ASU Football: A Look at Duke
By Mike Slifer
Tomorrow, the ASU Football team takes on the Duke Blue Devils in the Hyundai Sun Bowl in El Paso, TX. Kickoff is at noon and will be broadcast on CBS.
The Duke Blue Devils are quite comparable to Arizona State. Duke finished their season with a 9-3 record. Their offense has a solid dual-threat quarterback, a stellar receiver and a stable of capable running backs. Their defense is “middle of the road”. Statistically, ASU is better on paper when it comes to takeaways, sacks and TFL’s. But ASU gives up more explosive plays than Duke.
The Duke attack is led by dual-threat quarterback Anthony Boone. Boone completes about 57% of his passes and throws for about 204 yards per game. He has thrown 7 interceptions in 12 games this season. He only averages about 30 yards rushing per game, but excels at running for first downs and touchdowns when his team needs him to.
Boone has two adequate receiving targets in Jamison Crowder and Isaac Blakeney. They both average 12 receptions per game, but Crowder tends to make more explosive plays for more yardage. In the running game, Duke employs a running back by committee approach with Shaun Wilson and Shaquille Powell both averaging about 50 yards per game.
The overlooked unit for this offense is their line. Duke’s pass protection is pretty sound. They have only given up 13 sacks all season. The match-up between the Duke O-Line and the ASU pass rush will be a huge key for this game. Whoever wins that battle will control the game.
Defensively, the Duke Blue Devils are average. One weakness is that they tend to give up a lot of rushing yards. (oddly enough, Duke beat Georgia Tech, who rushes the ball extremely well) Duke also does not get after the quarterback very well. They don’t have very many sacks or interceptions. Although, they mix up their fronts and coverages like most teams, they tend to have a “bend but don’t break” mentality in that they play it safe and keep big plays in front of them.
The Duke special teams are solid–ranking ahead of ASU nationally in almost every phase of the kicking game.
This Duke team lost three games. (Miami, Virginia Tech, North Carolina). With the exception of their rival North Carolina, they played the other two teams pretty tough. Their wins include victories over Pitt, Virginia and Georgia Tech. No small task.
In the end, Duke is a very worthy opponent for ASU. They are capable of winning. Obviously, every game comes down to execution. But execution is often driven by motivation. Whichever team is more motivated and performs with more passion will win the game.
Devils in Detail will discuss this more as well as give Keys to Victory and a prediction tomorrow before kickoff.