FB: UNC 45, Duke 20

[devil84]

Post your comments here.

[OldPhiKap]

Congrats to the Heels.

We started poorly, probably overhyped, and never recovered. Maturity issue you hope will improve over time.

Next play, beat Wake, win our bowl.

Crap.

[cruxer]

It's nice that we're good enough that this loss genuinely sucks, but on the other hand this loss genuinely sucks. We didn't show any fight until the game was effectively over. Ugh. Long layoff to lick our wounds and take it out on the Deacs!

-c

[Bob Green]

It started bad and got worse. Fumbling on our first two possessions set the tone for the game. The crowd was out of the game at 14-0 and was not a factor. The offense was ineffective all night.

[Reilly]

... Next play, beat Wake, win our bowl ...

... and finish with TEN wins this year, and TWENT'Y wins over the past two years.

TWENTY wins in two years. Hell yes, Duke football.

[Reilly]

Lots to be thankful for. We have time to heal physically and emotionally. The team will be together at Thanksgiving and Cut will read his poem. The seniors can go out with a win -- remember how we'd lose to WFU year after year after year? We will go to a bowl -- another month to prepare and grow and God does this staff get teams ready to play in the bowls. We can win 10 games this year.

[duke09hms]

Very very difficult loss. I'm afraid such a spectacular failure on the biggest of stages will set our program back years. "Same old Duke football" will be the standard refrain among the casual fans that stopped by Wally Wade tonight, and it will only take even more for them to give us a second chance.

I'm most bothered by the lack of mental toughness in this year's team. One bad play seems to be enough for us to lose our intensity and focus. Boone's pick against VT last week. Sirk's fumble tonight. We had it going great before that - stopped their explosive offense on a 3-and-out first drive, then Crowder returns the punt inside their territory. We're driving driving into the red zone. Fumble. Game essentially over then.

What strikes me is our weakness in the passing game. I'd expect that with Cut's rep as QB guru, we'd have strong passers in the rotation pushing Boone, which I am not going to get into here. But Jesus, can you imagine how Thad Lewis or Renfree would have done with our O-line, RBs, and defense? Also does anyone know what happened to Johnell Barnes and Ryan Smith? These guys were heralded as our ultra-quick athletic WR studs of the future when they came in a couple years ago. We basically only have Crowder, McCaffrey, and stone-hands Blakeney. Now Barnes did start making plays in the 4th quarter, but really what's been going on with their development?

[roywhite]

Well, that was disappointing.

Frankly, I think we've seen Duke over-achieve by playing some nearly error-free games. When we do make mistakes, we don't have the overall talent to beat a number of teams. Need to continue to upgrade our overall talent, more speed overall, more size at positions like receivers and running back.

By "star-gazing" at the recruiting results, it looks like the 2015 class will be one of our best, and the 2016 class is off to an even better start. Coach Cut has achieved a lot, but he's not done yet.

[burnspbesq]

Poor Ka'lia Johnson picked a bad night for her first triple-double. Going to be totally forgotten. All anyone will remember about this night is that the football team failed to show up for a Carolina game. Which, in my book, is kinda inexcusable.

[duke09hms]

Well, that was disappointing.

Frankly, I think we've seen Duke over-achieve by playing some nearly error-free games. When we do make mistakes, we don't have the overall talent to beat a number of teams. Need to continue to upgrade our overall talent, more speed overall, more size at positions like receivers and running back.

By "star-gazing" at the recruiting results, it looks like the 2015 class will be one of our best, and the 2016 class is off to an even better start. Coach Cut has achieved a lot, but he's not done yet.

Yes, when we suffer from a talent disparity with most ACC teams, our margin for error is so small. UNC even tried to help us out too.

I'd settle for size and strength along the defensive front 6/7; we're getting there on our O-line, but I'm so tired of seeing our defensive linemen and linebackers look like midgets compared to tight ends. Would love to see us have a physically intimidating front seven like Stanford does.

Looking at future recruiting like you're doing, it's so vital to keep the momentum going to make sure we hold on to these commits and continue getting these 4-star recruits. UNC has 26 4-star recruits on their roster btw, more than VT. With the 2015-2016 recruits, we could really start making waves with that talent.

