Dave Doeren Breaks Down Duke: "It's Nothing We Haven’t Seen"

NC State coach impressed with Duke running backs, defensive ends

Duke faces NC State on Saturday for the first time since 2013. Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren has reviewed tape of the Blue Devils and gave his impressions of the Duke offense and defense.

“It’s only my second time in eight years getting to play against Duke,” he said. “I know they’re very well-coached. I know they’ve had a tough go of it with turnovers. They have a talented group on the defensive line. They’re smart, and they’re tough, and they’ll play really well against us.”

On offense, Doeren was impressed with quarterback Chase Brice, running backs Deon Jackson and Mataeo Durant and tight end Noah Gray.

“They’ve turned the ball over 19 times,” he said. “You can’t win doing that. That’ll be an area they work really hard on. Their quarterback is a Clemson transfer, as you all know. Their running backs really stand out to me. They’re tough kids. They run hard, downhill. They don’t get tackled on first contact very often. Their receivers have good size. They have a 6-foot-5 receiver in (Jake) Bobo. Their tight end is their leading receiver.”

Doeren thought State would be prepared for the Duke scheme.

“It’s nothing we haven’t seen as far as what they do—spread, no-huddle, pistol offense,” he said.

On defense, ends Victor Dimukeje and Chris Rumph II impressed Doeren.

“Turning the tape on, 51 (Dimukeje) and 96 (Rumph) jump off the film,” Doeren said. “Very well-coached and disruptive. Take those two ends together, they have 10 tackles for loss and nine sacks. They’re powerful guys.”

“Their mike linebacker (Shaka Heyward) makes a lot of plays. Not an overly complicated group. They play really hard, line up where they’re supposed to and have good eye discipline in coverage. They can cause some problems. They’ve been put in lot of tough situations due to turnovers, which has skewed their stats.”