Duke 31, Virginia 3

[wilson]

Even more important than it looks good, is the fact that drive was led by Asack in his brief presence today. I was really surprised we didn't see him earlier. But for him to go in and lead to a touchdown is well needed experience, and a job well done.

I echo your pleasure at seeing Asack succeed in game action. But in a much broader, non-specific sense, you gotta love seeing Duke's backup QB (whoever he may be) in the game with 4 minutes left...followed by another TD. Beautiful.

[Devilsfan]

The only difference in our teams performance this year compared to the last several years is EVERYTHING!!! You usually get out of coaches what you pay them. Finally were paying them K staff type money and guess what were getting K quality coaching thus far. The K standard is expensive but worth every penney.

[CameronBornAndBred]

It will now fall to a far superior AD to keep Cutcliffe in Durham once Tennessee fires Fulmer.

A nice note about the Devil Walk. Coach Cut lead the way at the front, thanking everyone for their support, Kevin White brought up the rear, thanking everyone for their support. Very classy.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

A nice note about the Devil Walk. Coach Cut lead the way at the front, thanking everyone for their support, Kevin White brought up the rear, thanking everyone for their support. Very classy.

Kevin White answers his email... a refreshing change!

[devildeac]

Weren't the Orange Bowl reps recognized because of the 75th. anniversary of the Orange Bowl? They presented a check (I thought) to Mac McIlhaney from the 1958 Duke Rose Bowl team. The Orange Bowl reps have appeared at Duke games in some previous seasons.

I must admit to being out of my seat when this all took place so my description may not be complete.. I visited at halftime with Johnny McNabb, Class of '66 and outstanding former football player, who had been recognized as one of the honorary coaches for the game.

That is an accurate explanation for their presence today. (for now)

[Acymetric]

Oh, by the way, Tauiliili had a MONSTER game today. I haven't checked other teams' box scores, but 16 tackles, 1 forced fumble/recovery, 1 interception, and a QB hurry. He's got to be at least be in consideration for defensive pow.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Since I was around pulling for my guys before the game, it's only fitting that I come now to congratulate ya'll. In my opinion, the game was won at halftime, when Coach Cut and his crew made great adjustments while Groh and company clearly did not. Talk about two programs with opposite trajectories.

Good luck the rest of the way. I don't know if I'll get to any more Duke home games, but I'll be pulling for them.

That's a well noted point about the coaching. When both teams go into the half tied, and one comes out at the end with a blowout, you have to contribute a lot to coaching and whatever adjustments they made. I just watched all of the post game interviews and all of the players echo that sentiment.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Oh, by the way, Tauiliili had a MONSTER game today. I haven't checked other teams' box scores, but 16 tackles, 1 forced fumble/recovery, 1 interception, and a QB hurry. He's got to be at least be in consideration for defensive pow.

He's taking his position as captain of the defensive unit very seriously. And how about Vinny Rey? He was working all over the field, too. Lots of great effort from the defensive unit.

[DownEastDevil]

I must admit, I was concerned at halftime. The defense was playing great but the offense was not clicking. Even though they did improve the second half I felt it was because the defense was getting them good field position. I was some what disappointed with the crowd but I guess the gas situation has affected some. I don't understand the the shrinking student section that seems to get smaller each game. On the way home I was telling my wife how much the whole atmosphere has changed and anybody that had a chance to go but for some reason didn't was missing out on a new exciting era of Duke Football. We use to take our kids with us but now we take our grand kids and now my adult kids want to know when I can take them back.

[patentgeek]

It seems to me that the student section (irrespective of the number of students present) is much more into games this year - I've been to the last three home games and have noticed a lot of noise/cheering/spirit from them as compared to past years (of course, to be fair, being competitive helps, and winning helps even more). I also think it helps spur on the student section when the players come over and thank them afterward.

I've also noticed more of a Cameron-type approach from the students - dressing up in goofy costumes and such; for example, I saw one kid wandering around in a big purple sombrero. Kudos to him for wearing that thing in the Saturday afternoon heat.

[MulletMan]

Hmmm... what FUN!

A great turn out today and antoher beautiful day at Wally Wade!

