Jonathan Patke Breaks Down Challenges of Connecticut’s Offense

Defensive coordinator expressed his frustration with his defense's struggles earlier this week, but he also understands that the team and coaching staff have to turn the page to this weekend's assignment.

While speaking with the media on Monday, Patke explained what problems the Huskies' offense could create for Duke's defensive personnel.

Patke's Thoughts

• "Kudos to their head coach and their staff. Obviously, they preach the same as our program with the football," Patke said. "They take care of the ball, they run the ball really well, they can control the game with their run game. The thing that they are doing at a high level is throwing the ball. It's one of the best offenses that we will see this year, statistically speaking."

• "They do a nice job of complementing their outside zone with their passing game," Patke continued. "It's been really effective up to this point."

In addition to what Connecticut's offense presents to an opposing defense, Patke illustrated what his defense will have to execute to slow down the Huskies' offensive production.

• "We have to dominate the line of scrimmage. First and foremost, [our defense] has to stop the run," Patke said. "If you stop the run, you earn the right to stop the pass. We have to win up front. We have to be sound in our fits and must tackle well. Against Clemson, we had a lot of opportunities to put [Cade] Klubnik down in the backfield, and we missed."

• "Against great offenses when you have missed opportunities, those lead to extended drives, and those lead to the red zone and those lead to points," Patke continued. "When we have opportunities to get off the field, we will have to get off the field against a really good [Connecticut] offense."
  
  

Patke believes a lot of the Huskies' offensive success comes down to the experience at the quarterback position with Joe Fagnano under center.

• "He's an old guy. He's played a lot of football," Patke said. "I don't think he gets rattled very often. Their leading receiver [Skyler Bell] might lead the country in targets with over 100. The guy's a special player; he knows where he's going to be. They do a good job as a staff moving him around. The quarterback always knows where [Bell] is at."

As always, make sure you stay up to date with all Duke content by following us on Facebook, by clicking HERE and following us on X (formerly Twitter) HERE