Duke Blue Devils (0-2, 0-2 ACC)

Head Coach: David Cutcliffe (116-110 overall, 72-81 at Duke)

Series: UVa leads the all-time series 38-33

Last Meeting: The Wahoos beat the Blue Devils 48-14 at Scott Stadium last fall.

Performance:

Duke has struggled on offense out of the gate, averaging just 9.5 points per game through the first two contests. A 27-13 loss at Notre Dame was certainly understandable but the offense was woeful against a new-look Boston College team on Saturday, dropping a 26-6 matchup at home.

While they are averaging 342.5 yards per game, the Blue Devils have struggled with turnovers and red zone efficiency in their slow start. They have lost seven turnovers in their first two games with two interceptions and five fumbles, losing every single ball they have put on the turf. Duke is just 3-for-6 on red zone trips, with just one touchdown scored on those possessions. And the Devils have been decent on 3rd downs, however, converting nearly 42 percent.

Duke has just two touchdowns through the first two games, both on the ground. The Blue Devils are averaging just 3.5 yards per carry with 209 yards on 59 attempts. Meanwhile, David Cutcliffe is breaking in his third starting quarterback in as many years and results have been somewhat mixed. Averaging 238 yards per game through the air, former Clemson QB Chase Brice has completed just 54.4 percent of his passes with two picks. The protection has been passable, allowing five sacks over the first two games of the season.

Scheme:

In their games against Notre Dame and Boston College, the Blue Devils looked similar schematically to what they ran with Daniel Jones at quarterback. The offense was a bit more quarterback run-heavy then than what we’ve seen from Brice but many of the concepts look similar.

Against Notre Dame and BC, Duke mixed up the tempo. In some situations the Blue Devils would go quickly without a huddle or personnel changes and on other plays, particularly passing situations, they would go at a more average pace. Duke’s up-tempo look hasn’t been as consistent just because the Devils haven’t had a lot of success sustaining drives through their two contests.

Often, Duke lines up in a pistol look (shown below). Here, Brice has a running back directly behind and tight end Noah Gray next to him in an H-Back role. Sometimes Gray lines up elsewhere, or starts in the backfield and motions up to the line of scrimmage pre-snap. Duke will spread its receivers out quite a bit and although they use some pre-snap motion, it’s not as severe as Robert Anae’s usage of it in UVa’s offense.

The Blue Devils will also use empty shotgun sets quite a bit, as seen below. Although they will run out of this formation with Brice from time to time, this set is used mostly on obvious passing downs, with four receivers and a tight end or four receivers and a back in the slot.

Duke’s passing offense is designed to get the ball out quickly, so the Blue Devils run a lot of slants, quick play-action throws, screens to receivers and backs, and flares out of the backfield. The tight end is also a key part of the passing offense (more on that later). They haven’t had a lotson of shots down the field, with just nine throws of 20+ yards and no completions. As a result of the quick-throw offense, the offensive line has held up and hasn’t allowed much pressure this year.

Here’s an example of Duke’s passing offense, spreading the field and getting the ball out quick with a one-read throw from Brice.

Duke will also run a good amount of play action and misdirection out of the pistol, the latter being a big staple of the offense led by Quinton Harris last year. The Cutcliffe offense features a good number of throws with a fake run one way and a quick slant on the back side. There are also a good number of boot plays to get the mobile Brice out of the pocket with route options in the flat, including the tight end from the backfield alignment.

Here’s an example of one of those plays that BC actually blows up but Brice is able to turn upfield and gain yards.

Duke’s ground game hasn’t been super consistent this year but has had a few chunk plays in each game. The only touchdown in the loss to BC was a Mateo Durant rush right up the middle and into daylight for a long score. The Blue Devils will run a lot of stretch plays, counters, and inside draws from the pistol set, as seen below.

As mentioned above, Duke still uses misdirection in the scheme, particularly in the ground game. Quarterback keepers are still a part of the offense, with Brice carrying the ball 16 times this year, about half of those on designed runs. Duke will also fake jet sweeps and run modified option plays in the run game, as seen on the play below.

This play is designed to look like a quarterback power run to the left and as the defense identifies the look and blockers get into position, Brice shovels the ball to Durant on a sweep play.

These hesitation looks can freeze the defense long enough to allow the quarterback to make a decision and for blockers to get into place to create a more successful alley for the ball carrier.

QB Chase Brice

Brice is heading into his third game as Duke’s starting quarterback but actually played against Virginia last year. Brice relieved Trevor Lawrence in the ACC title game, and threw for over 100 yards and rushed for a score. He was a sought-after transfer that ended up in Durham, a good fit for what Cutcliffe likes to do with his offense.

