Jake Bobo Discusses His Touchdown and Duke's Red Zone Struggles

Receiver had rare red zone success for Duke on Saturday

Wide receiver Jake Bobo scored Duke’s only offensive touchdown in the 31-20 loss to NC State. Bobo caught a short pass near the sideline and wound through defenders to complete the eight-yard touchdown strike that put Duke up 17-7.

“I got a great block out there by 87, Noah Gray,” Bobo said. “I made one miss, then two o-line guys—Casey (Holman) and Rak (Chambers)—got out there and got after it with some of those linebackers. My job was to make one miss. I knew those guys would take care of the rest. I got into the end zone. It was a good start to the game. Obviously, it didn’t finish the way we wanted it to.”

The touchdown was a rare red zone success for Duke, who has struggled all year in those situations, including during Saturday’s loss.

“It’s a great question,” Bobo said of the red zone problems. “I wish I had a direct answer for you. I’m sure if anyone did, we wouldn’t necessarily be having those prob in the red zone. It comes down to little things down there inside the 20. It gets so compact. Whether it’s receivers making plays, making contested catches, whether it’s guys up front being able to hold blocks for that split second to let Deon (Jackson) or Taeo (Mataeo Durant) squeeze through that gap and get into the end zone, that’s something we’ve got to figure out. I don’t know the stat. I looked it up one time, and we were 3-for-5 in the red zone. That’s not going to get it done, especially with that defense playing the way they were playing today.”