going to happen, I have confidence in what I'm about to do, which allows me to play fast," he said.

Back to basics

For State defensive coordinator Mike Archer, it was that lack of specific knowledge that hurt the Wolfpack against Wake Forest in last week's 30-24 loss. Demon Deacons quarterback Riley Skinner finished with 361 yards and three touchdowns against the Wolfpack.

"We gave up a touchdown on third-and-7," he said. "And the one that's just not acceptable is third-and-25. We were in one of our base coverages, and we didn't execute it."

That led to the Wolfpack defensive backs revisiting some basics this week.

"You've got to know where to be, number one," Archer said. "You've got to match routes. You've got to see routes. You've got to know, route combinations are the same. You've got certain things, we rep them all week. We just did not do a good job during the [Wake Forest] game of recognizing and matching their routes."

Studying also helps players fine-tune their technique, something that broke down for the Wolfpack against Wake Forest. There were communications miscues in zone coverage, Morgan said.

Morgan, who is 5 feet 10, said teams have tested him on jump balls. He and his teammates used the week to hone skills that help them negate the disadvantage.

"If I jump when he jumps, he's going to have the advantage over me," he said. "If he's a 6-5 guy, I can't jump at the same time he jumps. I've got to jump when the ball gets right around the area so that I can reach it."

At the same time, Duke coaches know that technique and studying must be matched with aggressiveness. As a none-too-subtle reminder, they wrote Wilson's jersey number on all the practice balls this week.

"When '16' throws that ball, we have to treat that ball like it's our ball," Jones, the Duke coach, said.

Wright has learned that lesson.

"You have to believe the ball is coming your way every play," he said. "You have to play your technique right. You can play 65 snaps, and that 66th snap mess up, and the game [is] over."

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