Behind Enemy Lines: A closer look at Duke with DevilsIllustrated.com

The Pitt Panthers have not had the season they wanted to have, but there is still the opportunity to close strong. Pitt travels to Duke for a Saturday noon showdown to close out the 2023 regular season.

The Panthers enter this contest with a 3-8 record, but they won their most recent game against Boston College. Saturday represents the opportunity to win two straight to close out the year, but standing in the way is Duke. The Blue Devils are sitting with a 6-5 record and a win would clinch back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2017-2018.

Duke started the year with a bang by knocking off Clemson in the first game of the year and climbing to 4-0, but an injury to star quarterback Riley Leonard ended the potential dream season for the Blue Devils. The team has fallen on hard times, having lost four of five. In order to get a better understanding of what is happening from Durham, we talked to Conor O’Neill of DevilsIllustrated.com.

Duke had a lot of momentum with a 4-0 start, but after the injury to Riley Leonard, the season sort of spiraled out of control. Does this season feel like a missed chance for the program in some respects?

O’Neill: It does and doesn’t feel that way. The opening-night win over Clemson and subsequent three comfortable victories, the heartbreaker against Notre Dame, and beating N.C. State with a backup quarterback certainly made it feel like Duke was an ACC contender halfway through the season.

There’s disappointment in what Duke’s record has become based on where it was (5-1 to 6-5). Losing four of the last five games, all on the road, has taken the premier bowl destinations off the table.

But it’s worth remembering expectations of Duke. The Blue Devils were coming off a nine-win season but — at least based on what we thought in July — had the toughest ACC schedule of any team in the league. There were a lot of, “they might be better than last year but won’t have the record to show for it” predictions.

And … that rings fairly true. Duke beat one bowl-eligible team in the regular season last year and that was Wake Forest in the finale; the Blue Devils have three wins against bowl-eligible teams this year (Clemson, N.C. State and Northwestern). The program has taken steps forward; they just don’t show in the record.

Obviously there are some high-profile coaching opening and more likely to become available. What is the latest on Elko’s name and his ties to any jobs?

O’Neill: Ah, this was inevitable. Texas A&M, where Elko spent four seasons as defensive coordinator before coming to Duke, is the only current opening that makes sense for Elko. And that search has been relatively quiet aside from UTSA’s Jeff Traylor’s reported involvement.

The MSUs — Michigan State and Mississippi State — can both throw around plenty of weight, financially speaking. Neither situation offers a tie-in with previous tenure, though. Nor does either situation make much sense, at least in my opinion, when thinking about uphill battles to become competitive within their state/region/conference.

Duke committed itself to football in a different way when it hired Elko. There’s been an understanding, basically since his introductory presser, that as long as Duke could financially support his vision for the program and where it needs to go, he’d elevate the program. The benefits of that have paid off already and there’s no reason to think either side is unhappy with the other.

What exactly is the quarterback situation for Duke this weekend? Who is expected to play and what changes with them in the lineup?

O’Neill: Duke is down to a QBL. Freshman Grayson Loftis is the QB who is left, being the only healthy scholarship quarterback. Duke is 1-2 in the three games he’s started, but he’s made game-winning plays in the fourth quarter of every game and has shown promise.

Riley Leonard is out because of surgery on his left foot. That’s a different injury, suffered against Louisville, than the right ankle injury he dealt with for about a month after the final play of the Notre Dame. His backup, Henry Belin IV, beat N.C. State but has been dealing with an upper body injury and wasn’t suited up against Virginia.

Loftis hasn’t run as much as the other two but that might have as much to do with his skillset as it’s just a matter of there being no QB options behind him. He’s got a strong arm and only three games in, he’s shown a lot of poise — both in the pocket and in late-game situations.

Narduzzi had a lot of praise for the Duke defense led by Dewayne Carter. What does he and that unit do well?

O’Neill: Carter has been one of the best defensive tackles in the ACC for the past couple of years. His production hasn’t been what it was (5½ sacks last year, only ½ this year), but he’s been disruptive in the middle of the line.

Duke’s defense did a lot of things well for the first nine games. And there’s not much shame in giving up 47 points and 537 yards to Drake Maye and UNC in double OT. But the Blue Devils’ defense is coming off perhaps the worst game in Elko’s first 24 in Durham, giving up 448 yards to a Virginia offense that hasn’t exactly set the world on fire this year. Duke’s rush defense has been gashed in three of the last four games (and Wake Forest had marginal success), and there were breakdowns in the secondary against UVA.

What would win a win on Saturday do for the Duke fanbase? Would it change the perception of the season in any way?

O’Neill: I don’t think a win changes the perception of the season much. Whether you’re 6-6 or 7-5, you’re still landing in Charlotte or New York, or lower, in the ACC’s bowl hierarchy. Honestly, sometimes the game feels secondary to Duke fans obsessing over rumors about Elko and Leonard (his name gets tossed around as a transfer candidate despite zero evidence, at least to this point). It is a Senior Day game that feels more meaningful than most Senior Days, though. Duke has several players — Carter immediately comes to mind — who could have left after last season, or two years ago with the coaching change, who stayed for their final season of eligibility because of the culture that came with the new staff. It’s not exactly win-one-for-the-Gipper stuff, but it’s a storyline worth investing in over anything to do with a win getting Duke to seven wins instead of six.