[Coballs]

Sorry, there was nothing good to take away from this game. Our expectations for football have changed and tonight did not live up to them. This was just awful. Tonight relegates us to an irrelevant bowl game which, of course, I hope we win handily. But my expectations were much higher (and, at the time, realistic) just one week ago.

[WakeDevil]

This saves us a curb stomping against FSU.

I'll skip watching the Wake game. It's meaningless.

[Ima Facultiwyfe]

Props to the Heels. They came in armed for bear. They needed it worse and wanted it more. On the other hand, I'd still rather be us than the team with three unsportsmanlike penalties. bless their cheating hearts.
Love, Ima

[duke09hms]

This saves us a curb stomping against FSU.

I'll skip watching the Wake game. It's meaningless.

Consecutive 10-win seasons aren't meaningless. Need to win against Wake and finally get our first bowl win since 1961.

[paris95]

On the one hand, if you'd told me 5 years ago that Duke had a pretty good shot at winning 20 games in 2 years, I would have thought I'd passed on to the great beyond. On the other, it really sucks to lay an egg in such a big game. We had so much support, so much enthusiasm, and to be playing for a shot in a championship game in your home stadium against your arch rival, and to play so badly in all phases is just disappointing. It's one thing to lose to a team that is really hitting it's stride like Carolina is, but it's another to get embarrassed on national TV. I think we can pretty much shelve the "Duke doesn't get any respect" or "why do we always get the bad kickoff time" or "why are we ranked so low even though we only have one loss" talk. Your answer or response to those questions is tonight. Every team has off weeks, but ours have come in high profile games and the doubters saw the Duke team that they've been waiting for for the last two seasons. We'll disappear from the national and conference radar for a while, and maybe that is just where we are as a program right now. We are so much better than we used to be and we are still headed in the right direction but we're not ready to play with the big boys regularly. We still have to play error free football to win against mediocre to good teams and that's just not possible every week. I'm just bummed because I thought we could take a bigger leap forward this year in terms of getting respect than we have. Maybe those expectations were unrealistic, but as Andy Dufresne said in Shawshank, hope is a good thing.

We have beaten a lot of teams that would have beaten us in years' past, and that has been great, and we have a chance to win 10 games...AGAIN! No one takes us lightly or questions why Duke even plays football, and we have been in the hunt for the ACC championship into November for the last two seasons. I guess it ain't that bad! Go Duke, next play, beat Wake, win Bowl.

Wow, that was a really cathartic process. I got on to write about misery and I ended up feeling positive. Thanks DBR, or should I say DB&FR!

[dukelifer]

Very very difficult loss. I'm afraid such a spectacular failure on the biggest of stages will set our program back years. "Same old Duke football" will be the standard refrain among the casual fans that stopped by Wally Wade tonight, and it will only take even more for them to give us a second chance.

I'm most bothered by the lack of mental toughness in this year's team. One bad play seems to be enough for us to lose our intensity and focus. Boone's pick against VT last week. Sirk's fumble tonight. We had it going great before that - stopped their explosive offense on a 3-and-out first drive, then Crowder returns the punt inside their territory. We're driving driving into the red zone. Fumble. Game essentially over then.

What strikes me is our weakness in the passing game. I'd expect that with Cut's rep as QB guru, we'd have strong passers in the rotation pushing Boone, which I am not going to get into here. But Jesus, can you imagine how Thad Lewis or Renfree would have done with our O-line, RBs, and defense? Also does anyone know what happened to Johnell Barnes and Ryan Smith? These guys were heralded as our ultra-quick athletic WR studs of the future when they came in a couple years ago. We basically only have Crowder, McCaffrey, and stone-hands Blakeney. Now Barnes did start making plays in the 4th quarter, but really what's been going on with their development?

