How Duke’s defense racks up tackles for losses and why that’s important against UNC

Manny Diaz brought a strong defensive background to a Duke football program already known for being strong on that side of the ball.

The result in Diaz’s first season as the Blue Devils coach has been spectacular thus far.

While leading the nation in tackles for loss, Duke is at or near the top of the ACC in a host of defensive categories as it enters conference play unbeaten.

Of course, now is where things figure to get tougher for the Blue Devils (4-0), starting with Saturday’s 4 p.m. game with rival North Carolina (3-1) at Wallace Wade Stadium.

A defensive coordinator at seven different schools since 2006, including Texas and Miami, Diaz left his job as Penn State’s defensive coordinator to take over Duke’s program from Mike Elko last December.

He, along with Duke defensive coordinator Jonathan Patke, have unleashed a defense this season that continues to create havoc with big plays.

Duke averages 11.5 tackles for loss, including 3.5 sacks, per game. The 46 tackles for loss the Blue Devils have in four games are 12 more than any other ACC team.

“I’m probably a little bit surprised how it’s happened as fast as it’s happened,” Diaz said, “and I think the credit goes to coach Patke and his staff, but more than anything, to our kids. I think they’ve done a great job of adapting to it, and now that they’ve seen it, now that they have the body of evidence, like you say when you lead the country in anything, right? So they get it, you know, the tackles for losses, the sacks, and why that matters. What that does to drives.”

Since only one of Duke’s first four games came against a Power 4 conference team, the Blue Devils know they have more proving to do. It starts with UNC which, while humbled by losing 70-50 to James Madison on Saturday, still boasts a solid offense that found the end zone seven times in the loss.

The Tar Heels have simply outscored Duke in each of the last two seasons, winning in shootouts — 38-35 in 2023 and 47-45 in double overtime last season.

So the pressure will be on Duke’s defense once again.

“The challenge of that will be increased this week,” Diaz said, “but that’s still paramount. The first way you win a game is you have to play great defense.”

That’s not easy when UNC can hand the ball to running back Omarion Hampton, a preseason All-American who leads the ACC in rushing yards (555) while scoring six touchdowns. Last season, Hampton rushed for 169 yards against Duke.

“He’ll be the best tailback we faced,” Patke said. “An NFL player who runs really hard and is really hard to bring down. I think our guys will understand the challenge going into his game, especially guys that played him before. We have to tackle. This has to be our best tackling game. He’s a special player.”

Tackling has been a strength for Duke this season. According to Pro Football Focus analysis, Duke starting players – safety Terry Moore, defensive tackle Aaron Hall, defensive end Vincent Anthony, defensive tackle Kendy Charles and safety Jaylen Stinson – have ratings of 76 or higher. That’s a grading range from above average to high quality.

In pass coverage, Duke’s PFF grade as a team is 91.4, which is elite.

That level of play is why Duke has allowed 15.3 points per game and is second in the ACC in total defense (259.3 yards per game).

A big key, Patke said, is keeping explosive plays to a minimum and making teams sustain drives to score against the Blue Devils. That will be even more important against Hampton, who is a threat to score every time he gets the ball.

“With a running back that can be explosive, you have to limit his explosive plays against us,” Patke said. “Obviously, with the running back, explosive plays usually come because of missed tackles and leverage, which we preach all the time, you got to stay leveraged, and we got to tackle really well.”

As Duke seeks to end a five-game losing streak against the Tar Heels and find its first win in the series since 2018, its defense will be counted on to stay sharp.