DURHAM, N.C. -- The Duke football team will face a new test this week when Army West Point visits Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium for a 3:30 p.m. game.

After five straight games against teams featuring a spread offense, the Blue Devils will take on the Cadets’ triple option attack.

“They do a lot of different things,” linebacker Ben Humphreys said. “It’s a complete flip of the switch mindset-wise, going from a spread team to a triple option team.”

Duke has had a lot of experience against the triple option in recent years. The Blue Devils play Georgia Tech – a Coastal Division rival – every season. Plus, Duke usually sees Army or Navy every year – including a 44-3 victory in West Point last season.

But this Army team might offer a better test. The Black Knights are off to a 3-1 start this season, including a victory over Temple, a 10-win team in 2015.

“This is a different team than they were last year,” Humphreys said. “They’re going to come at us. They are very different on film than they were last year. They are a lot better.”

In what way?

“Just another year in the offense,” he answered. “Just a year more experienced. The offensive line looks bigger, faster, stronger. You can definitely tell a difference between one year and the next.”

Duke coach David Cutcliffe said the key to stopping the triple option is to combine athleticism with scheme. He said that All-American safety Jeremy Cash was a major reason for Duke’s recent success against triple option teams.

“You can’t replace a guy like that,” Cutcliffe said. “When I went back and looked at last year’s game, his impact was very evident. We worked through the summer and spring knowing this. Hopefully, we can execute and cause issues.”

Senior Corbin McCarthy has replaced Cash at Strike Safety. He’s looking forward to facing a triple option.

“I don’t really see that as a burden … I see that as an opportunity,” he said. “Cash did phenomenally well against the triple option. I’m not a Cash, but I’m definitely looking forward to getting in there and getting in the scheme that Coach [Jim] Knowles has drawn up.”

Humphreys suggested that defensive coordinator Jim Knowles is a secret weapon for the Blue Devils.

“Coach Knowles is the King of the Triple Option,” the young linebacker said. “He is so smart in what he does. His schemes are not like anyone else’s. We’ll attack it from different ways. I think that’s something that other people don’t do. We attack the triple option. We don’t let it come at us.”

McCarthy also credited Knowles and the defensive staff for preparing effective schemes against triple option teams.

“I have to give a huge amount of credit to our coaches,” the senior safety said. “We know what we’re doing and we have an incredible scheme. We also have the players who can do it down the field – as long as we’re working as a team. I think that’s the key, if everyone’s doing their job and working as a unit, we’re going to react very well.”

Cutcliffe said that part of the reason for Duke’s excellence against the triple option comes from Duke’s experience against the offensive scheme. “We’ve played a lot of option teams,” he said. “We try to learn a lot every time we play against those people.”

Beware the Storm

It’s still early, but there is a good chance that Hurricane Matthew could impact Saturday’s game. The early forecast projects a 90 percent chance of rain in Durham – and if the storm veers east as some projections show, it could get ugly in the Triangle area.

“I’m not going to worry about that until we see [the forecast] Friday,” Cutcliffe said. “We all know the weather changes drastically in predictions from day to day.”

The Duke coach was asked about the old belief the bad weather helps running teams – would rain be to Army’s advantage?

“There is a lot of ballhandling in their offense,” he said. “In the old days, when you lined up in two tight ends and handed the ball off in the I-formation, that’s probably true. They’re not configured like that. We’re not configured like that.

“The other part of is, when you can throw the ball well in wet, it’s a huge advantage. You know where you’re going. We practice in the wet. We practice on the same surface we’re going to play on. It was really wet this morning.

“Now, driving rainstorms are not easy to do anything in.”

But Cutcliffe does have one consolation in the event of bad weather.

“We have the best field in the country in my opinion,” he said. “It’s amazing the way it drains.”

Coping with Disappointment

A week after Duke’s thrilling victory at Notre Dame, the Blue Devils took a step backwards in last Saturday’s loss to Virginia. Many of the same problems that showed up in early losses to Wake Forest and Northwestern showed up against the Cavaliers – especially too many mental breakdowns.

Coach Cutcliffe admitted that he was angry after the game. So were many of his players.

“I was frustrated on Saturday – we all were,” Ben Humphreys said. “This team that I’m on right now is extremely talented and we have so much potential. But we seem to do things during games that are very uncharacteristic of a Duke football team. Those step backs are something we can’t have.

“We were right in that game and we could have won that game. It bothers me when stuff like that happens.”

