Deon Jackson: Duke Has "Sour Taste" After Last Year's Loss to Syracuse
Duke hopes to get its offense on track against Syracuse on Saturday.
“For the most part, I just feel like we’ve just got to lock in and get our assignments done,” running back Deon Jackson said. “Keep our eyes right, keep our eyes on our corresponding reads, our correct assignments. Makes sure we’re executing the play all the way through how we’re supposed to.”
Syracuse runs a 3-3-5 defense, which will be an adjustment for Duke’s running game.
“It doesn’t really change too much, but based on what they run, I like to pay attention to that as well,” Jackson said. “Just because when they line up in different fronts, stunt to different things and bring different blitzes, it’s good to know what running lanes are going to be there—being able to somewhat anticipate where to go when they bring different things, throw different things at us. I know the way they line up blocking assignments, everything like that, running lanes will be a little bit different based on what they give us. just being able to stay on top of that, knowing they run the 3-3-5, they’re going to have different players fitting in different spots. Our alignment is going to be blocking different assignment, reading different spots.”
Jackson remembers last season’s 49-6 loss to Syracuse.
“It’s definitely something we talk about,” he said. “As we all know, last year’s game, the score was definitely unacceptable. For me personally, it left a sour taste in my mouth. I know it left a bad taste in my teammates’ mouths. We’re extremely motivated, more than ever to come to this game and come out with a win.”
