Report Card and Game Balls for BC Game

Being at the game up here in Boston yesterday, a couple of notes. 

The tailgating here is virtually non-existent. 
The atmosphere in Alumni Stadium was so-so at best. They had their moments especially when they were up 14-0 early. They were into the game. 

However, when we started to clamp down and Stephen got going, you could see the momentum begin to turn our way, and especially more so after the Pick 6 by Denzel to tie the game at 14 at the end of the 1st quarter. I could tell we didn't quit, we kept battling out there and the D stepped up when it had to. We ended up with a +2 in the turnover margin, which is pretty good. I like that we were 11-21 on 3rd downs. 

But, I didn't like the fact that we didn't have a pass rush at all, it was non-existent. I also didn't like the fact that we had 9 penalties for 76 yards. I also didn't like the fact that Morris was telegraphing his throws, however, that's fixable. Something Sileo mentioned last night on the postgame was the fact that we allowed I think 5-6 big plays over 20 yards, that needs to change for next game vs K-State. 

Time for the report card:

Offense: B+ The reason for that is that of the nine penalties yesterday, 3 were on the offense, which included 2 false starts. But, the 208 yards rushing and 415 in total Offense, which included 135 out of Duke, raises this grade here. 

Defense: B- Once again, we had little to no answer for the FB screen wide and the TE. We allowed too many big plays and the biggest concern to me was no pass rush. That has to be fixed for next game. Allowing 441 yards passing and 512 yards total offense, that's a concern, but the Denzel pick 6 made up for that and being +2 in turnover margin raises this grade here. 

Special Teams: A- Botts came up big when we needed him to, from a field position perspective. Two punts inside the 20 and two fair catches were big for us there. 110 yards in KO returns, but only 9 on Punt returns.  Jake with two big FGs, the first to give us the for good middle 3rd, and the other to basically seal the victory in the 4th. 

Time for Game Balls. For this game, I'm giving out three game balls. 

1. Duke - 7 carries, 135 yards, 2 TDs. 214 yards all-purpose. 
2. Perryman - 7 tackles (1 TFL), a pick 6
3. Botts - Two punts inside the 20. Came up big when it was needed in the 4th, pinning BC at the 8. Also a heads-up play to take the safety to run clock out in the end. 

Its time to head back to NJ from here in Boston and hopefully we'll correct the errors for next game on Saturday vs K-State on the road. GO CANES!