After a one-year hiatus, Duke’s Random February Loss is back.

As events in the second month of the year go, it’s only slightly less explainable than why so many people pay attention to whether a Pennsylvania groundhog sees its shadow. But it happens so often, the lacrosse world should know it’s coming eventually.

It just never knows exactly when.

The Blue Devils’ 14-12 loss to Jacksonville on Sunday filled in that blank. Only once in the last 14 years has Duke escaped February without a loss — last year, when John Danowski’s team went 5-0 in the first month of the season, then won five more before suffering an April loss to Notre Dame.

Overall, Danowski’s teams have dropped 19 games in February since 2009, and the out-of-nowhere setback against a Southern Conference team is a more recent development. The Blue Devils fell to Air Force (a SoCon member in lacrosse at the time) in 2017 and 2020, and to High Point in 2019.

Now Jacksonville (1-1) has picked off the Blue Devils for the first time in 12 tries.

(This is also the point where Danowski’s willingness to play non-conference games for reasons that go beyond an obvious RPI or strength of schedule benefit is to be commended. The sport is better off for it.)

Danowski has almost always played the long game with the development of his teams, and it’s long been a cliché that Duke’s February setbacks usually give way to a team that blossoms in April and May. It doesn’t always happen, but there is enough of a track record to suggest the Blue Devils will be back in the top 10 and probably the top five before long.

It just won’t be this week.

NIKE/USA LACROSSE
DIVISION I MEN’S TOP 20

Also considered (alphabetical order): Albany (0-0), Brown (0-0), Massachusetts (0-1), Michigan (2-0), Ohio State (2-0), Princeton (0-0), Richmond (0-1), Stony Brook (1-0), UMBC (0-0), Utah (1-1), Villanova (2-0)

Nike/USA Lacrosse Rankings

Division I Men | Division I Women
Division II Men | Division II Women
Division III Men | Division III Women

HOT

Rutgers (+3)

The Scarlet Knights won three games in eight days to start the season, capping the stretch with a 23-6 drubbing of St. John’s. It was the most goals Rutgers scored in a game since 2010 (24 against Wagner), and their most lopsided rout since pounding NJIT 21-2 in 2015.

The Rutgers defense has played well (22 goals allowed), but perhaps the most striking thing about Brian Brecht’s team is the plethora of options that have thrived at the offensive end after graduation- and injury-related losses. Penn transfer Mitch Bartolo and junior Ross Scott both have 10 goals already, and Rutgers has five players with at least five goals. A step up awaits Saturday as Army visits Piscataway.

Syracuse (+3)

Syracuse savored Gary Gait’s debut as the coach of its men’s program as the Orange rolled to a 28-5 pummeling of Holy Cross.

It was a day that couldn’t have gone much better. Syracuse shot 57.1 percent, set a school record with 19 goals in the first half and earned its most lopsided victory ever at the Carrier Dome. The Orange got goals from 13 different players, including five apiece from Tucker Dordevic and Owen Seebold. Things get a bit more interesting Sunday with Maryland (2-0) coming to town.

NOT

Duke (-14)

This placement isn’t so much a reflection of a sudden lack of belief in the Blue Devils as it is trying to do a ranking exercise in a logical fashion so early in the season.

It’s difficult to justify placing 3-1 Duke ahead of Jacksonville, the one-loss team that just defeated it Sunday. And it’s just as challenging to come up with an argument in favor of vaulting the Dolphins ahead of a one-loss Johns Hopkins team it lost to 11-8 on Feb. 5. So here the Blue Devils sit for now after looking a lot better in their Friday games than their Sunday outings so far.

Loyola (-5)

The score from Saturday that jumped off the page the most was Maryland’s 20-8 defeat of the Greyhounds. Maryland was at home, and it had the benefit of playing a week earlier. But it’s unlikely many people thought the Terrapins were 12 goals better than Loyola.

The guess here is it proves to be an outlier, and both teams go on to enjoy fine seasons. But for now, Loyola’s miserable second quarter in College Park (when it was outscored 10-3) means a drop out of the top 10 is called for. Next week’s trip to Johns Hopkins — the return of a Charles Street rivalry after a one-year hiatus — is a fine chance for the Greyhounds to begin building their postseason profile.

IN

Jacksonville

The Dolphins’ victory at Duke is their most high-profile triumph in their 13-season existence, and it shoots them into the top 20 just as a busy stretch gets underway. The Duke contest begins a stretch of five games in 15 days, which will include a meeting with Marquette on Saturday and trips to Denver and Air Force the following weekend.

The Dolphins have a couple key veteran pieces added in this season that have made instant impacts. Former Tufts attackman Max Waldbaum scored four times against the Blue Devils, and ex-North Carolina goalie Luke Millican made 10 saves and earned his victory since Feb. 3, 2018, on Sunday, eight days after a 17-stop showing at Johns Hopkins.

OUT

Vermont (was No. 20)

The Catamounts, fresh off their first NCAA tournament appearance, opened with back-to-back losses to Duke and Utah to fall out of the rankings.

Vermont actually played a superb first half at Duke on Feb. 6, holding the Blue Devils to two goals before Duke unleashed both a seven-goal and a five-goal run after the break. Saturday’s 11-10 loss to the Utes was probably more frustrating; the Catamounts scored five times in less than eight minutes to tie it, only for Utah to win it on Josh Rose’s goal with 1:28 to go.

Vermont’s interesting opening stretch continues Wednesday at Penn State, which is coming off a loss to Villanova, before a Feb. 26 trip to Brown.

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