Can Duke find its way out of a 0-3 season start? Blue Devils can only try.
Duke’s Chris Rumph II was trying to stay upbeat and positive, provide some leadership as a team captain, say the right things.
Moments after the Blue Devils took a 38-20 beating at Virginia on Saturday, falling to 0-3 on the season, Rumph was talking about staying the course, believing in each other, working harder, trying to find some fun playing football.
“We’re going to wake up tomorrow and the sun’s going to rise and we’re all going to be alive, hopefully,” Rumph, a redshirt junior defensive end, said on his media call.
“We’ve got to come together as a family. It was a tough loss. But at the end of the day we have to have each other’s backs. Get back to Durham safely. Everybody handles losses in different ways. But we’ll come back tomorrow. We’re going to love on each other.”
To be sure, Duke has had a challenging, stressful start to the season, facing Notre Dame, Boston College and then Virginia in a road game that the ACC shifted from mid-November to the last weekend in September because of coronavirus issues. Coaches are always fearful about opening games and facing unknowns, and the Blue Devils now have done that against three straight opponents playing their first games of the season.
The Blue Devils will go back to Durham to face Virginia Tech, which held 23 players out of Saturday’s season opener against N.C. State and also was missing two coaches. Who knows what their status will be?
But Duke must first worry about Duke.
Blue Devils coach David Cutcliffe, being an Alabama native, turned to an old Bear Bryant quote — “More games are lost than won” — this past week. If the late Alabama coach ever had a quote about his team having seven turnovers in a game, or 12 in two, it can’t be found.
Said Cutcliffe: “Twelve turnovers now in two games gives you no chance to win.”
None. Following up a five-turnover game and 26-6 loss to BC with seven against Virginia now has Duke both 0-3 and badly searching for answers.
The most pressing question might be about the collective psyche of the team. Winning often begets winning but losing can be contagious and a team can start finding ways to lose.
“I think it’s hard, for sure,” Cutcliffe said on his media call. “There’s nothing about being 0-3 that this team dreamed it would be. This team like all teams around the country has been through a lot and I’ve got to do a better job of helping them.
“The only way you can do that, the team psyche, is to help your teammate. That’s one of things I pleaded with them. I said we need to think about each other and not about ourselves. When you do that it’s probably the best healing process I know. That’s what families do in tough times. You think about other family members. If we do that, we can heal ourselves and we can turn this thing around.”
But there are football questions to be addressed. Should Duke continue with Chase Brice as the starting quarterback or open up the competition at the position? Gunnar Holmberg and Chris Katrenick both played in the fourth quarter Saturday. What about them?
“We work all three of those guys every week and we certainly will always be looking at that position like any other position,” Cutcliffe said. “But I don’t need to create anything just yet.”
Brice threw for two touchdowns — to tight ends Jake Marwede and Noah Gray — but had four throws picked off by the Cavaliers, who now have beaten Duke six straight times. Brice, in his third start, forced some passes under pressure. So did wide receiver Jalon Calhoun, who was given the chance to throw the ball and never should have let go of the ball.
Duke had scored 10 points in the third quarter for a 20-17 lead and had a first down at the Virginia 22 after a 24-yard run by Deon Jackson. Calhoun, a former high-school quarterback, stepped back, took a throw behind the line from Brice, scrambled and uncorked a pass down the middle of the field that was picked off by Virginia’s Brenton Nelson at the 6.
Just like that the game’s momentum swung. Virginia went 94 yards in 10 plays for a touchdown, then scored again after a Brice pass was intercepted by Joey Blount.
Virginia’s Brennan Armstrong, in his first start at quarterback, twice connected with receiver Lavel Davis Jr., a 6-7 freshman, for scores as the Cavaliers put a hammerlock on the game. Davis was quiet much of the game but finished with four catches for 101 yards.
It hurt Duke that it was missing cornerbacks Mark Gilbert and Josh Blackwell. Both had surgery this past week for injuries — Gilbert to remove a bone fragment in his foot removed and Blackwell for a knee issue — and will be sidelined indefinitely.
But Virginia had good offensive balance: 262 yards passing and 188 rushing as junior Wayne Taulapapa barreled his way to 95. Duke finished with 286 yards passing — Brice was 16-of-36 — but managed just 56 rushing yards and allowed five sacks.
Is the stress beginning to show? Are the players beginning to press?
“We’re all battling,” Cutcliffe said. “Their stress levels have been high since they’ve been back. Their stress levels were high when they were home. These guys were away 129 days in a row with no organized workout.
“I want them to have fun and practice with hard work. It can be fun. I want them to play free. I want them to be able to take the field and feel confident and prepared. That’s my job. That’s where all of that lives.”
ACC STANDINGS
T1. Miami 2-0 (3-0)
T1. Pittsburgh 2-0 (3-0)
T3. Boston College 1-0 (2-0)
T3. Clemson 1-0 (2-0)
T3. Notre Dame 1-0 (2-0)
T3. UNC 1-0 (1-0)
T3. Virginia 1-0 (1-0)
T3. Virginia Tech 1-0 (1-0)
T9. N.C. State 1-1 (1-1)
T9. Georgia Tech 1-1 (1-2)
11. Syracuse 1-2 (1-2)
T12. Louisville 0-2 (1-2)
T12. Florida State 0-2 (0-2)
T12. Wake Forest 0-2 (0-2)
15. Duke 0-3 (0-3)
SATURDAY’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL SCORES
EAST
Boston College 24, Texas State 21
Pittsburgh 23, Louisville 20
Syracuse 37, Georgia Tech 20
SOUTH
Appalachian St. 52, Campbell 21
Auburn 29, Kentucky 13
E. Kentucky 37, The Citadel 14
Florida 51, Mississippi 35
Liberty 36, FIU 34
Louisiana Tech 66, Houston Baptist 38
Louisiana-Lafayette 20, Georgia Southern 18
Miami 52, Florida St. 10
Mississippi St. 44, LSU 34
Tennessee 31, South Carolina 27
Tulane 66, Southern Miss. 24
UCF 51, East Carolina 28
UTEP 31, Louisiana-Monroe 6
Virginia 38, Duke 20
Virginia Tech 45, NC State 24
MIDWEST
Alabama 38, Missouri 19
Cincinnati 24, Army 10
SOUTHWEST
Baylor 47, Kansas 14
Cent. Arkansas 27, Missouri St. 20
Georgia 37, Arkansas 10
Iowa St. 37, TCU 34
Kansas St. 38, Oklahoma 35
Oklahoma St. 27, West Virginia 13
SMU 50, Stephen F. Austin 7
Texas 63, Texas Tech 56, OT
Texas A&M 17, Vanderbilt 12
FAR WEST
BYU 48, Troy 7
This story was originally published September 27, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
