Football fans questioned whether the Blue Devils could sustain their success from the past two seasons without former head coach Mike Elko and former quarterback Riley Leonard, but 2024 looks every bit as impressive.
Duke has won six of its first seven games, including a 20-point comeback over the North Carolina Tar Heels and the first win over the Florida State Seminoles in school history. A big reason why has been their defense, which leads the entire country in tackles for loss following Week 8.
With seven games in the books, the Blue Devils have recorded 69 tackles for loss on the season, three more than the next-highest FBS team (Ole Miss) and 16 more than any other ACC team (Miami). Additionally, Duke leads the country in tackles for loss per game, averaging 9.9 per game. The Rebels are the only other team averaging more than nine (9.4).
A likely reason for Duke’s uptick in defense? First-year head coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag], who previously worked as the defensive coordinator for the Penn State Nittany Lions the past two seasons.
In terms of who exactly has been recording the tackles for loss, linebacker Alex Howard leads the way with 11.0 of them for the season. EDGE Vincent Anthony Jr. follows him with 7.5 after he tallied two against FSU, and three more players (Cameron Bergeron, Wesley Williams, and Aaron Hall) are tied for third with 6.5 each.
In their most recent victory over the Seminoles, Duke recorded 11 tackles for loss, their third-most in a game this season. Three different players recorded two or more tackles for loss with Williams recording 2.5. The Blue Devils also had 16 against Elon in the season-opener and 12 against Middle Tennessee in Week 4.