By Greg Levinsky
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Longtime Duquesne University football coach Jerry Schmitt and the school’s administration front loaded his team’s 2024 schedule with back-to-back matchups against FBS opponents with an understanding of the immense challenge that brings.
Despite a pair of lopsided losses, including Saturday’s 56-0 defeat at Boston College, Schmitt said he’s seen improvement as the Dukes schedule flips to FCS opponents for the rest of the season.
“I know our players appreciate the opportunity to play at venues like this… and enjoy the pageantry of college football at its highest level,” Schmitt said. “We were playing at a high level, a high rate of speed, and if we can fight to play at those levels it will help us in conference play.”
Coming off a surprising season-opening road victory over then-No. 10 Florida State in former Penn State football coach Bill O’Brien’s BC debut, the Eagles (2-0) had no trouble dropping the Dukes (0-2) in the programs’ first-ever meeting before 38,441 at Alumni Stadium.
Duquesne opened its season with a 49-10 loss at Toledo with chances to make it closer. This week, the Dukes made a strong first impression, forcing a three-and-out on the game’s opening drive, stuffing BC for consecutive one-yard losses on screen passes and containing shifty quarterback Eagles Thomas Castellanos on a keeper, but quickly fell behind in the rout.
“I was really proud of the effort that they gave through 60 minutes against an FBS program like this,” Schmitt said. “Obviously we were outmanned across the board, but we came in and did some of the things we wanted to do.”
Here’s what else you need to know about the Dukes performance:
The Big, Bad Plays
Blow the top off the secondary. Then a pick-six. That’ll do for game-changing momentum. Within a span of six plays, Duquesne ceded two big-play touchdowns to fall behind 21-0 early in the second quarter.
On second-and-eight, Castellanos dropped back and lofted a pass to a streaking Reed Harris ahead of the Duke secondary at the Eagles 38, enough for a first down, but Harris beat everyone down the sideline for a 72-yard score.
On the ensuing possession, BC defensive back Khari Johnson stepped in front of Darius Perrantes’ attempted pass to Joey Isabella, picking it off and rumbling 45 yards for a score.
Later in the second quarter, Castellanos found Lewis Bond in the end zone on a 49-yard bomb. Duquesne ceded more than 350 yards of total offense in the first half and mustered just 87 with the ball in its possession before BC mixed in its second and third unit players.
Third Down Struggles
Drives go nowhere without third down execution, especially not with the obvious physical gaps between an FCS and FBS team.
Duquesne went 1-12 on third downs, not converting until the second half when the game was well out of reach. Perrantes threw the aforementioned interception on a third down, and BC thwarted his other pass attempts and lone rush in the situation.
Duquesne went just 3-12 on third downs against Toledo last week.
“Against this football team, protection is a little bit of an issue with their size and speed,” Schmitt said. “We didn’t have a lot of time to get the ball out of our hands, and I think [quarterback Darius Perrantes] was pressured a little bit and wasn’t as sharp as he had been through camp and even some of the throws he made in the first week.”
Two Offensive Starters Injured
New Dukes tight end Noah Canty briefly played in familiar territory. After nabbing his first Duquesne reception, a four-yard touchdown, in the first quarter of last week’s season-opener, the 6-foot-2, 220-pounder left the game due to an injury sustained during a second quarter kickoff and did not record a catch.
The senior grew up about 45 minutes away from Chestnut Hill in Dover, Massachusetts and played his first three years of college football at new NEC football rival Stonehill College in nearby Easton, Massachusetts.
Duquesne also lost starting running back Ja’Mario Clements to injury midway through the second quarter.
Up Next
On to playing other FCS opponents for the remainder of 2024, the Dukes travel to Youngstown State next Saturday for a rematch of last season’s FCS Championship First Round loss.
With the two FBS teams behind them, Duquesne takes lessons learned into the rest of 2024
“There’re a lot of positives that will come out of this, and then we’ll correct the mistakes,” Schmitt said.
