Duke opens the season at Notre Dame on Saturday. Blue Devil Country's Shawn Krest appeared on Irish Breakdown's Opponent Insider podcast to break down the matchup
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00:00 Welcome Irish fans to the first edition of the Opponents Insider podcast.
00:17 I'm your host Vince D'Addaio and I am the football analyst here at Irish Breakdown.
00:21 Notre Dame is coming off an incredibly crazy offseason that has actually culminated in
00:27 the playing of a football game on Saturday if you can believe it.
00:31 And their opponent this Saturday will be the Duke Blue Devils.
00:34 They are coming to town to open the season and ACC play.
00:39 Yes, that is right.
00:41 Opening conference play for the first time in the history of Notre Dame football.
00:45 So this game will kick off at 2.30 in the afternoon and will be televised by NBC unless
00:50 you are a student, a faculty member, or a member, a family member of somebody on the
00:56 team.
00:57 So the rest of us will all be watching on NBC starting at 2.30.
01:01 With me today to talk about the Blue Devils of Duke is Sean Kress of Blue Devil Country
01:06 which is a member of the Sports Illustrated family as we are here at Irish Breakdown.
01:11 Sean, how are you doing today, sir?
01:14 I'm doing well.
01:15 I'm ready for football.
01:16 I'm glad that I wasn't sure we were going to make it but I'm glad that now it seems
01:20 like it's a done deal at least for one week.
01:22 Scary, isn't it?
01:23 I mean, I don't know if I thought we were going to get here.
01:27 I was always positive but man, it almost feels like it snuck up on us a little bit too.
01:33 So let's see what it looks like on Saturday.
01:37 So anyway, let's find out about Duke.
01:40 So the first thing I want to ask before we kind of jump into the Duke program is this
01:45 is a weird year, obviously.
01:48 What has the reception been like among the Duke fan base about Notre Dame being in the
01:53 conference and you know, Duke gets to usher them into their first conference game ever.
01:59 What's the pulse been like for the fan base?
02:02 I think in general, the idea of Notre Dame joining the league, even if it's just for
02:07 one year, has been a positive.
02:09 I know that when Notre Dame first had this arrangement, the scheduling arrangement with
02:13 the ACC a few years ago, that was very exciting, very different.
02:17 It's kind of become old hat now.
02:19 We're going through the second, third, fourth time through that cycle.
02:22 So this is something new to see them as a full-fledged conference member.
02:26 They're used to it in basketball, they're used to it in the other sports, and they're
02:29 kind of wondering when this is going to happen for football.
02:32 I think both at Duke and just throughout North Carolina and the rest of the ACC, they're
02:37 kind of looking at this as a dress rehearsal.
02:39 Maybe if everything goes well, we can convince them to do this on a longer term.
02:43 So I think that's kind of the attitude from the rest of the conference going in.
02:46 Fair enough.
02:47 It's, from our end, it is very strange, you know, saying, "Oh, well, the non-conference
02:52 opponent is next week," and things of that nature.
02:54 It's just not the verbiage we're used to saying, that's for sure.
02:58 Let's talk about this team.
03:00 As I mentioned, crazy offseason, you know, limited practice time, not much of a spring,
03:07 obviously.
03:08 I think Notre Dame had one practice.
03:10 I'm not sure what Duke got, but I'm sure it wasn't much more than that.
03:14 So how has David Cutcliffe handled everything up to this point in the offseason and into
03:20 fall camp?
03:21 It's a concern because David Cutcliffe, obviously one of the more longer tenured coaches in
03:27 college football.
03:28 He's been there 13 years.
03:29 I think there's three other coaches that have been there that long, and you're worried with
03:33 an older coach like that, is he going to be able to handle these changes?
03:36 But he seems to have handled it right in stride.
03:38 He picked up Zoom right away.
03:40 He was talking about how they were meeting almost from the outset, as soon as they weren't
03:44 allowed to be on campus.
03:46 They had the Zoom set up and they were doing daily meetings, daily check-ins with the players
03:50 before they closed campus.
03:52 They were able to send out care packages to the players to make sure that they had equipment
03:56 that they would need to work out, the nutritional supplements that they were used to having
04:01 at a fingertips when they're working out on campus, making sure that they had what they
04:05 need to get through at least part of the summer.
