DURHAM – The last time Duke’s football team won a game in November, Quentin Harris threw a touchdown and ran for another in his final game as Duke beat Miami 27-17.
That was 2019.
Duke lost six games in each of the last two Novembers, which doesn’t include the two December games in 2020 when the season was extended because of COVID. It’s a fact that provides perspective on where the Blue Devils are after beating Boston College on Friday night to clinch bowl eligibility in their first game of November under first-year coach Mike Elko.
“For us to play a road game in the ACC in the month of November, not really play our best, and come away with a victory that was a relatively comfortable victory,” Elko said, “that’s a credit to how far we’ve come in a very short period of time.”
Playing meaningful football in November isn’t something every college football program gets to do, and it’s something Duke hasn’t done for several seasons.
“We’re still playing for a nine-win season,” Elko said. “We’re still playing for an outside chance at the Coastal (Division), but certainly a legit chance at the second-place spot in it. A better bowl opportunity, a better bowl trip.
“There’s a lot on the line for us and there’s not a lot of teams in the country that can say that right now.”
Looking at November records in recent seasons is one of the aspects that helps show why Duke had slipped to the bottom tier of the ACC.
Duke’s only winning record in November in the last seven seasons was a 2-1 clip in 2017, when the loss was the final straw of a six-game losing slide and the wins got Duke to a 6-6 record and into the Quick Lane Bowl.
After going 7-2 in November between the 2013-14 seasons, Duke was 7-18 in November in the last seven seasons.
Elko could sense some tightness last week and figures that should have dissipated with the Blue Devils punching their ticket to bowl.
“You get into that moment and they know what they were playing for,” Elko said. “You try not to talk about it and you try not to make it a big deal, but these kids know. They know how important six was, and you maybe even felt that on the sideline at times.”
Things are indeed moving quickly for Duke. The Blue Devils are a double-digit favorite this weekend against Virginia Tech, which has lost back-to-back one-point results after leading 21-3 at N.C. State (lost 22-21) and leading 27-16 against Georgia Tech (lost 28-27).
Duke hasn’t beaten Virginia Tech in Durham since 1981, having lost nine straight games to the Hokies in its home stadium. It’s a peculiar trend, given Duke has won (three) more than it’s lost (two) at Virginia Tech in the last 10 years.
Without a captain
Duke will play the rest of November without captain Jacob Monk, Elko announced Monday afternoon. Elko left open a slim possibility that Monk could return for a bowl game.
Monk suffered a lower body injury against Boston College, but he played through the injury — he was on the field for 63 of Duke’s 67 offensive snaps against the Eagles.
Monk becomes the second interior lineman to be lost for the season, joining Maurice McIntyre, who suffered a season-ending injury at Georgia Tech.
Justin Pickett will start in Monk’s place at right guard — he’s a 6-7, 316-pound second-year lineman who’s been trending toward a larger role anyway, with 48 of his 79 snaps this season (Pro Football Focus) coming in Duke’s last four games. Elko also expects Brian Foley, Calib Perez and Addison Penn to play larger roles on the interior of Duke’s line, along with starters Chance Lytle (left guard) and Jack Burns (center).
“Now we’re going to need to get depth again, but that’s college football,” Elko said. “You can sit here and you can talk about all of the things you don’t have and all the problems you have, but everybody has them. … Those things are circumstances and we’ll be defined by how we respond to circumstances, not by what happens.”
The 6-3, 298-pound Monk has started every game on Duke’s offensive line for the past four seasons (44 games). If that doesn’t illustrate enough of his importance to the Blue Devils, this will: Those have come at three different positions, with Monk starting his career as a right tackle and moving to right guard, with three of his starts this season coming at center.
Monk has an extra season of eligibility too, by nature of the 2020 season not counting against players’ clocks; Elko said “we’ll save those for another time” when asked if he’d had a conversation already about Monk potentially returning to Duke next season.
