Duke Football Offseason

[60sDukie]

Great news I think. Elevates game (and our) importance. Just made hotel reservations for Friday night

[OldPhiKap]

Nice to avoid a noon game in the heat

[devildeac]

Nice to avoid a noon game in the heat

Hmm, working on taking that Friday afternoon off as I post.

[budwom]

Nice to avoid a noon game in the heat

ain't that the troof...

[uh_no]

ain't that the troof...

oof. still triggered seeing that in a football thread.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Great news I think. Elevates game (and our) importance. Just made hotel reservations for Friday night

This is really great news...Wade is a morgue for those early season nooners...and so hot.

Besides, Cut apparently refuses to do what a lot of NFL teams do early season...which is to opt for white at home. I don't know why. It's science. It's simple. In the sun and heat, players wear down quicker in dark colors than white, period.

[Acymetric]

This is nice in some ways (heat) but sucks from a season kickoff perspective (weird feel to open up on Friday). Unless we blow the doors off of them, in which case maybe we get some buzz the following day during College Gameday.

This is really great news...Wade is a morgue for those early season nooners...and so hot.

Besides, Cut apparently refuses to do what a lot of NFL teams do early season...which is to opt for white at home. I don't know why. It's science. It's simple. In the sun and heat, players wear down quicker in dark colors than white, period.

Wouldn't morgues generally be kept cool?

[devildeac]

This is nice in some ways (heat) but sucks from a season kickoff perspective (weird feel to open up on Friday). Unless we blow the doors off of them, in which case maybe we get some buzz the following day during College Gameday.



Wouldn't morgues generally be kept cool?

Of corpse.

[Bob Green]

Just saw that Duke opener v. Army is moved to Friday night, 8/31 and will be on ESPNU. Great news IMO.

Not great news in my opinion. College football and Saturday go together like peanut butter and jelly, cops and doughnut shops...excuse me while I go chase some pesky kids off my lawn.

[devilirium]

This is really great news...Wade is a morgue for those early season nooners...and so hot.

Besides, Cut apparently refuses to do what a lot of NFL teams do early season...which is to opt for white at home. I don't know why. It's science. It's simple. In the sun and heat, players wear down quicker in dark colors than white, period.

This may be the reason why we typically go with the "road" unis at home.

For football, the NCAA's rule book states, "Players of opposing teams shall wear jerseys of contrasting colors, and the visiting team shall wear white jerseys. White jerseys may be worn by the home team when the teams have agreed before the season."

[AustinDevil]

Not great news in my opinion. College football and Saturday go together like peanut butter and jelly, cops and doughnut shops...excuse me while I go chase some pesky kids off my lawn.

This is true, but similar to bowl season, I think Labor Day weekend is a worthy exception because of the kickoff-to-the-season excitement and because it's a holiday weekend anyway. An extra day before we play the first of two straight tough road games is fine with me as well.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Not great news in my opinion. College football and Saturday go together like peanut butter and jelly, cops and doughnut shops...excuse me while I go chase some pesky kids off my lawn.

In general Bob I agree it's not great for college football, certainly not great for high school football...but selfishly from a Duke only standpoint, I'd much rather see a full stadium (and at night, where empty seats won't be obvious) - than see what Wade typically looks like on Saturday noon games...and the camera crew and directors, bless their hearts, do their best to get angles that don't show thousands of empty seats, but it's not a great look on TV for Duke day games.

You gotta know empty seats are used against Duke in recruiting...

[devilirium]

^ Agree with Here Before. Its also cool that this is a legitimate game, and it does seem that those Thurs/ Friday nite games are well attended and represent Wade at its best.

[OldPhiKap]

I understand that Friday is for HS, Saturday is for college, and Sunday is for mowing the lawn. But as a person who reads every year how bad Saturday noon games are at the beginning of the season, and sitting at home watching all the empty seats, I’ll take it.

