Wishing All a Happy & Blessed Holiday Season!

I hope that after a long season of football, we all find that we can put things back into perspective and enjoy family, friends and all that we have to be thankful for!

God bless all who visit here!

Dukes Break Records and Mold to Win 45-42

Charlie Leventry snuck in a 31-yard field goal as time expired to finally reward a series of good performances by a number of Dukes. It almost felt like Leventry forgot to read the playbook that the kick was supposed to go just wide so that the Dukes could add yet another agonizing loss to the season.

Up until joining the NEC, Duquesne played with the attitude that it was supposed to win every game it played. For the past two years, the Dukes have been finding creative ways to outplay an opponent and then to find a way to lose. They seemed to be doing the same thing in the second half after being up 21-7. Time and time again, the Dukes left receivers uncovered or took costly penalties or kept kicking off out of bounds to keep opening the door for Sacred Heart to come back and win. Aside from the dismal and unexplainable loss to St. Francis, Duquesne’s game plan seemed to be to outplay the opponent, but refusing to win. Larry McCoy, Kevin Rombach, Conner Dixon and yes, even the kicking game finally found a way to win.

· McCoy tied a school record with 5 touchdowns to go with 121 yards. He ran with both talent and will power.
· Kevin Rombach set a passing percentage record by throwing for 26 completions on 30 attempts (.867) for 252 yards.
· Conner Dixon made 6 catches for 96 yards- His most important was his last which set up the winning field goal as time ticked away.
· Charlie Leventry kicked the pressure filled 31 yard field goal as time expired. Eric Dule, Duquesne’s regular kicker was left back in Pittsburgh with an illness.
· Jay Spinks added another 8 catches
· Duquesne over all converted 12 of 18 3rd downs on their way to gaining 450 yards.

Duquesne closes out the season with Senior Day at home vs. Bryant.

Dukes Lose Another Close One: Patterson Takes His Turn

One of the most precious gifts I had ever received from my father-in-law (aside from my wife of course) is a vivid memory of his he shared of a Duquesne quarterback. It was from the 1936 Orange Bowl when he told me in intimate detail of a late game 72 yard touchdown pass from Boyd Brumbaugh to Ernie Hefferle to pull out a 13-12 Duquesne win against Miami. He must have only heard the game on the radio and read about it in the papers later, but his eyes could still follow the pass through the air as he told me that the pass arched 69 yards in the air. Brumbaugh was an honorable mention All American and would late play for the Steelers. However, he generated no more golden memories for my father-in-law to share.

Brumbaugh’s collegiate statistics as quarterback and Duquesne’s major college football program did not outlive my father-in-law’s memories. Duquesne’s program went from being one of the best in the nation just prior to World War II to extinction in 1950.

Duquesne, of course would re-start its program in 1969, but would not re-joint Division I (1-AA/FCS) until 1993. Since 1993, a talented crop of Brumaugh’s heirs at quarterback has blessed Duquesne. If Penn State is known as Linebacker U. has successfully recruited a group of very skilled quarterback.

Current receivers coach Dave Loya (1994-97), was the first modern QB of the era, ending his career in possession of 13 of 15 Duquesne quarterback records. Dave, recently engaged, would lead the Dukes to “Mid-Major” prominence and would earn the first of many MAAC Conference Championships. He also has had the agony or pleasure of seeing most of those records gradually surpassed as he coached from the sidelines.

Tony Zimmerman ((1998-2000) would take over after Dave’s four years as starter and would only need three years to break his mark for career passing yards, touchdowns and completions.

Neil Loebig (2001-04) didn’t miss a beat as he pushed the passing records further. As he learned from Loya, Neil currently directs the Duke’s passing game.

From there, the records stopped falling…

It is not due to a shortage of talent. Scott Knapp (2005-07) was well on his way to working into Duquesne’s record books, but lost his job to another highly skilled quarterback, Kevin Rombach (2005-09). Kevin had a Redshirt season in 2006 and was, like Knapp, the apparent heir to the throne with the highest completion percentage of them all. Knapp left the University early. Kevin lost his crown to Conner Dixon, also an excellent quarterback who transferred in with considerable publicity and expectations from Michigan State.

