Duke Blue Devils

A Decieving Beatdown

July 26, 2009

Game Report Posted: July 31, 2009 22:53  

"First things first," explained a visibly exhausted Coach Miles after his Blue Devils (1-1) fell to Kansas State (2-0) 42-14, "I'm not into that what if thing but we had five damn trips into the red zone in this thing and only scored once, thats a possible 28 points and a different freaking ball game as far as I'm concerned. But, if if's and but's were fruits and nuts then squirrels sure as hell wouldn't go hungry." Miles certainly is correct as going into half time the upstart Blue Devils were giving the Wildcats all they wanted in a tight 7-14 ballgame until the 'Cats opened the half with a 62 yard touchdown bomb."We couldn't stop their pass," stated Miles, "But, thats youth and inexperience in the secondary for you, we got a long way to go before we can fix this thing."

Offensively though the Blue Devils managed to rack up an impressive 426 yards, 296 through the air and 190 on the ground, they just could not finish drives as they went 8-18 on 3rd down and 0-3 on 4th. The bright spots were definitely the seniors Lewis (22/39, 296, 2/2) and Boyette (29, 109) as they managed to lead the offense to 20 first downs. "We have to learn to finish," said Lewis after the game, "Until we do that we'll never be anybody."

The Devils will have their hands full next week as they will continue their Kansas tour and face off #20 Kansas (3-0) after this weeks bye week. They will have to come ready for war if they want to have a chance at righting the ship.

Rock Chalk CHOKE JOB!

July 31, 2009

Game Report Posted: August 01, 2009 17:05  

Senior Quarterback Thaddeus Lewis is surely sitting in the hot at this very moment as a 3rd and 1 quarterback sneak for a sure thing first down caused his world to crumble around him. Lewis needed one yard to have a chance to ice the game and secure a 31-26 victory, instead the fumble led to a quick strike Kansas score to put it 31-32 with :56 left on the clock, then, Lewis did it again and threw his 3rd interception on the day, capping an 8/20 98 yard and 1/3 performance. Outside of the quarterback play the Blue Devils (1-2) did everything they wanted to, they controlled the time of possession game (+6:00), racked up 20 first downs, and Requan Boyette slashed the Jayhawk (3-0) defense on his workhorse like 34 carries for 219 yards and 2 scores.

Afterwards Miles issued the statement that, "We may have to make a move, its been Thaddeus' job to lose and maybe we need some competition in there. My only fear is that doing that now is throwing fuel on the fire against a behemoth of a team like Va Tech." If a competitive move were made it would have to be the redshirt freshman Sean Renfree (The #10 and 4* QB in the 2008 Class from AZ) as true freshman Sean Schroeder (The #39 and 3* QB in the 2009 Class from CA) currently lies in redshirt. Obvious worries would be Renfree's inexperience and lesser throwing power and accuracy to Lewis', however he could bring a new dimension to the running attack in the form of a legitimate option attack with his 82 speed.

Defensively the outmatched Blue Devils overachieved valiantly as although they may have given up 300+ passing yards they did manage to contain the rushing attack and hold Sharp to under 100 yards. The defense managed to rattle Reesing enough at times with their pressure to give their team a shot. Most impressive though were the two goal line stands where the 'Devil D' managed to prevent the 'Hawks from getting in on their two two-point conversion attempts. "Our defense is growing up," Miles said afterwards, "I think they are figuring out we aren't asking them to shut people out, just a stop here and there to give it back to our offense so we can chew the clock. I know we're undermanned defensively so offensively we want to keep them off the field and rested."

Up next for the Blue Devils (1-2) will be a daunting task of hosting the currently #7 Virginia Tech Hokies (2-1) in the Blue Devils opening ACC matchup of the season. Things could get interesting.

Grounding It Out

August 24, 2009

Game Report Posted: July 25, 2009 20:02  

Durham, NC (AP) - Coach Miles promised ground and pound football and that is exactly what he gave everyone in Duke's week one upset of the heavily favored Connecticut Huskies. "We had a gameplan centered on the ground attack and thats what we were going to stick with," said Miles after the game, "I was really pleased with the way we carried that out, especially after falling down 14 points in the first quarter. Alot of kids would've just given it up after that, but, our defense settled down and Boyette protected the rock like we needed him to do." Protecting the football is most certainly what Requan Boyette did on all 37 of his carries for a career high 229 yards and 3 scores with an astounding 6.2 yards per carry in a game that marked his comeback from last years season ending injury. Defensively the Blue Devils did just enough to win by managing to force four punts despite allowing the Huskie passing attack to go 17/23 for 236 yards and 3 scores. All in all, it was a great effort and a great debut for Miles and company.

Up next for the Blue Devils, a non-conference clash with the Kansas State Wildcats (1-0) where they again will be fierce underdogs.