Duquesne coach Jerry Schmitt: ‘Embrace the opportunity’ as Dukes visit a Power 5 foe in West Virginia
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For the returning players on Duquesne’s football team, Saturday’s jump in competition as they travel down I-79 to face West Virginia will be nothing new. They were on the Dukes’ roster last year when the team visited FBS schools such as Florida State and Hawaii. Some still remain from the 2021 team that went to TCU and beat Ohio on the road.
However, 51 new players are on Jerry Schmitt’s depth chart in 2023 as this team prepares to visit Morgantown Saturday night. So Schmitt will make sure to emphasize the same point to them as he has to his previous players that have taken on the huge task of facing off with a Power 5 foe.
The same points that he is emphasizing to himself and his staff.
“Embrace the opportunity to develop our players to play at a higher level than they ever have,” Schmitt said during Thursday’s “Breakfast With Benz” podcast. “For our staff to prepare at a higher level than it ever has. We’re going up against quality staffs and bigger programs that have more analysts than we probably have on our coaching staff. We have to prepare extra hard and try to put our guys in the best position to be successful.”
This won’t be the only challenge of this ilk for Schmitt’s club this season. Next week, the Dukes visit Coastal Carolina, a team that won 22 games at the FBS level between 2020-21 and finished the ‘20 campaign ranked 14th in the country.
The economic impact of Duquesne taking on such road games is obvious. Last year, during an interview with TribLIVE, Dukes athletic director Dave Harper said making those road trips to FBS competitors such as Florida State and Hawaii can account for “roughly half” of the Dukes’ budget.
“A school like Hawaii, they will pay for airfare and a guarantee,” Harper said at the time. “Florida State is just paying a guarantee. Then our charter flight will be factored into that guarantee. So that is our expense. But the guarantee offsets it, and then some. If you can play someone like West Virginia that’s closer, just a bus trip, that’s helpful. But we don’t base it on that.”
Schmitt says the benefits for the football team itself are absorbed in other ways.
“There’s a huge buzz on campus. There’s a huge buzz with our fans, our former players, and our kids are really excited,” Schmitt said. “It’s amazing how many former players I hear back from, talking about some of these games that we’re playing. They’re so proud of where the program has gone. They know they were part of that building process — probably a little bit of jealousy. They’d love to have played in some of these. But they are so supportive.”
That translates into alumni support, recruiting exposure and (perhaps most importantly these days) transfer portal clout.
That’s to say nothing of hardening the squad for conference play when the team begins its NEC schedule on Sept. 30 at Long Island.
“It’s a measure for us — that we can continue to stretch ourselves. And it’s not just on the field. It’s the offseason programs, the summer programs, the strength conditioning and nutrition programs. We’ve continued to develop those things to improve our program,” Schmitt said.
The Dukes are coming off a 49-7 season-opening win against Edinboro last week. Schmitt’s defense forced five turnovers and the offense rushed for 238 yards. Meanwhile the Mountaineers lost to Penn State 38-15.
Even though the seventh-ranked Nittany Lions boast a roster full of elite Big Ten athletes, Schmitt says his staff can attempt to put some of the schematics they gleaned from that tape into play Saturday in Morgantown.
“We do that stuff every week,” Schmitt said. “Games across the board are similar in nature. You can adapt some of the things. You might not do it like a Big Ten team can, athletically, physically, maybe. But we adapt to who our best guys are — try to get matchups and put our guys in the best position to be successful.”
Also in the podcast, Schmitt and I look at the specific challenges West Virginia presents, we discuss starting quarterback Darius Perrantes. And we dive into some of the success in Week 1 from the wide receivers and Missouri transfer running back Taj Butts.