Duquesne Football's Drops Second Straight Road Contest
It was an understandable bit of pushback when Duquesne Football Coach Jerry Schmitt met with a university spokesperson following a 24-13 Oct. 25 loss at Wagner that he was disappointed by the outcome.
There may have been an outside expectation of a Dukes victory, but in the minutes after that loss, Schmitt wanted no part of that.
“Yeah, that might have been part of the problem, that we were worried about that kind of stuff and that had nothing to do with it,” Schmitt challenged. “To be honest with you, I’m a little upset about it. A whole bunch of people probably thought we were going to walk in here and just keep rolling. Well, that ain’t happening. Sorry, you got me going here a little bit. We’ve got to play our best football game no matter who you play.”
There was a bye week between this loss and the LIU game and there was hope Duquesne would revert back to its winning ways, but instead it could never recover from a slow start falling 29-11 at LIU Saturday afternoon.
Speaking after the game, Schmitt explained that the bottom line was that Duquesne did not play its best football game.
“Not a good day for the Dukes obviously,” stated Schmitt. “A lot of technical mistakes that could have kept us in that football game. We did a lot of good things but just too many things that we let them get away with. We’ve got to do a better job of preparing our guys. Across the whole 60 minutes we’ve just got to do a better job as a staff preparing them and that’s on me to do that and put them in a better position to be successful.”
Schmitt conceded it was a challenge trying to stop two quarterbacks who have a tendency to run the football and a running back and defensively they were defending pass. Duquesne’s rushing attack had over 200 total yards, but the Dukes could not get the ball down the field.
These two consecutive defeats have knocked Duquesne out of controlling its own destiny to win the NEC’s automatic berth in the FCS Division I Championship. Central Connecticut now can lay claim to that advantage.
The two teams will meet at Rooney Field Saturday at noon in the latest chapter of a rivalry between two of the conference’s traditional powerhouses.
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In less than a week’s time, Duquesne has thrice been tested and Sunday afternoon came away with its first road victory of the season 72-64 over Western Michigan.
Freshman Alexis Bordas set a career high with her 24 points and connected on five of her 10 three-point tries.
“My teammates did a great job of getting me open once they fell, it felt good,” Bordas to the Western Michigan broadcast after the win. “This was a good team, we could not take them lightly, it was a great game until the end.”
Sophomore forward Harriet Ford achieved 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds, in her first game with the program. Dunja Zecevic totaled 10 points, achieving double figures for a third consecutive contest.
Of the 11 Duquesne players to see court time, 10 scored and 10 grabbed a rebound, while nine had at least one assist. The Dukes also forced 22 turnovers.
Western Michigan (0-2) had four complete play in double figures as Alli Carlson and Ariana Wilkes shared top honors with 11 points.
Duquesne had a challenging first quarter, headlined by a 5:14 scoreless streak. As a result, the Dukes shot 18.8% from the field, but strung plays together to trail by one after 10 minutes.
From there, Duquesne had pockets of play where it took control of the game, namely a 13-0 second quarter run across 3:50, culminating in a Bordas triple.
Western Michigan cut Duquesne’s halftime lead to 33-30, but the Dukes would better control the ebbs and flows in the second half.
Duquesne has another quick turnover as Tuesday it hosts coach Dan Burt’s alma mater West Liberty at 5 p.m.
