Wolfpack Opponent Film Review: How Duke's Offense Operates with Mensah
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Duke made a splash move this past offseason to sign former Tulane quarterback Darian Mensah to a two-year NIL deal worth $8 million. It’s been three weeks, and now the Blue Devils face North Carolina State.
With Mensah at the helm, this is how the team’s offensive rankings stand in three weeks.
Passing offense - 352.7 yards a game (10th in country)
Rushing offense - 126.7 yards a game (103rd in country)
Red zone offense - 69 percent conversion (114th in country)
The team has found success in passing the ball, but has been limited in finishing drives and running the ball. Duke is sitting at 1-2, and desperately would like to avoid a 1-3 start to the season.
Establishing the run
Duke runs a zone blocking scheme in the run game. Meaning a lot of outside zone and inside zone splits will come the Wolfpack's way. This allows the Blue Devils to build off of those looks and open up other avenues later in the game.
15:00 minutes remaining in the first quarter, first-and-10
On the first play against Illinois, Duke comes out in a gun wing formation. Mensah signals the slot receiver to start his jet motion and snaps it when he’s in the backfield. The play is an inside zone split, meaning the tight end will essentially pull behind the offensive line and pick up the leftover edge the offensive line leaves for him.
This is all just eyecandy for the linebackers. The motion and the tight end are there to make them hesitate for a second so the running back can have space to work with towards the play side of the inside zone – in this case, it’s towards the boundary.
With all of the motion happening, Duke is essentially conditioning the Illinois linebackers to react to all the movement in the backfield, hoping to create an edge later in the game.
8:43 remaining in the third quarter, third-and-3
At this point in the game, Duke showcased a heavy outside zone presence to the Illinois defense, and on third down, it pays off.
The Blue Devils are in a run-heavy 12-personnel look. Same wing formation as before, with the tight end lined up essentially in the backfield with another one in-line next to the left tackle. Illinois expects the run because of the look and responds with a 5-2 front with off-coverage from the field side corner.
This is where Mensah is at his best when the picture is clear for him pre-snap. This play ends up being a simple RPO with the single receiver toward the field side running a simple curl route just at the first-down line and with the off coverage, Mensah knows it’ll be open. He snaps the ball and immediately turns his head to confirm the corner isn’t driving on the route and makes an easy throw for the first down.
Getting outside the pocket
5:01 remaining in the second quarter, first-and-10
Now it’s time to fully build off the wing formation look, Duke has been showing the Illinois defense. It’s the same formation, but this time Duke will get Mensah on the move, where he’s at his best. Pay attention to the field-side edge defender here for Illinois, as Mensah fakes the handoff. He’s expecting the tight end to come and hit him for the inside zone split run scheme, but the tight end just runs right by him.
The hesitation of the edge defender creates space for Mensah to roll out and make an on-target throw to his wideout for a chunk yardage play. The conditioning of Duke allows them to call this naked roll-out play with confidence that Mensah won’t get immediately pressured.
It’s not all perfect
Mensah has had his fair struggles early in the season. He is third in the nation for individual passing yards, but he has certainly played a role in Duke's -6 turnover margin throughout three games.
A portion of those turnovers from Mensah has been forcing throws down the field and fumbling the ball. Here, he does neither, but it’s the hesitation and stagnant eyes on this play that eventually lead to those turnovers in different scenarios.
1:45 remaining in the first quarter, first-and-10
Duke once again is in the same formation as previously. And again the same motion, but Mensah doesn't snap it to create misdirection for the defense.
It's a simple play-action pass for Duke here with a hi-lo concept to the boundary side with an out and curl, with the receiver at the top of the screen running a dig. Watch Mensah’s eyes on this play. Illinois is in a cover three, which takes away this dig route for Mensah, but pre-snap, he wanted to make the throw to the dig.
He stares the route down and never even looks at his hi-lo concept on the right. If he did, his out route would’ve been wide-open due to Illinois running a cover-three cloud. Meaning the cornerback towards the boundary is playing a cloud zone (underneath coverage).
Mensah drifts and ends up just checking it down. Nothing terrible happened because of his stagnant eyes, but on some of his turnovers in the early season, the habit was evident in the reps.
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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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