Wolfpack Film Review: Duke’s Defense Presents Unique Challenge Ahead
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One of the intricacies of football is the differences in offensive schemes that offenses will face week in and out. North Carolina state football has seen plenty of different looks early on this season. East Carolina displayed a chaotic blitz-heavy front that was a tough matchup in week one of the season. As the weeks have gone by, the offensive line has settled down and is starting to open up more consistent holes for redshirt sophomore Hollywood Smothers.
Three on the PFF ACC Team of the Week 💪 pic.twitter.com/9FnBCkUpaU
— Duke Football (@DukeFOOTBALL) September 17, 2025
The recent success doesn’t mean a thing when entering Durham on Saturday. It’s a whole new game plan for the offensive line as they face Duke. The Blue Devils have shown plenty of base looks on early downs, meaning more traditional four-down lineman and not blitzing very often. But when third down strikes, it’s an entirely different ball game. Head coach Manny Diaz’s team has shown a lot of single and double mug looks created to confuse the offensive line.
It’ll be a new challenge for the NC State unit, but if the first three weeks are any indication, they’ll be ready for it. Now, let’s break down the unique looks and playcalls Duke has done early on this season.
Film Breakdown
8:54 remaining in the first quarter, third-and-13
Duke comes out in the single mug look (one linebacker lined up over the A gap), showing a heavy blitz look. There are five potential rushers over the line threatening to blitz the quarterback. It’s all a game to confuse the Illinois offense; it’s hard to really tell who is coming from this look.
It ends up only being four rushers with the linebacker toward the boundary dropping back into coverage. Duke drops back into a cover-2 on third and long, aiming to keep everything in front of them and making the tackle once the ball is caught.
This play is also a good example of the speed Duke edge rusher Vincent Anthony Jr. has off the edge. He just uses speed to get around the edge and for the sack.
6:41 remaining in the first quarter, first-and-10
This is just a creative play from Diaz and his staff here. The defensive tackles for Duke on this play are going to run a simple stunt with the three-technique crashing down on the left guard and center; with the one-technique looping, hoping he gets a free lane with the left guard being occupied by his teammate.
Illinois does a great job picking up this stunt with the running back coming to help pick up the looping defensive tackle. But what makes this play great is paying attention to the very left Blue Devil linebacker. Once the defensive tackle who is looping around makes contact with the guard, he fires on a delayed blitz to the quarterback.
With all the movement already from the base defensive line, it creates a wide-open lane for him to run through, landing a hit on Luke Altmyer. It’s hard for the offensive line to be fully aware of this, but NC State will have seen this on film and will have to be ready for delayed blitzes on Saturday.
2:46 remaining in the first quarter, third-and-6
What’s important is that all these clips are from the first quarter. Duke will try a plethora of different looks to get in the mind of quarterback CJ Bailey. The matchup against the Blue Devils will certainly test the mind of the young signal caller.
Another third down here for the Blue Devils defense, and this time it’s a double mug look, with two linebackers walking down into the respective A gaps. This means there are six potential rushers to the quarterback, and with how the secondary is lined (protecting the endzone), a blitz very easily could be coming.
The two edges of Duke rotate off and play the flats in this inverted cover-two playcall; the Blue Devils run here.
Because of how Illinois opted to block this front, it didn’t expect the two edges to fall off and have the four interior rushers blitz, meaning the Duke linebackers came in for free and were one-on-one with the running back – a matchup he slightly wins, causing Altmyer to step up and scramble.
Altmyer makes a great play and makes the throw for what was originally called a touchdown, but it was overturned. Illinois still got the first down as a result.
Outlook
Bailey will have to have the same alertness Altmyer showcased against this defense, and most importantly, the offensive line must remain on the same page if it wants to keep Bailey upright. It should be another great test for the young signal caller in Durham.
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Daniel Rios graduated from the esteemed Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University. His deep passion for sports has taken him to positions at ESPN and Cronkite News. Currently, he serves as the Assistant Beat Writer for the North Carolina State Wolfpack On SI.
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