TIME TO REVIVE THIS THREAD!
Can Duke Finish strong? YES!
1. Can Duke stay healthy?.
Holy Cow, the answer to this has been the biggest yes I've ever seen. Even if we include Duke's other sports, it's hard to compare how healthy Duke was after the NC State game - the injury lists were ridiculously small.
Hopefully this can continue for FSU and the Bowl game.
2. Can Duke win in November?
Yes. Next: December!
3. Can Duke continue to execute a balanced offensive attack?
Yep. The four games in this phase:
NC State: 198 yards passing, 123 yards rushing
Miami: 185 yards passing, 358 yards rushing.
Wake: 257 Yards passing, 121 yards rushing
unc-Cheaters: 274 yards passing, 187 yards rushing
Running game was honestly weak against State, but was strong the remaining 3 games (although Wake stifled it somewhat). The passing game meanwhile came alive in the last two games.
4. Can our quarterbacks cut back on interceptions during the stretch run? .
Yep. 3 picks vs State was a bad start, but none in the final 3 games for either QB. That said, Boone threw two dangerous passes that UNC CBs dropped and that won't work against FSU.
5. Can the defense continue to dominate opponents in the second half? Virginia Tech -10 points; Virgina - 0 points; Navy - 0 points; Troy - 10 points. The defense has really stepped up and performed in the second half over the past four ball games evidenced by allowing our opponents an average of five points per second half. The deeper into the clock games have progressed, the better we've become at pressuring the quarterback and coming up with key stops and turnovers. This is a trend definitely worth continuing!
State: 20 points, 7 in the 4th quarter
Miami: 10, 0 in the 4th quarter
Wake: 7, 0 in the 4th quarter.
UNC: 10, 3 in the 4th quarter.
So, hell yes.
6. Can we continue to outperform our opponent on Special Teams? How big were Ross Martin's 51 and 53 yard field goals last week in Blacksburg? That's a rhetorical question, sports fans. We all know they were huge. Against Virginia, Martin is 2-2, while Virginia's kicker misses his only attempt. Martin is also booming the ball on kick-offs. So Will Monday is struggling punting the ball, right? Wrong! Duke has returned 20 punts for 304 yards including two Jamison Crowder touchdowns, while our opponents have returned 10 punts for 32 yards. That's a lot of field position gained via the kicking game. Monday is punting the ball down the sideline and it seems a lot of his punts have went out of bounds sooner than they should have, so I'll concede there is still room for improvement but overall Duke is winning the kicking game.
Yes and No. Duke allowed two returns for TDs in the 4 games. On the other hand, DeVon Edwards debuted as a starter and had two huge returns. Ross Martin was certainly satisfactory, although Will Monday has had some issues still. Overall this is a win.
And overall this is a huge win, and I hope we have some more questions for the next two phases.
Last edited by Newton_14; 12-01-2013 at 05:17 PM.
Reason: corrected typo in balanced attack section
<devildeac> anyone playing drinking games by now?
7:49:36<Wander> drink every qb run?
7:49:38<loran16> umm, drink every time asack rushes?
7:49:38<wolfybeard> @devildeac: drink when Asack runs a keeper
7:49:39 PM<CB&B> any time zack runs, drink
Carolina Delenda Est