Duke (5-3, 4-1) travels for the second week in a row to take on the University of Connecticut (6-3) in the last non-conference game of the regular season. With a win, the Blue Devils would secure bowl
game eligibility. Kick-off is at 3:30 pm EST with TV coverage provided by CBSSN. Duke is favored by 9.5 points. Both teams are coming off victories in their last outing. Duke beat Clemson 46-45 while UConn beat the University of Alabama at Birmingham 38-19.
Injury Update: Duke middle linebacker Elliot Schaper is out for the season with a leg injury suffered at Clemson. Safety Terry Moore remains unavailable as he recovers from a torn ACL. Middle linebacker Nick Morris is out for the season. Due to this being a non-conference game, Duke is not required to release an official injury report this week.
General Comments: Head Coach Manny Diaz made several comments during Monday’s press conference which bear highlighting. First, he discussed the win at Clemson and how our best was good enough to beat their best, then he stated, “Now, the challenge going forward is that your best is always required. That’s the hardest thing in college football is to be the same team every week and to understand that no matter who you’re playing, no matter the stadium, the logo on the side of the helmet, the game requires your best.”
Next, Coach Diaz talked about road games saying, “…the importance of being able to win away, I think in college football, I think winning at home sets the floor of your program. I think winning away sets the ceiling of your program. It’s really hard to be an elite college football program without winning away from home.”
Then he talked about UConn, “You put the film on Connecticut, they jump off the tape. You look at the numbers of Connecticut and it jumps off the sheet. You talk about a team that’s turned the ball over one time all season, undefeated at home, they only have one loss at home over the last two years. Already bowl eligible, they have not lost a game in regulation this year.”
Offense: UConn has an explosive offense which averages 36.9 points per game, which ranks number 15 in the nation. The Huskies are led by a trio of talented players: quarterback Joe Fagnano (209/304, 2,529 yards, 22 TD, 0 INT), running back Cam Edwards (144 carries, 815 yards, 9 TD) and wide receiver Skyler Bell (74 receptions, 994 yards, 11 TD). The Huskies score on over 91 percent of their trips into the Red Zone.
Duke Defensive Coordinator Jonathan Patke discussed the challenge of defending the UConn offense stating, “They take care of the ball. They can run the ball really well. They can control the game with their run game. The thing that they’re doing at a high, high level is they’re throwing the ball. It’s one of the best offenses we will see this year. They do a nice job of complementing their outside zone with their pass game.”
In regard to wide receiver Skyler Bell, Patke declared, “Their leading receiver…the guy’s a special player. He knows where he is going to be. They do a good job as a staff moving him around and the quarterback always knows where he’s at.”
Patke stated stopping the UConn offense starts with stopping the run. He also complimented the UConn tight ends. The Huskies have multiple big, talented tight ends and utilize two tight end formations frequently.
Defense: Connecticut Head Coach Jim Mora discussed his defense and tackling during Tuesday’s press conference stating, “We attack, we attack. It’s proven by the numbers we’ve put up in terms of sacks and tackles for loss. Sometimes when you attack the way we do there are less people in the back end to make tackles so when we find ourselves in a situation where they do get through we have to be more sure in our tackling and that’s what we work very hard on.” His message is no matter how good you tackle you need to tackle better.
The Huskies are ranked third in the nation in Team Sacks with 33 for an average of 3.67 per game. Linebacker Bryun Parham leads the team with 9.5. In Team Tackles for Loss, UConn is ranked number 14 in the nation with 64 for an average of 7.1 per game. Parham leads the team again with 13. Parham is the team’s leading tackler with 80 followed by linebacker Oumar Diomande with 76. Defensive back Cam Chadwick leads the team with four interceptions.
The UConn defense yields 23.9 points and 391.7 yards per game. Opponents pass for 216.7 yards and rush for 175 yards per game. Opponents score on over 89 percent of their trips into the Red Zone. Duke will have to score a lot of points on Saturday to come away with a victory.
Prediction: Duke’s offense rolls for the second week in a row and the defense gets off the field in a couple key possession situations to stop UConn’s dynamic offense. Duke 37, UConn 31.
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