Perhaps you noticed that Stanford beat Wake Forest yesterday, 68 to 24.Hey there everyone,
Some thoughts from the last game vs. Alabama:
I agree with many posters about simply being physically outmatched against Alabama, we did the best we could. Probably could have scored a few more points if our receivers had less drops, but playing Alabama and "hearing footsteps" probably had a lot to do with it.
A previous poster mentioned a similarity to Wake Forest and how we could strive to be like them due to relative size, resources, and academic credentials. While Wake is a good school with a great program, it seems that . . .
A higher but just as attainable goal for Duke football should be Stanford. Here we have an institution that is just as academically respected, same small student body of ~6400, faces the same recruiting hurdles, and draws students from around the country and globe. With new coach Jim Harbaugh, the Cardinal have rebounded from 2-9, 4-7, 4-7, 5-6, 1-11 seasons from 2002-2006 with 4-8, 5-7, and 8-4 seasons from 2007-2009. They are now nationally ranked and have the #7 recruiting class (8 four-star players, 13 three-stars) signed in the country right behind Notre Dame and ahead of Florida and Florida State.
Now of course I realize they had a MUCH shallower hole to dig out of compared to Duke's decades of negligence, but I'm interested to hear others' viewpoints and what are the main hurdles concerning how realistic Duke can strive to be like Stanford: a perennial top-25 football program, contending for the ACC title, able to consistently attract 4-star talent.
For me, I think facilities and national perception are what need the most work (any $1 billion donors anyone like stanford got?), but I see this goal as being eminently possible in the future.