Dixon couldn’t have had a better start during last year’s Bucknell game, setting the record for the most touchdowns in one game. No Duquesne fan could have predicted the lack of consistency since.

Finally a new, young talented quarterback has made a challenge for the title. Sean Patterson started today against Central Connecticut and played reasonably well in the 31-24 loss. Today’s loss was not due to the inexperienced Patterson. It was due to continued and chronic mistakes and lack of focus. The Dukes lost another close game they could have and should have won. A blocked punt late in the game set up the Blue Devils winning score.

This coaching staff must take a long look at itself and determine just who they are going to develop put their confidence in. They are turning unlimited potential into limited liabilities. The most important position on any team is its quarterback. The position requires time to learn and time to learn the offense and make it his own.

One suggestion would be to move Dave Loya, the guy who started it all, back to running the passing game as quarterback’s coach. Dave is a proven coach who ironically brought the present quarterback’s coach along to break his own records.

Some day, Duquesne may have an established leader and quarterback to help them gain focus in the locker room and on the field. And some day, I hope to have my future son-in-law hear my stories of the great quarterbacks from Duquesne. I wonder if he will find them as interesting?

The Bright Side of an Albany Blow Out

Can there be a “bright side” to a 55-10 blowout? After waiting a few hours and looking over the game stats, the answer actually may be “yes”.

Consider the following…

Duquesne went into mighty Albany’s house on Homecoming. The Great Danes haven’t lost a game to an NEC opponent for the past 16 games.

Albany is not only playing toe to toe with the best teams in the FCS, but is now scheduling Big East member Cincinnati.

Duquesne had more first downs (22-17), passing yards (221-193), time of possession (34:00 to 26:00), and even higher yards per punt average. The Dukes forced the same number of punts as well.

Conner Dixon put up decent numbers against a tough defense (20-31 for 194 yards and a touchdown).

The overall yards (unless you add in the return yardage) didn’t reflect the final score.

So why the 55-10 score?

The Dukes made the same amount of mistakes that they have all year to a much better team. It started on the first play from scrimmage for the Dukes, losing a fumble to set up Albany’s first score. They went on to fumble three more times and added an interception. Their punting average was 33.5 yards (Albany’s was 31.7).

Most damaging were the big plays and Albany’s ability to make Duquesne pay for every mistake and lack of focus. The Dukes have been making mistakes and have had trouble focusing all year and it has cost them each time. With the exception of this game the Dukes could make an argument that they could have won all the others this year.

The Dukes seem to have the talent (except for a punter and other costly spots). They have had costly injuries to key players but have shown depth.

If Duquesne could ever match the focus and attitude of Albany, they would be in the middle of a wining season. The Dukes must learn that focus, or they will always be a talented team that can't win.

Albany to the CAA?

Albany is doing all of the things I would hope that the Dukes would do to bring their program to FCS excellence. Ironically, its the same recipe the Dukes used to go from a Club team to D-III to D-1-AA. They scheduled up, moved to a scholarship conference, they started building a collegiate atmosphere with an new field, press box and worked with a band. Then, all of a sudden the Dukes took back to a D-III feeling. No band, a short sighted expansion of the field, a tiny "pep" band that can't be heard, no "real" tailgate area (The Straub area is nice, but not a tailgate area).

Football recruits see this and it affects their decisions to come here. It all has to come together. I don't blame Albany for not wanting to stay in this conference and go to the CAA. Duquesne has the smallest field, no band, no tailgate area to lure a crowd, and no longer reaches as dramatically above their conference. And when they do shedule Delaware, they will not have as much of a chance to compete evenly due to this minor league attitude. NAIA and high school teams have a better band, stadium, tailgate, and press box. A guy trowing a frisbee to his dog is not a half time show.

