Duquesne football players, coaches soak in history-making victory before bye week

A smile stretches across the face of Duquesne running back Garrett Owens as he’s asked about what the campus reaction has been like since the Dukes made NEC conference history with their 28-26 victory over Ohio Saturday.

“We have all had family members say, ‘Great win,’” Owens said Monday. “Walking around the cafeteria you got the staff saying, ‘Duquesne beat Ohio! That’s an awesome win.’ The overall campus atmosphere is definitely feeling that momentum carrying over to our home opener. It’ll be awesome to have the students and family show up for the game.”

That contest isn’t until Sept. 25 against the Virginia University of Lynchburg Dragons. So, Owens and his teammates will have an extra week to enjoy their accomplishment of beating the Bobcats last Saturday.

That was the first-ever victory for Duquesne over an FBS school and the first victory for an NEC university over such a program in 25 tries.

The feat was made even more impressive given that the Dukes were coming off a 45-3 loss to TCU the previous week. A game that saw their starting quarterback, Joe Mischler, go down with a knee injury.

“To have the whole team come together throughout the week, going to an FBS school, coming together to finish strong as a team, it was awesome to come out on top,” Owens said.

Fellow running back Billy Lucas (78 yards) and Owens (83 yards) were part of a rushing attack that chewed up 168 yards on the ground. That was an aspect of the game head coach Jerry Schmitt thought Duquesne could exploit during the week of film study leading up to the game in Athens, Ohio.

“The way they play, our receivers did a good job of getting to their drop-down safeties which allows us to be able to match up helmet-for-helmet in the box to run the football,” Schmitt said during a taping of his weekly television show on AT&T SportsNet. “Schematically, what we saw on film, we knew that we had a chance.”

New starting quarterback Darius Perrantes, a transfer from Rhode Island, was poised in his first start with the Dukes. He went 23-for-34 for 194 yards and a touchdown. He didn’t throw an interception and took just one sack.

“I was impressed with how the team embraced him as our leader and took him in and said, ‘Let’s ride,’” Schmitt said. “He took that and worked really hard during the week mentally.”

For Mischler, missing the game was particularly painful, as he would’ve been taking on his former teammates. Mischler transferred from Ohio University prior to last season.

“He was a great leader throughout the week,” Schmitt said. “He helped Darius. He helped the team. He provided the same leadership as if he was healthy. I know it was hard for him, but he didn’t show that. He served as team captain. Walked out for the coin toss … was helping coaching in the things he could do. Constant conversation with me.”

Owens said the victory occurred at a nice time on the schedule, as well. Because now the team has a bye week to allow all the emotional residue of that surprising victory to soak in and fade away before focusing on the Dragons in the home opener.

“You are only as good as your next game. We definitely have that week-to-week focus,” Owens said. “As soon as that Monday hits and practice starts and we have preparation for the next game, what happened previously is in the background.”

NEC play for the Dukes begins at Merrimack on Saturday, Oct. 2.