After six games, Duke finally gets a bye week. And Blue Devils need it
Duke has to be an anomaly in college football in 2020.
The Blue Devils have played six straight games and not had a positive test of coronavirus. In a season that has been constantly disrupted by COVID-19, a season that has had players and coaches sidelined and games rescheduled nationally and in the ACC, Duke has played week after week.
Now, finally the Blue Devils can rest. And, junior defensive end Chris Rumph II said Saturday, reset.
A 31-20 loss at N.C. State, in a game that Duke led 10-0 and 17-7, has the Blue Devils headed into a bye week with a 1-5 record, with a host of questions remaining to be answered.
“We have a lot of time to dissect what we’ve got to do better as a team to improve,” Rumph said in a media call after the game. “This week is a time to take a deep breath, reset, figure out what we’ve got to do better.”
Duke coach David Cutcliffe said after the game that he liked the “fight” of his team and at every position Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium. Quarterback Chase Brice was “fierce” in the way he played, Cutcliffe said, shouldering the blame for a couple of Brice’s three interceptions.
Turnovers have been a season-long malady for Duke. The Blue Devils had 19 before the game, more than any other FBS team, and added to that troubling total. The Pack’s second TD came on a blocked punt late in the first half.
Third downs were a problem — Duke was 4 of 16 on conversions while the Pack was 7 of 15. After rushing for 363 yards in a 38-24 win at Syracuse that had everyone dancing after the game, Blue Devils running backs Deon Jackson and Mataeo Durant combined for 43 yards Saturday. Brice was Duke’s leading rusher with 86 yards.
But the Blue Devils also blocked a punt for a touchdown. They led 20-14 at halftime after a Charlie Ham field goal in the final seconds, and recovered a Devin Leary fumble early in the third quarter, moving to first-and-goal at the NCSU 4.
And hit a Wolfpack wall. Three runs netted 3 yards. A field goal would have given Duke a nine-point lead, but Cutcliffe went for the touchdown only to have Brice, under pressure from linebacker Vi Jones, fling a low pass toward wideout Jake Bobo that was incomplete.
“That’s something we’ve got to figure out,” Bobo said of the red-zone problems. “That definitely sucked the energy out of the team. We’ve got to put those in the end zone because that sucks the life out of your defense, especially the way they had been playing. We’ve got to put those in.”
Pack’s goal-line stand changed momentum
Cutcliffe didn’t second-guess the decision to go for the TD but did second-guess the play calls. Which meant second-guessing himself — he’s calling the offensive plays this season.
“Statistically, everything I believe in is you try to score a touchdown there,” Cutcliffe said. “I know (a field goal) would have put us up nine points, but I didn’t think that was enough, especially at that stage of the game. I felt like we were going to score a touchdown, but I felt I just didn’t sequence the plays the right way.”
The Wolfpack took control after the goal-line stand despite losing Leary to a leg injury that left the sophomore on crutches, a boot on his left leg. Linebacker Payton Wilson intercepted a Brice pass to set up one score, and Jaylon Scott’s pick of a Brice pass led to Christopher Dunn’s field goal and an 11-point lead as the Pack held Duke scoreless in the second half.
The Blue Devils had starting center Will Taylor leave the game in the first half with a leg injury and others, Cutcliffe said, were nicked up. Defensive back Lummie Young III also was ejected for targeting on his third-quarter hit on Leary.
Cutcliffe said he did not get a good look at the play and could not comment on the ejection. Player safety is always the utmost concern, he said, and any follow-up on the play by Duke would be handled through the league.
After the bye week, the Blue Devils host Charlotte and then face North Carolina. The rest of Duke’s 2020 schedule: Wake Forest, Georgia Tech and Florida State.
Duke now has time to assess — everything. To Rumph, there can only be one response to what’s ahead.
“Just continue to keep chopping at that tree,” he said. “That tree is going to come down soon.”
This story was originally published October 18, 2020 at 8:00 AM.
