Using spring season 'double motivation,' Duquesne football opens 2021 fall campaign with challenge at TCU

Duquesne football head coach Jerry Schmitt was very clear in his approach heading into the Dukes’ recently completed 2021 spring mini-season.

The games weren’t exhibitions. They weren’t glorified scrimmages. They weren’t warm-ups for the fall.

That was the team’s 2020 campaign — just a few pages late on the calendar, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.

His players seemed to hear that message, as Schmitt’s Dukes won all four of their regular-season contests.

But taking the wins seriously also means serious disappointment when the final score isn’t in your favor. That was the case when Duquesne suffered a 34-27 kick-in-the-gut kind of loss at home to Sacred Heart in the NEC Championship game.

Quarterback Joe Mischler — who had an outstanding start in his first four games as the Dukes new signal caller — was stripped of the ball on his way into the end zone in an attempt to tie the game in overtime.

“We were coming off a disappointing 2019 season,” Schmitt said during Wednesday’s “Breakfast With Benz” podcast. “We were playing really well, 4-0 in the conference. Then our quarterback (Daniel Parr) got hurt. And we struggled in those last three games. So we had a little motivation coming off of that. Then you combine that with the pause in the 2020 season and the disappointment in the championship game. It’s almost a double motivation.”

Now that a 2021 fall regular schedule is looming, that inspiration is tangible among Schmitt’s players. Offensive tackle Jake Dixon says the overtime loss to Sacred Heart hurt even more in April than it would have to end a typical fall season.

“I think it had even more of a sting. We waited 14 months to play football again. The way we got through the regular season. And then … they are great football team,” Dixon said Monday, deciding to simply compliment Sacred Heart rather than dwell on the defeat any longer.

Not that he’s unaware of the looming conference rematch.

“We go up there October 23rd. We all know the date,” Dixon said. “But we have five games before that.”

Two of them are major challenges to begin the season. Dixon and his teammates open the 2021 season against back-to-back FBS opponents on the road, TCU (Sept. 4) and Ohio University (Sept. 11).

“We look at it as a great opportunity for our young men to play in those venues. To play against those programs and for our fans to enjoy that atmosphere. Then to challenge ourselves and continuously push our program forward,” Schmitt said.

Next year, Duquesne visits Hawaii and Florida State. In 2023, they’ll take on West Virginia and Coastal Carolina.

“We know that competing at that level will help us improve as a football program,” Schmitt insisted.

To Schmitt’s point, the larger goal of scheduling such games is viewed from a program-building perspective. But what about the actual 60 minutes of football in Fort Worth Saturday night?

Dixon says the main goal is for the Dukes to ignore any intimidation factor of playing against a Big 12 opponent.

“It’s going to be a different brand of football, but we are excited for the challenge,” Dixon said. “We need to play our game of football. If we look at the scoreboard at the end of the game, and as long as we have played up to our ability, we’re going to have a good day. That’s the same if we are playing TCU or if we are playing Sacred Heart.”

Also in our podcast, Schmitt talks about what he learned about his depth chart in the spring that he can apply for the fall. He also gets into the quick turnaround for the players from a conditioning perspective and which position groups benefited the most from facing live competition in the spring.

Listen: Tim Benz speaks with Duquesne football head coach Jerry Schmitt about the upcoming season