Gridiron Dynasty - Leahy DIA (BCS)

[joannes3000]

Toledo got the ball to start the Emerald Bowl. They got off to a quick start, but our defense stepped up just outside the redzone and limited them to a FG. Our first possession had it's share of big plays also, and our offense rolled into the endzone to take an early 7-3 lead. Our defense was up to the task on Toledo's next possession as we forced them into a three and out, giving us the ball at the end of the quarter.

At the start of the second quarter, we were sitting just short of midfield when we broke off a huge 48 yard run that set up another TD. At this point, I knew we were on our way. Toledo was defending both of our offensive sets heavily with a 4-3 which meant that while we were rotating fresh bodies in and out, they were wearing down the same defensive players. The 48 yard scamper was on a defense that was either getting winded or 2nd string players. Toledo had a sustained drive on their next possession, but missed a 47 yard FG attempt. Our offense answered by going 70 yards on 8 plays for another TD to make the score 21-3. Toledo's offense came out firing in retaliation; but facing 1st and goal from the 1, our defense forced two incomplete passes, sacked the qb and forced a fumble, then stopped their drive dead on 4th down from our 3 to end the half.

We started the 3rd quarter with the ball and the game in our hands. Our offense came out strong on our opening drive, going 68 yard in 4 minutes for a TD and a 28-3 lead. Toledo wasn't going to just roll over, however, as their offense answered with a TD of their own. We rolled for another TD in response, and the quarter came to a close with Toledo driving into our redzone with us holding a commanding 35-10 lead.

It looked like we had the game in the bag to start the 4th quarter when Toledo got whistled for a 15 yard chop block, but on 3rd and 23 they connected on a 25 yard pass. Two plays later Toledo was in the endzone. Our offense took the field and managed to drain over 7 minutes off the clock before kicking a FG, leaving Toledo with 5 minutes to overcome a 21 point deficit. Our defense held Toledo to a FG on their next drive, giving us the ball back with just over 2 minutes to go and the game in the bag. We caught a little flack on our next drive, because with just over 1:30 to go, we connected on a 66 yard pass for a TD. I addressed this issue at the post-game press conference by simply pointing out that the DB fell down on the play and my guys simply did what they are coached to do - play to win. Toledo tried to get a little revenge by scoring a meaningless TD at the end of the game, but we batted down a last-second attempt at the endzone.

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As I had hoped, our offense was able to get on track early which kept it rolling throughout the game. Our defense had it's hands full, though, because our offense kept putting them on the field. And while we gave up nearly 500 yards, we only allowed 20 points.

We ran for 266/5 and passed for 231/1/0, totaling 497 yards while our defense allowed 472. We had zero turnovers (+1 overall) and didn't punt once. That led to a win that we expected.

20-45 W

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Mission accomplished this season. Our Emerald Bowl victory caps off a 12-2 campaign which is our 3rd straight season of 10+ wins and our 4th consecutive bowl win. The final polls haven't been released yet, but we were #23 going into our bowl game and I think we have an outside shot at getting into the top 20 for a 2nd straight year.

[joannes3000]

With the impending drop of UGA in Rockne, I'm going to have a little more time to blog about Duke. Every good story starts with an attention-grabber, so let's go with this:

From: John Baxter

To: Coach joannes3000

Subject: Congratulations, Coach!

Sent: 8/16/08 2:52PM

I just got off the phone with the organizers of the WIS Championship Game and I've accepted their invitation. Great job this year, Coach. I think the exposure we will get playing in this game will really help out the program, not to mention recruiting next season.

Keep up the good work!

John Baxter

Athletic Director

Duke University

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New blog can be found here.