What’s the deal with Duke potentially knowing our signs? | Syracusefan.com

What’s the deal with Duke potentially knowing our signs?

SanDiegoCuse said:
It seems like Fran briefly alluded to it in his presser. Anyone with additional insight?
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Mensah checked down to a screen on every blitz pretty much. I thought our blitz packages looked alot like what we ran at Clemson so not so surprising.

Difference is Mensah made plays like he could be a guy playing on Sunday and Klubnick played like a guy that will be working at a Chic Fil'A on Sundays.
 
RedtheGOB said:
Mensah checked down to a screen on every blitz pretty much. I thought our blitz packages looked alot like what we ran at Clemson so not so surprising.

Difference is Mensah made plays like he could be a guy playing on Sunday and Klubnick played like a guy that will be working at a Chic Fil'A on Sundays.
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On Sundays? Chick fil a?
 
RedtheGOB said:
Mensah checked down to a screen on every blitz pretty much. I thought our blitz packages looked alot like what we ran at Clemson so not so surprising.

Difference is Mensah made plays like he could be a guy playing on Sunday and Klubnick played like a guy that will be working at a Chic Fil'A on Sundays.
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That makes a whole lot of sense. Had the perfect screen called each time.
 
RedtheGOB said:
Mensah checked down to a screen on every blitz pretty much. I thought our blitz packages looked alot like what we ran at Clemson so not so surprising.

Difference is Mensah made plays like he could be a guy playing on Sunday and Klubnick played like a guy that will be working at a Chic Fil'A on Sundays.
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Their closed on Sundays
 
RedtheGOB said:
Mensah checked down to a screen on every blitz pretty much. I thought our blitz packages looked alot like what we ran at Clemson so not so surprising.

Difference is Mensah made plays like he could be a guy playing on Sunday and Klubnick played like a guy that will be working at a Chic Fil'A on Sundays.
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What is surprising is why our defense wouldn’t have adapted to that …
 
RedtheGOB said:
Mensah checked down to a screen on every blitz pretty much. I thought our blitz packages looked alot like what we ran at Clemson so not so surprising.

Difference is Mensah made plays like he could be a guy playing on Sunday and Klubnick played like a guy that will be working at a Chic Fil'A on Sundays.
Expand...

Seriously though, some of their play calls against our D were uncanny. I mentioned it during the game thread because it happened so often. It was noticeable.
 
Robinsons inability to adjust in game is brutal. He either has a good game plan and the opposing team doesn’t adjust to it really, or you get a smart OC like Duke has & adjusts on the fly. It resulted in Duke throwing check downs the entire game for 20 yards a play, which made erob basically shart his pants.

Opposing OC & DC’s are basically playing chess every game and erob is definitely at level 1. we make some teams coordinators look like Magnus Carlsen
 
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PhatOrange said:
Seriously though, some of their play calls against our D were uncanny. I mentioned it during the game thread because it happened so often. It was noticeable.
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Is it me... or our CBs are usually so much farther off the line of scrimmage than opponents WRs?

The DL is the problem. The DL, outside of Tank, is not particularly good at stopping the run, containing the edge, or getting to the QB. Would be nice if we could do 2 of those 3 and have only one weakness. We blitz more, but a good coach and experienced QB... with a decent OL... can put it where the blitzer came from. Not sure you need signals to figure that out.
 
IIRC Fran specifically said he wasn't accusing them of anything.

Frankly, Duke just did a fantastic job reading both the defense and the offense.

It's unfortunately not impossible with this team. Nixon is very good but he's not without tells. Just as a fan there's a handful of stuff I can spot; for example, on a red zone play when you see three receivers and one lines up oddly far into the weak side there's a good chance the No 1 option is the corner endzone.

In the case of defense we've a strong bias toward playing man, and also a big secondary without a dense box. So when we line up like this on a 3rd and 9 it's pretty obvious a blitz is coming, and Duke is already set up perfectly for the RB screen pass. I copied the link right before Mensah signals motion. This might've been the play call, or he might be reading the blitz and that signals a hot route. Either way it wouldn't have required sign stealing, just astute observation.
Screenshot 2025-09-30 at 6.00.53 PM.jpg




There's other stuff too. It's the kind of stuff I'd chat with other fans about over a beer, but I don't really want to share more than just the principle of it publicly for obvious reasons.
 
PhatOrange said:
Seriously though, some of their play calls against our D were uncanny. I mentioned it during the game thread because it happened so often. It was noticeable.
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Coincidentally the rumors of Petrino to Arkansas bring up mentions of Louisville having Wake’s playbook some years back.
 
sutomcat said:
I mentioned it in my post on the game. Every time we called a blitz, there was a big commotion in the Duke coaching box and they called blitz!

They knew it was coming. We have a problem here that needs to be fixed.
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Maybe, but what problem???
 
sutomcat said:
I mentioned it in my post on the game. Every time we called a blitz, there was a big commotion in the Duke coaching box and they called blitz!

They knew it was coming. We have a problem here that needs to be fixed.
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Yup. We all wanted blitz packages so bad and we got them.

What we didn’t get [yet] were scheme-y blitzes, stunts, and audibles to drop back.

I also think we lost a bunch of experience in terms of Marlowe at mike. In my head he’d be frantically pointing at Castle on that play I quoted. The screen was there, all on the weak side, nothing on the strong side.
 
I think we could know Ohio State's signs and still not win.

The bottom line is that if we don't blitz, we get no pressure on the QB and he has all day to eventually find a receiver slipping open. If he is any level of quality (as most of our opponents are this year), then he can laser it in there. However, if we do blitz, then the QB has less time to find the open receiver... but it is more likely that there IS a very open receiver. And, as we blitz more, other teams can watch and see what that does to our coverage... and a good OC/QB can take advantage of it without even "knowing our signs."

IMHO, the issue is lack of talent on the DL. Our OL is likely good enough to stop OUR defensive line in practice... but most defensive lines they face in games will be much more challenging. Angeli was getting rid of the ball quick and usually correctly, masking the issue somewhat. During the Clemson game they were showing him getting rid of the ball in ~2 seconds. Our OL rose to the occasion in that game. They did not do so against UConn and Duke (and some of the Colgate game, frankly). Conversely, how many timses did Cade Klubnik have much longer than that AND scramble to give himself more time. If we did get to him, he eluded the sack almost always.

Next to retaining the talent we have at QB/WR/OL/DB/Antoine, the priority in the offseason for NIL has to be defensive line.
 

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