The Duke football defense has made a name for itself as one of the best in the entire country. It leads the ACC in points allowed per game (17.3), passing yards allowed per game (153.6), sacks (24), fumbles recovered (7), and opponent third down conversion percentage (27.4). It also leads the nation in tackles for loss (69).
Ahead of Duke's date with the #22 SMU Mustangs tomorrow night, it's no secret that the Blue Devil defense will lead the way as it's done all season. When it comes to pressuring the quarterback and keep the opponent from rinding rhythm on the offensive side of the ball, Duke does it as well as anyone.
This contest tomorrow night has the potential to bring Duke to new levels of possibility as the season rolls along with a victory against a ranked opponent. Duke received its first Associated Press Poll votes after its home win versus Florida State last weekend, and it feels like a win here will bring Duke into the polls and make a College Football Playoff appearance possible.
The matchup really couldn't have worked out much better for the Blue Devils, making tomorrow's game that much more exciting. It features the best defense in the ACC against maybe the best offense in the ACC in SMU.
The Mustangs are 6-1 on the season and 3-0 in the ACC, winning all of their road games this season as well. The team has scored less than thirty points in just two games this season.
SMU has also throttled its ACC opponents so far, winning by a combined score of 116-53. But, all of its in-conference opponents have bottom nine defenses in the conference. Enter the Blue Devils, who bring a better pass rush and more pressure than anyone else in the conference.
In his press conference earlier this week, Duke offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer talked about how the Duke defense matches up against the SMU offense.
"Well, we have a top five defense in the country. I'm anxious to see the SMU offense against our defense. I know what our defense brings to the table. We will score as much as we need to win a game, even if that's two points."
SMU thrives off of its run game. Brashard Smith is fifth in the ACC in rushing yards per game at about ninety and fourth in the conference in total rushing yards at 628. He's done this all on less than one hundred carries on the season and averages a stellar 6.9 yards per rush.
SMU has struggled in the passing game at times yet has still managed to average over forty points a contest throughout the season. It will be a huge test for the Duke defense to keep the Mustangs out of the end zone, especially with Duke's inconsistent offense that has gone through slow periods in most games itself.
Despite SMU having one of the better scoring defenses in the ACC, it's let up a good amount of points against better opponents. It let up 24 to Nevada, 42 to TCU, and 27 to Louisville. Against its other four opponents (Houston Christian, Florida State, BYU, and Stanford), it gave up seven, fifteen, sixteen, and ten points respectively. BYU is the only team to beat SMU this season by a score of 18-15, and BYU is also the only team SMU has faced in the top fifty nationally in scoring defense. Duke is seventeenth nationally in that category.
This game boasts a perfect opportunity for the Blue Devils to completely overwhelm its opponent that relies on scoring a lot of points to win most of the time. Although the Mustangs are strong defensively themselves, Louisville is the only ACC team that SMU has played that is in the top fifteen in the ACC in scoring offense, to which the Mustangs gave up 27 points.
Duke is a much different team than the Mustangs have faced this season, and this contest works in Duke's favor considerably well if the defense can hold strong and the offense can find schemes that work consistently.