After last year's game the Dane's fans thought that the Dukes would help the NEC's image, but If Albany leaves, it will be due, in part, to Duquesne short sighted imagination to build a REAL FCS team and atmosphere that goes with it.

Dukes Hold Off Cross-Town Colonials 34-20

Duquesne held off Robert Morris in an emotion filled, but sloppy game typical of these cross-town NEC rivals this year. The Dukes looked to dominate the contest by building a 27-0 lead into the third quarter before wise old Joe Walton decided his offense needed to take the red-shirt off freshman quarterback Jeff Sinclair. The Highlands grad got used to the collegiate play by the third quarter and led the Colonials to within a touchdown before the Dukes got themselves re-focused for a final drive to put the game away.

Duquesne got in a freshman quarterback of their own by letting prospect Sean Patterson lead them to a 37 yard touchdown drive for the Dukes’ second score. Larry McCoy had yet another 100-yard game with 107 yards on 20 carries with 13 and 11-yard touchdown runs. Joe Cangilla looks to be the latest in a talented stable of receivers, pulling down three passes for 68 yards. His most impressive was a leaping 27 yard catch from Conner Dixon to set up the Dukes’ last touchdown. Dixon was 19 of 31 for 201 yards while Patterson went 1 for 2 for 11 yards.

Duquesne was able to overcome 3 turnovers (2 fumbles and an interception), a muffed punt, a missed extra point and over 100 yards in penalties to miss shooting themselves in the foot for the fourth week in a row. Duquesne, with less mistakes, could easily be undefeated rather than 2-3 if they could ever sustain the focus that built them a 27-0 lead in this game. The Dukes’ kicking game, which helped to frustrate decent chances to win the past three games, helped the Colonials considerably by giving Robert Morris the ball at Duquesne’s 15 yard-line and missing the second chance at an extra point after a penalty.

Duquesne took a lead in the overall series against Robert Morris 6 games to 5. Next week, the Dukes travel to last year’s NEC Champion Albany for a 1:00 game heard on WMNY and Redzone Media.

By Shaler Tom from the Football Forum

Subject: Back from Dayton

Author:
Shaler Tom

Date Posted: Saturday, September 26, 11:47:05pm

I wonder if three straight tough road games finally caught up with the Dukes today. It seemed to me as I watched from behind the bench that the boys just weren't in it mentally or physically.
After a 67 yard run by Larry McCoy on the opening play, which to be honest was created by a missed tackle on a simple dive play, the Dukes shot themselves in the foot, over and over again.
A blown coverage led to UD's first TD, a 58 yd pass that tied the score. This was on a second and 18 play!
Duquesne, on its best drive of the game, went 66 yards but had to settle for a field goal and led 10-7. The Dukes had a chance to stretch the lead near the half, but with a 4th and 1 at the 15 were called for a false start and then missed a 32 yard field goal.
In the third quarter, another blown coverage and TWO missed tackles resulted in a 62 yard TD putting Dayton up 14-10.
After a 29 yard punt, the Flyers started in good position and drove for a field goal. 17-10
A one yard run, a dropped pass, a QB sack and a 28 yard punt put Dayton in good position again. Steve Valentino, the aforementiond WR turned QB, began to chew up our defense on the ground with ease. The boys were tired and over pursued. A face mask penalty contributed to the Flyer drive, 24-10.
Friends, this was a TEAM loss. The offensive line play was poor, take away McCoys TD run and the backs ran for 68 yrds on 30 plays. Dixon looked shakey. He was hurried and hit on almost every pass play. He did throw some nice balls but just as many poor ones. Our recievers had some drops that would have kept drives alive, our special teams were terrible and the play calling.....very, very predictable. Our linebackers were outstanding as usual, Totino and Scruggs were the lone bright spots in my opinion. Our D-line was suckered into an over-pursuit all day long and our DBs were torched.
As most of you know, I try to be optimistic, but this one was tough to watch. I'm hoping that it was simply a case of too much travel in too few days.