04:08 Obviously he didn't know how long it was going to last, but they were very organized, very
04:12 disciplined.
04:13 The same way Duke is on the field, it seems like they were off the field and preparing
04:17 for this pandemic.
04:18 And I think they came back.
04:20 Everybody was in shape.
04:21 There haven't been any of those soft tissue injuries that we've seen going around.
04:24 Haven't been any of the outbreaks that two of their neighbors right here in the Research
04:28 Triangle in North Carolina had, NC State and UNC, both had to cancel practice, hold
04:34 things up because of outbreaks.
04:36 Duke has taken things right in stride.
04:37 So they were one of the last teams to come back to campus.
04:41 They wanted to make sure they got it right once they got there.
04:43 And I think they've done a good job of that.
04:45 Very disciplined approach.
04:47 It's kind of fitting that Notre Dame, with no positive cases, is facing Duke, who's had
04:51 no positive cases.
04:52 Two of the teams that handled it right will be kicking off the season.
04:55 Well, I mean, everything's uncharted territory.
04:58 And so it sounds like the Blue Devils have been doing it the right way, which is fantastic.
05:02 Because that's what you worry about, obviously, going into the season.
05:06 Are your opponents also going to be handling their business the right way?
05:10 And we've gotten reports from other schools that may not be the case.
05:13 So it's great to hear that Duke is following protocols and they're doing what they need
05:17 to do.
05:18 And we've got two teams that are going to meet that don't have any positive cases.
05:21 So that's a great sign, at least as of Wednesday when we're doing this.
05:26 So fingers crossed that everything stays the same way.
05:29 But let's talk a little bit on the field.
05:32 We talked about uncharted territory.
05:34 Duke has a transfer quarterback in their midst, Chase Bryce from Clemson.
05:40 Those who aren't aware of who he is, he's the guy that came off the bench and helped
05:44 Clemson beat Syracuse in 2018.
05:47 Kind of a comeback victory there.
05:50 It was mostly Travis Etienne, I think.
05:54 But somebody had to pull the trigger, and that was Chase Bryce.
05:57 But he's transferred over to Duke, and I believe he has won the quarterback battle.
06:03 What do you expect from Mr. Bryce?
06:05 Have you had a chance to kind of get a feel for how things have been going so far in camp?
06:10 Things seem to have been going really well.
06:13 He's obviously got the talent.
06:15 Coach Cutt has talked about his arm talent.
06:16 He's talked about his accuracy.
06:18 The biggest problem with Bryce and the reason they didn't make the quarterback decision
06:22 until the end of last week really is his unfamiliarity with the system, that he had a different system
06:29 at Clemson.
06:30 They tried to do what they could.
06:31 They sent him as much information as they could.
06:33 But because he was a graduate transfer, they couldn't really officially do anything with
06:37 him until after he graduated and got that Clemson degree.
06:41 And of course, by that time, we're right in the middle of the pandemic, which set things
06:44 back even further.
06:45 So when he got to campus, he'd done everything he could on his own, but he really had no
06:49 in-person coaching on that system.
06:51 So it took him a while to get up to speed.
06:54 But once he did that, I think it was very clear that he was going to be the choice of
06:58 quarterback.
06:59 And it should make a substantial difference for the Duke offense.
07:02 If you remember the game last year against Notre Dame, it's tough to say the offense
07:05 is the problem when they gave up 38 points.
07:08 But really, the problem in that game was the offense couldn't stay on the field.
07:11 I think they had three first downs.
07:14 They converted three third downs out of 16 in the game.
07:17 And that was a problem all season long, just three and outs for the offense where they
07:20 couldn't get anything, any type of rhythm going.
07:23 So they're hoping that Bryce will help with that.
07:25 The other big change on the offense that they hope will help is that Coach Cutcliffe is
07:29 taking a more active role in play calling.
07:32 He's going to be, he's been hands on with the quarterbacks, and he's going to be the
07:35 one calling the plays from the sidelines.
07:38 And to a man, they've all said that that's been a substantial difference, both in terms
07:42 of what they're doing and just the attitude out there on the field.