So the team played very nicely today. We still lack a decent ability to run the football. We did, however, start to move the UVa D line backwards in the second half. That was huge. Thad still needs to learn to put a little bit of touch on some of his throws, but onn the whole I felt like he played a pretty solid game. I'm not going to lie... early in the third quarter when we looked stagnant on offense, I was hoping to see Asack. But Cut stuck with Thad, and I suppose that's why he's on the sideline and I'm in the stands.

However, I will say that some of our tendancies are easy to spot. For example, when we lined up before the first touchdown, I told my friends that we were running a screen. Bingo... screen for a TD! Now, if I am catching some of the play calls from the stands on gameday, then other teams should be finding them during film sessions. That's really my only critique of the coaching... and that's not a huge deal.

The D was the real star today, though, folks! Big play after big play after big play. Make no mistake, they took advantage of UVa's QB situation, but that's what you need to do when you're trying to get better. Take advantage of the other team's weaknesses. And Tauiliili's pick was fantastic! UVa had run that little slant about 5 times for easy first downs, and when they ran it that time, he broke toward the reciever before the ball was even thrown! Great adjustments.

Also, I can't say how pleased I was with our a. execution and b. management of penalties. We executed the called plays pretty well and we only had 3 (!!!) penalties. One was a pass interference in the first quarter which was a good penalty to take as it was on a long ball in the endzone, one was the unsportsmanlike conduct on Marshall for diving in to the endzone... and then was the other one an illegal man downfield??? Either way, that's GREAT!!!

So I think that we have a chance next week, but everyone needs to realize that GT is a very good, and well coached team... remember, a lot of people around our neck of the woods were interested in Paul Johnson about a year ago. We are going to work on run support, and hopefully our game against Navy will have prepared our defense for a little of what they see next week... although I watched GT play BC a few weeks ago and they certainley throw the ball more than Navy... and they do it well.

Very excited for the next few weeks as we will learn a lot. Even if we don't win another game, I'll still be excstatic. What am I saying!? I want to win our next three game!!! See what you've done to me Cutty?!?!?

Oh, and the Orange Bowl officials were at the game, a. because they visit each school in the ACC for a home game every year, b. because it is the 75th aniversary of the Orange Bowl and they are doing commmemorations at each school, and c. they presented members of the 1958 Orange Bowl team with a commemorative ball because that's the last time that Duke went to an Orange Bowl.

[Jim3k]

We executed the called plays pretty well and we only had 3 (!!!) penalties. One was a pass interference in the first quarter which was a good penalty to take as it was on a long ball in the endzone, one was the unsportsmanlike conduct on Marshall for diving in to the endzone... and then was the other one an illegal man downfield??? Either way, that's GREAT!!!

I think the third penalty was for breaking the huddle with 12 men -- an illegal procedure.

[CameronBornAndBred]

I'm not going to lie... early in the third quarter when we looked stagnant on offense, I was hoping to see Asack.

I think it was important that Thad stayed in. The coaches showed him they had confidence in him, and he found the rythm he was lacking. I was surprised to see as little of Asack as we did, I thought the coaches should have put him in a couple series earlier than they did. The same goes for the starting D line, they were in there almost until the last series.

[gep]

However, I will say that some of our tendancies are easy to spot. For example, when we lined up before the first touchdown, I told my friends that we were running a screen. Bingo... screen for a TD! Now, if I am catching some of the play calls from the stands on gameday, then other teams should be finding them during film sessions. That's really my only critique of the coaching... and that's not a huge deal.

My comment... maybe this is a function of the first year (4th game, even) of a new coach and system. If so, these "tendencies" should be less apparent as time goes on. I think it may actually be good that for now, everyone (team, coaches) take their time getting used to each other and get as much as they can right. A TD seems to be "getting things right"

Also, I think one of the bigger differences from prior years is penalties (lack there of). Great job of coaching, focus, etc...

[duketaylor]

Great win for the program today, we appear to be back and can't be considered as an easy win. That's awesome. It was fun to go to games when I was in school because we were competitive, er, good. High scoring affairs with lots of Bennett to Hines going on. Winning seasons and a bowl here and there with Spurrier as OC. Looks like we might actually be on that track and it's about damn time.
An aside; wonder if said 'Ol Ball Coach will show us some love and give us a (deserved, maybe) 25th place vote this coming week. A wonderful thought, IMO. So look for the Devils in the "also receiving votes" category on Monday (or is it Tuesday?). Way to go Devils!!

