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Disappointing. If there’s one word that comes to mind when I think of Georgia Tech’s overtime loss, it’s disappointing. Duke football was disappointing in many ways on Saturday.
Offense and defense were equally disappointing.
The most disappointing thing for me is that I think Georgia Tech was physical on both sides of the ball. The Blue Devils proved to be a strong team in the first 5 games, but the Yellow Jackets ate their lunch for most of the time on Saturday. Their defense made it difficult for the Blue Devils to run the ball and quarterback Riley Leonard harassed him all day – sacking him three times and giving up five quarterback hurries. Duke managed to rush for 142 yards, but rarely did so with any consistency.
The Blue Devils’ passing game was more disappointing than running the ball. Entering the game, Leonard threw seventy-two percent and was held to less than fifty percent (20-42) as his receivers struggled to find and open separation and were constantly harassed. The most compelling statistic of the difficulty of the passing game was an average of 3.6 yards per attempt.
Also read: Riley Leonard is turning into one of the ACC’s best.
Again, we see the offense struggling to finish the car. They drove to Tech State twice in the third quarter to pull away with a total of three points. In the fourth quarter, another great opportunity was wasted. After Samhir Hagans returned an eighty-one yard touchdown for a touchdown to pull the Blue Devils within seven points, he set up the Blue Devils at Tech’s forty-four yard line. . A false start penalty before the first play derailed that drive, and they would end up turning the ball over on downs four plays later.
Georgia Tech’s offense looks more physical and faster than the Blue Devils’ defense. Duke has had a hard time stopping any type of perimeter run against the read option. On an offensive line that gave up seventeen sacks, the Blue Devils’ defense managed just one against quarterback Jeff Sims. But perhaps the most disappointing thing about the defense on Saturday was allowing a quarterback who completed over fifty percent of his passes to have a big day. Sims completed 23-34 for 227 yards and two touchdowns. Too often, Yellow Jacket receivers ran free through Duke’s secondary.
“The reality is we didn’t make enough plays to win a football game in the ACC for three and a half quarters,” Blue Devils head coach Miley Elko said in a postgame press conference. That’s really what it came down to. We have to execute better, and we have to run the football a little better. We need to be able to get better defensively and give up more uncontested throws.
Also Read: Blue Devils Should Be Wary of Resurgent Georgia Tech
Silver lining
Here’s what didn’t disappoint in Saturday’s game: Mike Elko’s team fought hard. They gave themselves a chance to win a game in which they had no business at the end. The defense made plays and got stops in the fourth quarter, including a key one late that set up the game-tying drive. Riley Leonard wrestled, scratched, clawed and simply pulled his team down the field for a tie. He was beaten after entering the field, but refused to leave the game. With the clock ticking, he delivered a perfect pass to Nicky Dalmolin that the tight end ran into the end zone and put the game on the brink of overtime. A fourteen-play eighty-yard drive took two minutes and thirty-three seconds with just eight seconds left in the game. Credit must be given to catcher Jackson Hubbard for handling a foul snap and hooking the ball to punter Charlie Hamm for the extra point. That crack was on the lawn and disaster was written all over it. Elko is impressed with the young quarterback and his team, saying, “A lot of moxie from him. He definitely didn’t have his best game and we didn’t do the best job of protecting him. We didn’t give him the best conditions to succeed. With all this, we got the ball with two minutes left and before the end of the hour, we had a chance to win the game in overtime. I liked the fight and we did two minute drills well. Late in the game we did some things defensively and gave ourselves a chance, but we need to improve early to give ourselves a chance on the road.
They had injuries in the game, they had injuries in the game and they lost their best linebacker on the field. They didn’t play as well as they could, but in the end they had a chance to win. A loss is a loss and there are no medals to try, but let’s all remember that the Blue Devils are a work in progress and there will be rough patches. You can see the beginning of the foundation that Elko is building for a successful program. Learn and move forward.
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