Biggest Stage? Not sure this will even raise a blip outside of 15-501. Duke lost badly to their rivals on a Thursday night game. Duke has played great football and played well for most of the season. This was a bad outcome - but the loss does not define where they are as a program. The guys need to get some rest and finish out strong. After watching Duke struggle for a very long time- I will take a winning season any time they come. Boone has lost only a few games in the regular season as a starter. He has not been great this season- but the kid has been a winner. Duke is never going to be an upper echelon program- but the guys can compete and win. This is not the "Same Old Duke Football". If you believe that- then you have not been watching.

[duke09hms]

Biggest Stage? Not sure this will even raise a blip outside of 15-501. Duke lost badly to their rivals on a Thursday night game. Duke has played great football and played well for most of the season. This was a bad outcome - but the loss does not define where they are as a program. The guys need to get some rest and finish out strong. After watching Duke struggle for a very long time- I will take a winning season any time they come. Boone has lost only a few games in the regular season as a starter. He has not been great this season- but the kid has been a winner. Duke is never going to be an upper echelon program- but the guys can compete and win. This is not the "Same Old Duke Football". If you believe that- then you have not been watching.

Doesn't get much bigger for us. Home game, sell out, awesome atmosphere, national TV, hated rival. We're talking about the casual fan and what they are taking away from going to a sellout crowd against our rival. Or the alumni who's heard all this talk about Duke Football rising, so they turn on ESPN to tune into national TV for a colossal embarrassment. "Same old Duke football" will be their thought.

You and I will continue following Duke football through thick and thin, but we need the casual fan to come aboard if we want to take the next step.

And I disagree with your statement of "Duke is never going to be an upper echelon program," and I'd imagine Cutcliffe and Kevin White do too. We've shown that we CAN compete for ACC Championships and thus a chance at the CFP. Now it's about increasing our margin of error with better recruiting, coaching, and execution. I'm not expecting a Stanford-like 4 straight BCS bowls, but that's not outside of the realm of possibility for us to get on their winning level with a bit of luck.

These last two losses were winnable games, and there was a tiny chance at the CFP if we won out. Next play, next game, next level. Beat WAKE!

[Kfanarmy]

Biggest Stage? Not sure this will even raise a blip outside of 15-501. Duke lost badly to their rivals on a Thursday night game. Duke has played great football and played well for most of the season. This was a bad outcome - but the loss does not define where they are as a program. The guys need to get some rest and finish out strong. After watching Duke struggle for a very long time- I will take a winning season any time they come. Boone has lost only a few games in the regular season as a starter. He has not been great this season- but the kid has been a winner. Duke is never going to be an upper echelon program- but the guys can compete and win. This is not the "Same Old Duke Football". If you believe that- then you have not been watching.

What? OK, the stage was minimized by the competing NFL game, that's a break I guess.

I agree that the loss doesn't define the program, but Duke played in the championship game for the ACC title against the eventual National Champions last year. That's a pretty good step in the road toward being an "upper echelon program." They have the potential to have back to back ten+ win seasons. While there is room for improvement, how many more would it take before folks should consider them "upper echelon?"

Boone is interesting. On the one hand, you can't deny his record; on the other hand, he has had a few pretty poor performances. The D wasn't there today against UNC, but I thought Boone made some pretty bad decisions as well.

[OZ]

Games and opportunities like tonight are the reasons you play sports. Tonight presented that longed for moment when you take that big step forward. You finally have your stadium full...going against your major rival...playing for a division championship...on a national stage...and you lay an egg. Tonight was painful in more ways than one. I truly found it difficult to believe what I was witnessing. Inexcusable is the word that comes to mind.
The only thing good about tonight was my new coat kept me warm.

[uh_no]

turns out the parking + stadium fullness was the least of our worries about perception on national TV...

such a shame...people turned out, things ran pretty smoothly IMO...except the product on the field


very sad to see championship hopes end this way. Maybe the bright lining is that we have a better shot to get that bowl win this year.

there was poor play all around...but primo IMO is the inability to hit receivers with any consistency...we've seen it so many times this year...especially this past month...the defense just doesn't need to work to contain the passing game...and can focus on blitz + run... and such a shame after what the O did last year...

i hope for the best in our final 2 games, and look towards an interesting QB battle next year.