It bothered Cutcliffe, who was uncharacteristically gruff after the game.

“I wasn’t mad at anybody Saturday,” he said, but admitted that he was mad. “Y’all saw me in the press conference and I was mad Saturday night. Hopefully, all of us are mature enough to understand that getting mad isn’t going to accomplish much or change anything. So I got better. I let it energize me.”

Cutcliffe said he was encouraged by what he’s seen in practice early this week.

“Our team went out there with a sense of purpose,” he said. “They showed up today … they showed up Sunday and it didn’t surprise me.”

The Duke coach said he was not concerned about a possible letdown by his team after such a disappointing loss.

“You are speaking more of the program than the team, when you talk about who we are,” he said. “They know what the program’s about. That will never falter. We said for years – you don’t ever run from it. You run to it.”

Bringing the Heat

A year ago, Duke was one of the poorest pass rush teams in college football. That’s changed this season. The Blue Devils rank first in the ACC and third nationally with 20 sacks in five games. That’s three more than the 17 sacks that the team recorded in 13 games in 2015.

What’s changed? “I think we’ve been very creative and I think [first-year defensive line coach] Ben Albert has made a big difference,” Cutcliffe said. “We’ve got some people with the skill to do it. You get into the creativity when you get the DBs – Corbin [McCarthy] and DeVon [Edwards] being so effective as pass rushers – but it’s not an accident that you see A.J. [Wolf] showing up; Marquies [Price] showing up; Brandon Boyce showing up.

“These guys have got some speed, quickness and strength that help you defeat one-on-one blocks. That’s what we hadn’t had much in the past – we’re defeating blocks more than in the past.” Wolf, the senior defensive tackle, had half a quarterback sack in his first three seasons at Duke. He already has five sacks in five games this season. “It’s more of a mentality thing,” he said. “That’s what Coach Albert brought – the mentality to get after the quarterback on every play, not just third down.” The next few weeks may bring Duke’s sack numbers down. Neither Army, nor Georgia Tech throws the football that much and in between, the Devils will face elusive Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson. But even so, it’s clear that Duke has significantly strengthened its pass rush this season.

Bringing up a Young Quarterback

Redshirt freshman quarterback Daniel Jones demonstrated his potential with a near-flawless performance in the upset at Notre Dame. Last week, he demonstrated his inexperience with a six turnover effort in the loss to Virginia. Cutcliffe is very careful to try and protect Jones while helping him grow as a quarterback.

“He a mentally tough guy,” the Duke coach said. “He was a sore guy Sunday. He took a hit that rarely any quarterback who plays the game takes. That doesn’t happen maybe once in a whole lot of football games.” Jones said he was less bothered by the hit – that forced a fumble that gave the Cavs the game-clinching TD – than by his five interceptions. Cutcliffe made the point that while Jones was ultimately responsible for those five picks, not all five were totally his fault.

“I think he feels very accountable to his team. That’s a good thing. But I don’t want it to play with any kind of fear or feeling like the weight of the world is on his shoulders. There is no sin in making mistakes.” Jones leads all freshman quarterbacks in FBS in passing yards, pass completions and total offense. He’s just the fourth quarterback in Duke history to top 1,400 yards passing in his first five starts – and the other four were senior Anthony Dilweg, sophomore Sean Renfree and junior Ben Bennett. “He’s really had a good year – when you eliminate about 10 snaps,” Cutcliffe said. “That’s very unusual to play at the level he’s played at. He’s allowed us to play at a very high level. Now, you can’t eliminate 10 and you can’t eliminate 20, but you can learn from them.”

The biggest lesson Cutcliffe would like to see Jones learn is not to try and force plays. “To be a really good quarterback, you have to have a willingness to be booed,” he said. “Sometimes you have to take the ball and eat it and get sacked. Sometime you have to throw it away when nobody in the stadium wants you to throw it away. Now you are on your way to becoming a possibly great quarterback. Every quarterback who has ever played for us has heard that.”

Cutcliffe’s Little Black Book

The Duke coach told reporters that he can live with his players’ mistakes because he makes so many of his own. “There is no sin in making mistakes,” he said. “I’ll never let you see my mistake book. Every mistake I’ve made in coaching – which are far too many to brag about – I try to write them down. And when I write them down, I try and write a solution. It’s called my checklist. So I have one for every month of the year. Because I don’t know about you guys, but I make mistakes 12 months a year. If you don’t believe, just ask my wife.”

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