What Duke football learned during its week off before Georgia Tech
· Yahoo Sports
DURHAM, N.C. — Duke football used its week off to take a closer look at itself.
The Blue Devils' coaches huddled Monday morning for their annual off week self-scout, planning as if they were preparing for another game.
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It came after Duke's 4-0 start for the second time in Manny Diaz's three seasons as coach. Now, the Blue Devils prepare for an eight-game ACC stretch to close the regular season, starting Oct. 10 at Georgia Tech.
"There's plenty of things that again that have contributed to us winning our first four games, but there's also plenty of things that could contribute to us meeting defeat," Diaz said Oct. 5 during his weekly press conference. "We're trying to get those things fixed before somebody fixes them for us."
The value of the exercise extends beyond correcting mistakes. For Diaz, the self-scout is an exercise in understanding how Duke is perceived by the teams preparing to face it.
"The biggest thing it shows ... is how you're seen," Diaz said. "Because what happens is on both sides of the ball, you devote all your attention to Georgia Tech, right? And you're just watching them and you're watching them, and you don't realize what they're watching.
"I think a really unique superpower is self-awareness of knowing who you are and how people see you as opposed to how you see yourself."
Duke's offensive and defensive staffs essentially flipped sides, studying each unit as if they were preparing to face one another.
"We kind of break down our offense and they break down us," defensive coordinator Jonathan Patke said. "It's always good to let them see us in a different light. Obviously, we see ourselves all the time, but it also brings to light sometimes what we think we are, other people think differently. What our offense saw about us, what we do good, what we do bad."
It is welcome criticism for Patke.
"It's great criticism because it's going to help us become a better defensive unit if we can cover some of the holes that they see in what we're doing," he said.
The same can be said for the offensive side of the ball.
"It confirmed some things that we had seen on our side of the ball without defensive eyes," offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer said. "Things that we knew were maybe tendencies, and usually when you have tendencies that means you're doing something good. So that was good. ... It's always good to hear from the defensive perspective."
The self-scout goes beyond scheme, too. It allows coaches to take a look at their personnel.
"Who we've used in a proper manner, who we need to play more, who we need to blitz more, what guys have been doing well," Patke said. "... Obviously, you're only four games in so you got limited data. Usually, this is around six or seven games in, but it does give you a hint of who's playing really well and what they're doing really well."
It marked the third time Diaz has conducted the exercise at Duke and, in his words, "the best one we've had," even if it came earlier in the season than usual.
"You don't have all the data points you wish you had," Diaz said. "... But with what we have, I still think there's great value in it."
Duke kicks off against Georgia Tech at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 10, at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Anna Snyder covers Duke for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at [email protected] or follow her @annaesnydr on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: What Duke football learned during its week off before Georgia Tech