It’s clear, however, that he is still settling into the new role. In his two games, there have been several miscommunications with receivers, play-action fakes to running backs that aren’t there and telegraphed throws.

Here’s an example of a mistake against BC, where Brice looks off of his receiver and comes back to him (likely going to throw to him all the way) and doesn’t identify the linebacker in the throw lane. The linebacker reads Brice’s eyes and steps into the throw lane and makes the play.

Brice has graded out pretty well according to Pro Football Focus, with a higher rate of positive plays than any other quarterback to play in this season. But most of his attempts have been quick, short ones and he hasn’t made a lot of spectacular plays all on his own. Still, Brice has talent and as he gets more time behind center, he should continue to improve.

RB Deon Jackson

As Duke’s feature back, Jackson is having a decent start to his season. On 30 carries, he has 126 yards, or 4.2 per carry. Jackson had 74 yards in last week’s loss to BC, but did have a costly fumble near the goal line late in the first half with the Blue Devils down 7-6. He rushed for 641 yards and six touchdowns on 172 carries last year but UVa shut him down, holding him to just 35 yards on 12 carries in the blowout. Jackson also caught 21 passes last year but hasn’t had success in that area in 2020, with just one yard on three grabs.

TE Noah Gray

Gray is Duke’s top weapon in the passing game thus far and one of the best tight ends in the ACC. He has a team-high 10 catches and 129 yards through the first two weeks of the season after leading Duke in catches last year with 51. Gray is also a weapon as a lead blocker, lining up in the backfield in the pistol formation often. Virginia held him to just 12 yards on three catches in Charlottesville last year and will be looking for a similar effort on Saturday.

Performance:

The Blue Devils were expected to have a strong group this season and are probably capable of more than they have shown thus far. In their losses to Notre Dame and BC, they allowed 26.5 points per game, and nearly six yards per play.

Duke has stifled the run, allowing just 3.1 yards per carry and 262 yards on 84 rush attempts. But despite having a formidable pass rush, opponents have found some success through the air: Notre Dame and BC averaged 280 yards per game with three passing touchdowns and two interceptions.

Duke’s pass rush has been solid, with nine sacks through the first two contests. The Blue Devils have also 14 tackles for loss, and those negative plays have put opponents in 3rd-and-long situations that they’ve had trouble converting. Duke has allowed just 11 conversions on 3rd down attempts so far but haven’t been able to convert pressures into forced fumbles, with just one forced and no fumbles recovered through their first two contests.

The defense took another blow this week when the two starting cornerbacks, Josh Blackwell and Mark Gilbert, both were injured and required surgery. Gilbert started both games and had an interception against Boston College, the eighth of his career in 29 games played. Blackwell started both games as well and was also Duke’s punt returner. Fortunately in their DB-heavy scheme, the Blue Devils have several depth options able to step up who have already played a decent amount this season, including cornerbacks Leonard Johnson (35 coverage snaps) and Jeremiah Lewis (nine coverage snaps).

Scheme:

Duke runs a 4-2-5, an alignment that isn’t too different from a 4-3 but is rarely a team’s base. When in their base look, the Blue Devils have four down linemen, two linebackers, a pair of cornerbacks, and an extra defensive back labeled a third safety.

As with any team, Duke’s defensive alignment is flexible and can change based on the scenario. The 4-2-5 is virtually a Nickel defense already, so on 3rd down the Blue Devils don’t necessarily need to make one-for-one substitutions as a 4-3 or 3-4 team would. But their creativity up front has been a catalyst for their pass rush, the defense’s biggest strength.

In the base defense shown above, Duke has four linemen down and two linebackers behind them. In some of the special packages, the Devils have the same player on the field but change their alignment to create confusion.

On the play above, Duke has defensive end Chris Rumph (highlighted), one of the top pass rushers in the ACC, lined up in a linebacker role, standing up even with the quarterback. The Blue Devils have three down linemen and several players at the second level settling into positions before the snap.

Just before the snap, Rumph and linebacker Rocky Shelton overload the left side of Notre Dame’s line and get after the quarterback. The result is a miscommunication up front for the Irish and a free rush and sack for Shelton off the edge.

Here’s another example of a similar alignment, with three players on the line and three standing up. Boston College’s offensive line has the difficult task of identifying rushers pre-snap, and Duke ultimately rushes four with Rumph rushing from a stand-up position, and the two other linebackers dropping into coverage. BC handles this rush okay, but three interior linemen block Rumph, who slides inside on a stunt, leaving the right tackle one-on-one with Victor Dimukeje, who gets home for the sack.