Q&A with Ben Swain

I caught up with Ben Swain, better known as @thedevilwolf on Twitter, to ask him some questions about Duke. He obliged me. As well as being the most knowledgeable Duke football fan I know, he's also a college basketball nut (go figure). After football season, Listen to his work as the co-host of the critically acclaimed Walk-Ons podcast.

What are two things the Hokies must do on Saturday in order to defeat the Blue Devils? (I hope that questions lends itself to two answers other than score more points.) You may also read this question as, what are Duke's two biggest weaknesses?

This is such a favorable matchup for Virginia Tech because Logan's really good when he has time to set his feet and make a throw, and Duke has a difficult time getting quality pressure on the quarterback without blitzing. When they have been able to get penetration, Duke still struggles wrapping up in the backfield and we all know how difficult that is to do against Logan Thomas anyway. Why is this important? If he has time to be accurate, he should pick Duke apart. So if I'm picking two things that Virginia Tech needs to do well, it's getting good protection for Logan Thomas, and not turning the ball over. Duke and Virginia Tech have played some partially competitive games over the past four or five seasons, and it's been mostly because the Hokies have been careless with the football.

By the numbers, Duke's defense has performed much better in the second half of games. The Blue Devils have allowed 52 points in the final two quarters as opposed to 118 points in the first two. They have scored consistently throughout the game. Is this a case of the defense starting slow, or opponents taking their foot off the gas? What are they doing differently in the second half? Would you consider Duke a second half team?

The biggest change I've seen in the Cutcliffe era has been in regards to Duke's depth and conditioning. Taking a look at the running back position as an example, Duke has four guys (Thompson, Snead, Duncan and Powell) who are fairly interchangeable and who are equally capable of making plays. In the 2nd half of games, the offense has fresh legs in the backfield going against a tired defense, and you've seen a huge jump in Duke's rushing numbers because of it. Over the first 7 games of the year, the level of competition has been fairly equal compared to Duke, so that advantage in depth and conditioning has had an impact on the outcome. When you go up against teams like FSU, Clemson, Virginia Tech, and so on, there's no drop off when you get to the second team guys, and in most cases those two's are better than Duke's ones. On the defensive side of the ball, I really don't have any explanation. They're not very good defensively, and I think halftime gives the coaching staff a chance to figure out where guys like Jeremy Cash and Ross Cockrell can move to help plug holes. Against Virginia, injuries forced Duke to move Cockrell from cornerback to safety and it ended up changing the game in Duke's favor. I do think Duke has a pretty smart coaching staff.

Both quarterbacks Anthony Boone (69.9%, 815 yards, 5 TDs, 2 INTs) and Brandon Connette (64.4%, 1,069 yards, 12 TDs, 6 INTs) have played very well this season. Boone seems to have regained the starting job after suffering a broken collarbone earlier in the season. How are their skillsets different? Is either a rushing threat on designed optioned plays? Do you expect both QBs to see the field on Saturday?

Both will definitely play with Boone being the starter and Connette getting situational snaps under center. Connette is the swiss army knife who's like a fullback who can throw passes, and Boone is more of a traditional quarterback who occasionally runs. Whenever Duke gets in short yardage situations they'll usually bring in Connette to run a read option out of the pistol or occasionally a diamond. Against Virginia, they added a wrinkle by having both QBs in the game together which put pressure on Tenuta to flip a coin on his personnel. On the game's biggest play, Boone split out wide and Connette went play action on 4th and 1 hitting his tight end for a long touchdown run (with Boone throwing a huge downfield block, which is pretty cool, but pretty stupid for a guy who just broke his collarbone). Connette has played tight end before, so at some point I'd expect both QBs to be in the game with Boone shifting back to the QB spot and Connette shifting out wide. The biggest difference in Duke's offense since Boone returned has been 3rd and long. Duke did struggle big time against Virginia on 3rddowns, but Boone can throw a much better ball than Connette. In general, if Connette is in, it's a run.

Duke's only allowed 9 sacks this season, but last year the Hokies sacked Sean Renfree 5 times. How do you think Cutcliffe will scheme around a Virginia Tech defense that leads the nation in sacks (27)?

Thinking back to that game, and a lot of others during his career, Renfree held on to the ball too long fairly often. Boone gets the ball out pretty quickly, and from a scheme perspective, I'm assuming we'll see a lot of quick screens and slants, which I'm not sure is a winning strategy with Virginia Tech's secondary. This is probably the biggest concern for Duke's offense going into the game, but as we've seen in the past, Cutcliffe brings a lot of tricks to the Virginia Tech game. Folks down here still joke about the game in 2008 where he ran a QB draw 24 times on 49 offensive plays and had a shot to win late in the 4th. Those days of Duke football are pretty far behind us though.

The Hokies have the ball with 8 minutes left in the fourth quarter, up by a score, and they're driving. Who's the defender that's going to make a momentum changing play?

This would be a nightmare scenario for Duke because the defense just isn't good enough to get the ball back. This exact situation happened in the 58-55 Pitt game earlier in the year where Duke had two chances to stop Pitt on 3rd down on the final drive, but just couldn't make a stop. Duke's three best defenders are Jeremy Cash, Ross Cockrell, and Kenny Anunike, so if a play has to be made, it's going to be one of those three guys. Most likely it would be Logan Thomas overthrowing an open receiver on 3rd and 6 that would change the momentum.

Aside from Virginia Tech, Duke's remaining games are against NC State, Miami, at Wake Forest, and at North Carolina. Will Duke win a 6th game and go bowling for a second consecutive season?

Duke has played as well as they've played in 15 years over three of the last four halves of football. You look at games against Wake, NC State and UNC and you think "well it's a rivalry game, so you just never know what will happen." Only in the past, that was the thought Duke fans used to get themselves out of bed on Saturday mornings just hoping for a chance at an upset against an in-state rival. Now, that thought is what keeps Duke fans from penciling in an 8-4 season. But there's more at play than just football. There's a reason why in 101 years of football Duke has never played in back to back bowls. Putting the season into football terms, it's a tie game with a minute on the clock and Duke has the ball first and goal on the 3 yard line. That's why you'll never hear anyone speak confidently about getting that 6th win.