07:45 Well, I think the respect level from an offensive standpoint for Coach Cutcliffe is, you know,
07:51 across college football.
07:52 I mean, he's, he's got a great offensive mind.
07:55 Obviously, he's tied to the Mannings and what they were able to accomplish, etc.
07:59 So having him take over the play calling duties and being more involved in the offense has
08:04 got to be a positive for Duke, no question about it.
08:07 Talk a little bit about who's going to be catching the balls from Chase Bryce.
08:11 Anybody stand out there?
08:14 They've got a, they had a young wide receiving core last year.
08:18 They started a true freshman in their opening game against Alabama last year in Jalen Calhoun.
08:24 And now, and there were, I think, three other true freshmen that caught balls last year.
08:29 Now they're all sophomores.
08:30 They've all had that trial by fire year, and they're all coming back.
08:34 So it's still a very young receiving core, but it's a very talented one and an experienced
08:39 one, more experienced than you'd expect with a crew of sophomores out there.
08:43 They also uncovered a diamond in the rough in Damon Filial Johnson, who's best known
08:48 for his return skills.
08:50 He was an All-American return man last year and was all ACC at return spot.
08:54 But he's also going to be a playmaking wide receiver for them this year.
08:57 So he's the most experienced in terms of years wide receiver out there.
09:01 But yeah, so they've got a lot of names you may not have heard of, but some very skilled
09:05 players that you may have heard of by the end of this year once they hook up with Chase.
09:10 Now the offensive line that's going to be protecting Chase got hit by the injury bug
09:16 a little bit, if I'm not mistaken.
09:18 Probably one of the better linemen in the group is out for the season, I believe.
09:23 Kind of fill us in on that situation.
09:25 Yeah, that would be their center, Jack Wallabaugh.
09:28 He started off at Ohio State and transferred to Duke two years ago.
09:32 He's been the starter for most of the last few years.
09:35 He tore his knee ligaments.
09:37 They're saying he's out indefinitely, but for all intents and purposes, they're not
09:40 going to see him this year, especially with the free year of eligibility.
09:44 I'm sure that they'll work on just getting him right to either go for the NFL or to come
09:49 back next year for one more season.
09:52 But so they have to replace him right now.
09:55 The backup is Will Taylor, who's a fourth year player.
09:57 He's had his own knee problems.
09:59 When he was a freshman, he was told that he was probably done with football and his goal
10:04 should be to walk again because of a severe knee injury that he had.
10:08 And he's fought his way back to the field.
10:10 He started last year a couple of games when Wallabaugh went down.
10:14 And he, everyone says he's more than capable of handling the job.
10:17 The rest of the line, however, looks solid.
10:20 It was shaping up to be one of the strengths of the offense before Wallabaugh's injury.
10:25 They got Devery Hamilton, who was a Stanford graduate transfer.
10:30 He's shored up one tackle spot and that allowed them to move last year's tackle inside.
10:35 They now have, I think, six different linemen who have started games for Duke on the two
10:40 deep roster.
10:41 So that's pretty good coming into a season where they'd lost a couple of starters from
10:45 last year.
10:47 So the confidence in this offensive line, I would imagine, even with the injury, has
10:51 got to be fairly high and they're going to be opening up some holes for the run game.
10:56 And there's some optimism there with the run game, if I'm not mistaken.
11:00 Tell us a little bit about who's going to be carrying the football for the Blue Devils.
11:03 You're going to hear this a lot as we go through some of these positions for Duke.
11:07 They have a lot of frontline talent, not a lot of depth at running back.
11:10 Deion Jackson is one of the top runners in the league.
11:13 He was actually all ACC for all purpose back in the preseason ACC voting last year.
11:19 He didn't win that again this year.
11:20 I think they got rid of that category, actually, in the voting this year for all purpose back.
11:24 But he battled injuries last year.
11:27 They had another running back, Brattan Brown, who battled injuries last year and then transferred.
11:32 So now the job is his and he'll be running the ball.
11:35 He dominated the first scrimmage.
11:37 He scored two touchdowns the first scrimmage and the linemen on both sides of the ball
11:41 said he was just running over people as he was going down the field.
11:45 So he looks like he's in midseason form already.
