Duke Football: 3 takeaways from disappointing loss to Pitt

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DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA – OCTOBER 05: Jalon Calhoun #5 of the Duke Blue Devils scores on a two-point conversion during the fourth quarter of their game against the Pittsburgh Panthers at Wallace Wade Stadium on October 05, 2019 in Durham, North Carolina. Pittsburgh won 33-30. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /

3. Duke’s offense sputtered

One characteristic of tough football players is amnesia. In order to mount a comeback like the one Duke orchestrated tonight, you have to have amnesia. The Blue Devils found a way to block out the awful first half they had, and found a way to generate points in the second half.

Quentin Harris was especially bad in the first half as he turned the ball over three times. One of those turnovers was a pick-six and he was just abysmal in the first half.

Harris wasn’t the only member of the offense that was awful as the receivers were bad, too. They had drops, and on third downs they were not running routes pass the markers forcing Harris to throw short of the first down markers. Then there were the turnovers. There were three of them and three punts on three three-and-outs.

Switching to their option philosophies seemed to give them a spark in the second half, but if the Blue Devils weren’t inept on offense in the first half, they might not have needed to come back so fervently.

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