[CameronBornAndBred]

So look for the Devils in the "also receiving votes" category on Monday (or is it Tuesday?). Way to go Devils!!

It's Sunday...but don't get your hopes up. We've been a lot of fun to watch, and while we as fans might think of we are deserving (and up til now our past oponents have done well outside of their Duke loss/ escape) the voters will be harder to convince. On the way home, I listened to the ECU game, and one commentator noted not how good Duke was, but how bad Virgina was. If we had beaten Navy after they beat Wake, JMU after they beat App then maybe we'd get a bit more respect. But we are still known to the nation as one of the worst football programs, and the voters will need more convincing then they might afford another team coming off of a losing season.
It is still fun to prove them all wrong, but don't expect the votes to come pouring in yet.

[loran16]

It's Sunday...but don't get your hopes up. We've been a lot of fun to watch, and while we as fans might think of we are deserving (and up til now our past oponents have done well outside of their Duke loss/ escape) the voters will be harder to convince. On the way home, I listened to the ECU game, and one commentator noted not how good Duke was, but how bad Virgina was. If we had beaten Navy after they beat Wake, JMU after they beat App then maybe we'd get a bit more respect. But we are still known to the nation as one of the worst football programs, and the voters will need more convincing then they might afford another team coming off of a losing season.
It is still fun to prove them all wrong, but don't expect the votes to come pouring in yet.

Well obviously, but the previous poster was talking bout Spurrier, who was told not to give us his annual 25th place vote in the first poll this year.

Considering we're 3-1, a 25th place vote would be a lot more justifiable for Spurrier to place right now.

[Carlos]

It's great to be 3-1 and Duke football has clearly improved - but talk of "others receiving votes" seems a bit premature.

Duke has beaten a good Championship Division team in JMU, but still, it's a Championship Division team and that doesn't gain a great deal of poll respect.

Duke then lost a close game to Northwestern who may be 5-0 but those other 4 victories don't really look all that impressive. One was over Syracuse who is a truly awful football team. The Orange lost to Akron... by 14... at home. That's the same Akron who was picked to finish last in the MAC. Two of NU's other wins were over Southern Illinois and Ohio. This weekend's win over Iowa sounds good until you notice that Iowa's record was puffed up with wins over Maine and Florida International.

The victory over Navy certainly looks much better in light of their defeat of Wake this weekend. But the Middies are still just 3-2.

Then there's this week's win over UVa, a team who in games against Bowl Division teams has been outscored 128-20.

I'm not trying to take anything away from Duke football because a year ago this same team would likely be 0-4 instead of 3-1. I'm just saying that Duke really hasn't earned poll votes just yet.

A better question is if the ACC has anyone ranked after this weekend. How much does that loss to Navy cost #16 Wake? The Deacs could get some help since their win over Ole Miss looks a lot better after yesterday. Of the 9 teams ranked beneath Wake, 3 were idle, 2 won, and the other 4 lost so that should help Wake as well.

I think we can rule out Clemson staying in the top 25. Va Tech may be able to squeak back in after their win over Nebraska. But who knows how good the Huskers really are? I don't see the Heels being able to make the leap with their win over Miami and Maryland could be ranked right now if they weren't Middle Tennessee State's only win of the season.

So depending upon how far Wake falls, the ACC could at worst have nobody ranked in the top 25 and will almost certainly only have nobody ranked in the top 20.

[roywhite]

So depending upon how far Wake falls, the ACC could at worst have nobody ranked in the top 25 and will almost certainly only have nobody ranked in the top 20.

Good point about the level of ACC play this year, but I think VaTech will almost certainly be ranked (say 21st?) and that Maryland may be in the "also receiving votes" category.

..and that Duke can be more competitive against the "better" ACC teams (Ga Tech, Wake, etc.) than we thought.

[Acymetric]

So the two leading tacklers in the ACC are Tauiliili and Vincent Ray, in that order. Not bad...