What Will UCF’s Offense See From Duke’s Defense?
The Dec. 28 Military Bowl between UCF and Duke has some unique matchups. One of them is how the Knights will do on offense when attacking what could be a unique defense. The head coach, Mike Elko, has helped to operate it just like he did during prior coaching jobs as a defensive coordinator.
Elko is one of the better defensive minds in all of college football. The statistics from what Duke did this season as compared to last season back that up.
Overall, Elko and his Blue Devils are a solid defensive team. They have given up 22.8 points per game this season, ranking them No. 36 in college football. Duke has made it to the No. 39 position with 30 sacks as well. That’s pretty good for a first-year defensive effort. That’s especially true when looking at the prior statistics from 2021.
Duke was No. 127 by allowing 39.8 points per game last season, and 101st with 20 sacks in 2021. Talk about a turnaround, that’s incredible. That’s been the history with Elko, too.
He is known for maximizing talent. He sure did at Wake Forest from 2014-2016. He adjusts to his talent as well. At Wake Forest, he did not have any place near the talent he did while at Notre Dame or Texas A&M. Elko moved his chess pieces accordingly.
Duke DT DeWayne Carter is one of the ACC's best. He recorded 5.5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss. Elko will be looking to find ways to turn him loose vs. UCF.
Jaylynn Nash-USA TODAY Sports
Wake Forest went from 28 sacks in 2014 all the way to 41 sacks in 2016. Similarly, the Demon Deacons went from the 60th best total defense in 2014 to the 23rd best in 2016.
He also had successful stints at Notre Dame in 2017 and at Texas A&M from 2018-2021 prior to earning his first college head coaching job with Duke. What’s he do well to gain such results?
Keeping teams off balance. Elko will certainly bring the heat and catch an opponent off guard. A boundary corner blitz, overload fronts that create havoc in the backfield, or running various stunts with defensive linemen, all of which have shown to be impactful during his defensive coordinator days, are some of the ways he’s attacked offenses.
He used three-man and four-man lines. This year’s base Duke defense is a 4-2-5 scheme. That’s a popular college football defense. However, with extra time to prepare, do not be surprised if Elko and his Duke staff operate some 3-4 looks and/or 3-3-5 looks, even if for just a few plays.
The defenses are really not all that different and many college programs operate both types of fronts nowadays. When moving back and forth, they do change an opponent’s blocking schemes, however, and that’s one of the reasons coaches, Elko or others, will go back and forth.
It’s a simple attempt to create a free rusher heading towards the quarterback or ball carrier because there’s a mental error with which defensive player is being blocked by the offensive linemen.
That’s the cat and mouse game of football anyway. It’s also something that UCF head coach Gus Malzahn has shown to be fantastic with, especially when he has time to prepare like he does for a bowl game.
Elko also hired talented defensive mind Robb Smith to be his defensive coordinator. He’s been the defensive coordinator at Arkansas from 2014-2016, at Minnesota from 2017-2018, and Rutgers twice, including 2012 and 2020-2021.
Elko and Smith combined will help make this an interesting contest by themselves. That’s why bowl games have been so much fun over the years.
As for projecting whether Duke will really come after UCF with blitzes and aggressive coverages, that probably depends on how well quarterback John Rhys Plumlee plays during the early portion of the contest.
If he’s making the correct reads with the run-pass option game, and connecting with his receiving corps like Javon Baker, Kobe Hudson and Xavier Townsend among others, will Elko and Smith still want to blitz and run stunts?
Perhaps they operate a more basic play calling scheme and make the Knights earn every yard down the field. Just keep everything in front of them. That first couple of drives for the Knights, it’s very important so that Duke has fewer play calling options.
Inside The Knights will dive into how UCF could attack Duke with an article in the near future. For now, know that Elko and his staff have done a tremendous job of helping the Duke defense make one of the biggest turnarounds in college football. The UCF offense will be challenged in the Military Bowl and Elko and his staff deserve a lot of credit for what they've done.
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