Beat Up Blue Devils Try to Avoid Option Swarm

Duke's chances of finishing .500 or better are gone. Their hopes of making their first bowl in 17 years have been shattered. And their team has been nearly decimated by injuries.

So what do the downtrodden Blue Devils have left to play for?

At this point it is all about pride and their seniors. The 20 seniors who will be playing their final game in Wallace Wade Stadium will be attempting to leave one last memory of their days as a Duke Football player.

Unfortunately for the seniors and the Blue Devils as a whole, they are going into the game against an angry and very skilled Georgia Tech team who is coming off a tough loss to Virginia Tech.

The Blue Devils will likely be less prepared to play the triple option oriented Yellow Jackets than in recent years since they have not played an option team this season, something they have done the past several seasons.

The option attack is certainly not something that can adequately be prepared for in a week. Duke's coaching staff did do some prep work for the option during the Blue Devil's bye week, but that was five weeks and five loses ago.

The Georgia Tech option is difficult to prepare for but even more difficult to stop when you have the level of athlete that the Yellow Jackets have. This isn't a service academy option team, the Yellow Jackets are much more skilled.

Duke will have its handsful for sure as they are depleted on the defensive line. The senior anchor of the line, Charlie Hatcher, was banged up last week against Virginia. Starting defensive end Jordan Dewalt-Ondijo, was carted off the filed in Charlottesville and he was the replacement for previously injured starter Kenny Anunike.

Those aren't good things when you consider the aggressive and often injury inducing cut blocking scheme used by the Georgia Tech offensive line.

Things aren't much better on the offensive line as another senior, Kyle Hill, suffered a shoulder injury that has ended his season and Duke career.

Needless to say the deck appears to be stacked against Duke who is playing the Yellow Jackets a week removed form their loss to Virginia Tech which essentially eliminated them from a chance to play in the ACC Championship game.

So I fully expect the Yellow Jackets to come out like an angry swarm of well, Yellow Jackets and just pound the ball down the field through what is left of Duke's battered defensive unit.

Prediction

Georgia Tech 49-Duke 10

I expect Duke to come out and play hard for senior day, I'm just not sure they have anything left in the tank. The Blue Devils gave everything they had last week against Virginia but still came up short.

Against a better Georgia Tech team, I suspect a lot of difficulties getting the defense off the field and with the struggles of the offense this game could get ugly.

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