The Duke Blue Devils picked up their eighth win of the season on Saturday, handing the Virginia Tech Hokies a 31-28 loss in front of the Wallace Wade Stadium crowd, but head coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] still saw areas for improvement on film.
In fact, during Diaz’s Monday press conference, he ranked it below all three of Duke’s losses.
“Of the 11 games we have played so far this year, it was, in my mind, our worst performance to date,” Diaz said. “We did so many things that in a normal game or normal circumstance would get you beat.”
Duke ended up with 396 yards of offense, mostly thanks to a pair of lightning-strike touchdowns from fifth-year wideout Eli Pancol on the first four plays from scrimmage. Quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] found Pancol for 86-yard and 77-yard scoring plays on the first two drives, but the Blue Devils also turned the ball over four times and converted just two of their 11 third downs.
Murphy’s ball security looked pretty stunning compared to his recent form. The first-year starter tossed the ball to the defense three times before halftime, his second three-interception game this month. However, in his other five battles against ACC opponents, Murphy’s only thrown one pick.
“We’re an aggressive offense anyways and we’ve been aggressive the last six weeks,” offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer said. “I think we’ve done a pretty good job at not putting the ball in jeopardy at times or trying to force things. We made a few mistakes and tried to push the ball into some territories it shouldn’t have been pushed to.”
Those three interceptions created 10 points for the Hokies, letting Virginia Tech take the lead late in the second quarter. While the record will only show a victory on the books, the head coach fell back on a familiar phrase to describe his thoughts.
“We talk all the time about success versus excellence,” Diaz said. “We were successful, but we were not excellent. We were way below our standard.”