Every college football team across the country runs preseason scrimmages. There’s no better way for a team’s offensive and defensive starters to prove themselves than simply trying to beat each other.
However, as the regular season draws nearer, Duke football coach Manny Diaz explained during his Monday press conference that he likes to throw a wrench in his team’s preparation. As the Blue Devils prepare for Elon in Friday’s season opener, Duke’s starters scrimmaged against the backups using the schemes they expect from the Phoenix.
Instead of a straight-up game, however, Diaz lets the backups start with a 27-0 lead with four 10-minute quarters.
“You’re trying to create an urgency,” Diaz explained. “You would imagine that the starters should be better than the backups, but now all of a sudden, they need to be 28 points better than the backups.”
The starters pulled off the victory during Friday’s game, and Diaz praised newly crowned starting quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] for the leadership he showed. Diaz said the backups forced a turnover that led to a game-tying touchdown, and the Texas transfer responded with a 50-yard touchdown pass to Old Dominion transfer Javon Harvey.
The 10-minute quarters aren’t only there for offensive urgency, however. Diaz said the time crunch makes sure Duke is sharp from a substitution standpoint on special teams. He even makes the lead 27 points instead of 28 to create some artificial questions about going for a 2-point conversation or going for it on fourth down.
“It’s an organizational scrimmage for me as well,” Diaz said. “How should we play in this situation and that situation.”