11:47 Behind him, they have a couple of guys who have battled injuries each of the last two
11:51 years.
11:52 Mateo Durant, who's had a handful of carries, and then a redshirt freshman who just got
11:56 in for a little bit of time.
11:58 So if anything happens to Jackson, they could be in trouble there.
12:01 But right now they're putting all of their chips on Jackson.
12:05 So it sounds like the offense could be fairly balanced as long as the injury bug doesn't
12:08 strike, which could be bad news for defenses in the ACC.
12:13 There's no question about that.
12:16 And with the new quarterback, you know, calling the plays and doing his thing, it should be
12:22 a fairly good offense there for Duke.
12:24 So it should be very interesting to see how they operate in their first game out coming
12:29 up here on Saturday.
12:30 Let's flip over to the other side of the ball, to the defensive side of the ball.
12:33 Kind of walk us through front to back what you expect.
12:37 Let's start with the defensive line.
12:39 What do you expect from the big uglies up front?
12:42 All right.
12:43 Chase Price is getting all the attention this year, but the defense might be the strength
12:46 of the team.
12:48 They have two of the better edge rushers in the ACC.
12:52 Chris Rump, the second, is coming off of one edge.
12:55 He's a junior.
12:56 He was just named an ESPN All-American today.
13:00 He's one of the, he's probably the top NFL draft prospect on their roster.
13:04 I think he's expected to go on the second round, which in South Bend may not be that
13:09 big of a deal, but it is a big deal when you're talking about a Duke defensive lineman.
13:13 Across from him is Victor Dmukhaj, who is a fifth year senior, and he's had double digit
13:20 sacks.
13:21 So they've got, yeah, they've got two powerful rushers coming off the edge.
13:24 And then they've got another senior who started in Drew Jordan.
13:27 So they have kind of an embarrassment of riches at the end spot.
13:30 They're actually talking about moving either Dmukhaj or Jordan inside at times to help
13:36 fill some of the holes at defensive tackle.
13:40 So the edge is one strength, and then giving them even more time to chase the quarterback
13:45 will be the secondary, which is one of the more experienced in the league.
13:48 I know that Brian Kelly was talking about the cornerbacks, saying that this might be
13:53 the best quarterback tandem that Notre Dame faces this year.
13:57 They have two starters back from last year, and then they're adding to that an all ACC
14:01 corner who missed the last two seasons with a hip injury in Mark Gilbert.
14:06 And supposedly his speed checks out, he's back to pre-injury levels in terms of speed
14:10 and mobility.
14:11 So they now have three former starters at the cornerback spot.
14:15 They also have starters back at safety.
14:18 So definitely they're going to depend on the secondary covering people, giving the two
14:24 ends a chance to chase the quarterback down.
14:27 That's definitely the strength of the defense.
14:29 In the middle, it's a little bit more concern in the middle.
14:33 There's a lot of youth there.
14:34 They've got promising players, but there are of the six defensive tackles listed on the
14:39 depth chart, four of them are freshmen.
14:41 And then they also have a similar youth problem at linebacker.
14:45 One of the more experienced linebackers, fifth year senior Brandon Hill opted out of the
14:50 season because of COVID.
14:52 So they've had to replace him with a redshirt freshman.
14:56 So they're going to have some youth in the middle, which if you remember them trying
14:58 to defend the run against Notre Dame last year, could be a concern again this year with
15:03 a soft middle.
15:05 So the strength is in the front and the strength is in the back.
15:07 And it just depends that the big question mark for the Blue Devils is going to be in
15:11 the middle, both at defensive tackle and at linebacker.
15:14 So they're going to have to grow up pretty fast with a trip to South Bend with, in theory,
15:19 a renewed, you know, they really want to run the ball in South Bend.
15:23 That's what we've heard, but of course, we haven't been able to see anything and we're
15:27 all kind of going on everybody else's word at this point.
15:32 Have you guys gotten any access at all?
15:33 I'm just curious as to how things are going down there.
15:36 No, we are not allowed on Duke's campus, actually.
15:39 So that's, and that's not just the media, that's actually the upperclassmen as well.
15:44 The athletes had to get special permission to be allowed to live on campus because for
15:48 right now, only the first two years of students are allowed to be on campus and everyone else
15:53 is supposed to be taking remote classes.
