Football 'March Madness': Duquesne starts 4-game 'spring season' Sunday

It’s March Madness on the campus of Duquesne University.

And I’m not just talking about the school’s upset win over Richmond in the Atlantic 10 Tournament on Thursday.

Onto the next one ?#GoDukes pic.twitter.com/L0mDb1l6JU

— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) March 4, 2021

I’m talking about the football team, too. Since the Northeast Conference didn’t play in the fall because of the covid-19 pandemic, the conference is allowing teams to play this spring.

Well, this month anyway. Let’s see if it ever feels like spring by the end of March. Because that’s how short Duquesne’s spring “season” is.

Head coach Jerry Schmitt’s team will only play four games. Each of them will be played over the next four Sunday afternoons. The Dukes open this Sunday at noon against Sacred Heart. Then they visit Wagner on March 14 and host Long Island on March 21. Then they end the regular season March 28 at Bryant.

The top two teams in the NEC will play each other for the league title. And the winner advances to a 16-team national tournament to determine an FCS (1-AA) Champion.

Seeing as how this year doesn’t count toward individual eligibility of players, whoever gets on the field this spring can come back with the same class standing when (knocking on the largest piece of wood available as you read this) things get closer to a “normal” season in the fall.

At this point, if you are like me, you are asking, “Why not treat these games like glorified scrimmages in what would normally be spring practices anyway?”

You know, get the backups lots of time. Get the freshmen acclimated. Pretend you are getting four preseason games like the NFL coaches have had for decades.

Schmitt sees it differently.

“We are approaching this as a conference season, and we are going out to play it,” Schmitt insisted. “And we are hoping, expecting our young guys to have adapted to college well enough to be able to help us on the field. That’s why we recruit them.”

Beyond that, Schmitt has other reasons to feel that way, at least on offense. As he looks at that side of the two-deep chart, Schmitt sees 10 of the 11 positions being manned by new starters that are either transfers, elevated backups from 2019, or players making position changes.

So on that side of the ball, whoever Schmitt deems to be the likely starters will need as much experience as possible.

“We walked 62 young men out to senior day the last two years,” Schmitt said. “We have a lot of new players. Young freshman joining our football team. Or transfers. So we’re not sure how we’re going to respond once the lights go on.

“It’ll be interesting and fun for me when the ball is kicked off. I’ll just be happy the players who are on the field — and the coaches — have gotten to that point for all the work they’ve had to do and the patience they’ve had.”

Schmitt joined me for …

Friday’s “Breakfast With Benz” podcast

We talk about all the different nuances to this short spring season, how Duquesne is handling fans given its unique on-campus location, and how the NCAA is implementing coronavirus protocols.