Bye Week Report: A Look At Duke's Offense
A COVID-related scheduling change moved Duke’s bye week by a month, which may have helped torpedo the start of its season.
Duke’s game with Virginia was moved from Oct. 24 to Sept. 26, to give the Cavaliers a game in September after positive tests forced the cancellation of an early game with Virginia Tech.
Two games in, the Blue Devils were struggling with conditioning and new quarterback Chase Brice’s lack of familiarity with the offense, two things that an early bye could have helped with.
Instead, the Blue Devils had another game week and two more losses before salvaging a week five win over Syracuse.
Now, just over halfway through the season, Duke hits its off week at 1-5, with many of its goals for the season already off the table.
Still, there’s room for Duke to improve. Here’s a look at what Duke can do the rest of the way.
Offense: Brice has shown flashes of what Duke expected from the Clemson transfer, but he has struggled with accuracy, overthrowing receivers, especially when pressured. He’s also turned it over more than twice a week, on average.
The running game exploded against Syracuse with 300 yards, but otherwise, the going has been tough for Deon Jackson and Mataeo Durant.
The line has struggled to clear paths for the backs and to keep defenders out of Brice’s face.
What can be done? Duke found success in putting Brice on the run. He had several long gains on a naked bootleg play against NC State. The addition of that play may also herald a future switch to backup quarterback Gunnar Holmberg, who is thought to be a bigger run threat.
Duke has not shown the same diversity on offense as last year, setting aside the triple option set that often boosted the offense during times when it stagnated and gave opponents something different to prepare for. Flashing that at time could give foes an additional concern.