15:55 So they had to get a waiver for their athletes in order to even have them go to campus to
15:59 practice.
16:00 Wow, that's even more lockdown than Notre Dame is.
16:04 But that probably has something to do with the fact that they don't have any positive
16:07 tests as well.
16:08 So that's right.
16:09 You take what you can get, right?
16:11 So offense, defense, a little bit about special teams.
16:15 Is there any spark plugs in the return game or, you know, the kicking game?
16:20 What are we looking at when it comes to special teams for Duke?
16:23 Yeah, Phil Yaw Johnson, who I mentioned in the wide receiver, he had, he's tied an NCAA
16:29 record last year with two kickoff returns for a touchdown in one game.
16:33 That was against Wake Forest.
16:34 So he's expected to be the strength of the return game.
16:37 They're bringing in all new specialists other than that, though.
16:40 They have, they still haven't decided on a punter.
16:43 They've got the traditional oar for the depth chart.
16:46 The depth chart watchers are familiar with.
16:48 They've got that for the punter.
16:49 And then they've got a redshirt freshman kicker who they're breaking in.
16:52 He battled, he had leg soreness last week, but supposedly he'll be ready to go for the
16:56 opener.
16:57 That's Charlie Hamm, the freshman who will be kicking for them.
17:00 Excellent.
17:01 So again, it sounds like a balanced offense, a balanced defense.
17:06 If Duke is going to come in and beat up on the Irish, what are some keys to that victory
17:13 for the Blue Devils in your opinion?
17:15 I think they have to reverse the script from that game down here in Durham last year.
17:20 I think the offense needs to stay on the field.
17:22 I think that's the biggest thing.
17:24 It's a fierce attacking defense, but it can wear out.
17:27 And I think that's what we saw in last year's game is that the defense just being on the
17:31 field for that long, and this was November after they'd been on the field that long,
17:35 most of the year, that they just wore out quickly.
17:38 So I think that the offense needs to control the ball, march it down the field, and give
17:43 the defense a chance to rest so that when they go in there, they can go like their hair
17:47 is on fire.
17:48 So I think that'll help.
17:49 Last time Duke was in Notre Dame was 2016.
17:53 They got a couple of timely kick returns that helped them to spring the upset that year.
17:58 And I think anytime you can get a big play on special teams, I know that David Cutcliffe
18:02 has made his bones doing that.
18:04 So I think they'll be looking for a big play on special teams to help the offense then
18:08 kind of control things.
18:10 And I think that's the best way for Duke to get out of South Bend with a chance of winning.
18:16 Now, Sean, tell me, are you going to be one of the very few media that comes in to South
18:21 Bend?
18:22 Or are you going to be joining me watching them on NBC?
18:25 I will be tuning in on NBC.
18:27 I will be a COVID casualty for at least this first week of the season.
18:31 But yeah, hopefully I'll be getting into some games as we loosen things up throughout the
18:35 season.
18:36 Oh, here's hoping, right?
18:37 I'll tell you what.
18:38 It's going to be interesting.
18:39 I haven't watched this many games on TV in a very, very long time.
18:42 So it's going to be an adjustment.
18:43 But hey, it's football and we'll take it.
18:46 There's no question about that.
18:48 Exactly.
18:49 Sean, I want to thank you for joining me on the Opponents Insider podcast today.
18:52 Would you let everyone know, like your Twitter handle, how they can follow your work, your
18:57 website, all that?
18:58 Sure thing.
18:59 My Twitter handle is @SeanKrest, S-H-A-W-N, and then Krest with a K.
19:04 And then I'm at Blue Devil Country, which is the Sports Illustrated Maven site that
19:10 covers all things Duke athletics.
19:12 So you can find me there as well.
19:13 Awesome.
19:14 Again, that is Sean Krest of Blue Devil Country as a part of the Sports Illustrated family,
19:19 as we are here at Irish Breakdown.
19:22 Next on Notre Dame's schedule is a home game against a non-conference home game against
19:27 the Bulls of South Florida.
19:29 So we'll preview the Bulls next Wednesday.
19:31 So until then, thank you everyone for joining me on the Opponents Insider.
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