We have a highlighted game without much counter-programming in sports. The night is ours. Might as well start the year in the national spotlight, as opposed to somewhere on Jefferson Pilot (or whatever it is these days) in an Uber-regional broadcast game.

Anything that helps us stand out is a great opportunity. May the stands be full, the passes accurate, and the Duke victory lopsided.

[devildeac]

I understand that Friday is for HS, Saturday is for college, and Sunday is for mowing the lawn. But as a person who reads every year how bad Saturday noon games are at the beginning of the season, and sitting at home watching all the empty seats, I’ll take it.

We have a highlighted game without much counter-programming in sports. The night is ours. Might as well start the year in the national spotlight, as opposed to somewhere on Jefferson Pilot (or whatever it is these days) in an Uber-regional broadcast game.

Anything that helps us stand out is a great opportunity. May the stands be full, the passes accurate, the pulled pork be tender, the water be plentiful, the ales be fantastic and the Duke victory lopsided.

Embellishment .

[HereBeforeCoachK]

I think this was a REALLY good, and important week for Duke football.

First, the re-instatement of Parker could make a 3-4 game difference, literally. I think this is an 8-9 win team with an average kick game...but a team that could go 4-8 with a horrible kicking game, which is what we appeared on the road to having. This appears to be Duke's best defensive personnel in a while, and it's been getting better anyway, and probably a better offense than we've had in a few years. I'd hate to waste that because we got caught with the nation's worst kicking game for a season.

Second, although not as important, I think the move of the Army game to Friday night is a great development for Duke, even if not so for Durham Jordan and Northern Durham and so on. It's a chance to have some national attention with a stadium that should be full or comfortably so for television sake, and home favorites generally do better at night to boot.

A televised game from Wade at noon - IMO - hurts Duke's FB reputation. A night game enhances.

My .02....

[Acymetric]

I think this was a REALLY good, and important week for Duke football.

First, the re-instatement of Parker could make a 3-4 game difference, literally. I think this is an 8-9 win team with an average kick game...but a team that could go 4-8 with a horrible kicking game, which is what we appeared on the road to having. This appears to be Duke's best defensive personnel in a while, and it's been getting better anyway, and probably a better offense than we've had in a few years. I'd hate to waste that because we got caught with the nation's worst kicking game for a season.

Second, although not as important, I think the move of the Army game to Friday night is a great development for Duke, even if not so for Durham Jordan and Northern Durham and so on. It's a chance to have some national attention with a stadium that should be full or comfortably so for television sake, and home favorites generally do better at night to boot.

A televised game from Wade at noon - IMO - hurts Duke's FB reputation. A night game enhances.

My .02...

I know people harp on the high school confilct angle a lot (including high school and college coaches), but I feel extremely confident as a Jordan alum that this will have 0 or next to zero impact on their game attendance unless things have changed a great deal in the past 10 years.

Edit to add: It is possible there is a greater impact in other areas where high School football is more important to the community.

[duke2x]

Nice to avoid a noon game in the heat

This. I think this is an excellent move given the weekend. I know hosting Friday night games is very unpopular for recruiting purposes. NW refuses to play them at all. Off-day games are common on Labor Day weekend in the south. Wake does it almost every year. State does it sometimes. Most people in the area often choose between the beach and football. Duke fans can do both.

If you look at the ACC schedule for that weekend, I would put 90% odds of the Army game being on Fox Sports South at noon or 3:30 otherwise. Army is a mild TV draw because of the military connection, but it's not enough to displace FCS-big TV openers on ESPN/espn2/ESPN-U.

A hidden benefit nobody is mentioning: NW had 2 extra days of rest and prep because they open @Purdue on Thursday. It's down to 1. That game will garner no national attention, but it is huge for the seasons of both teams. It's a tossup between two preseason top 30 teams in my book, and a L could trend things toward 4-5 wins with this schedule.

We should start getting times for NW or Baylor in the next 2 weeks. NW is probably a BTN game, but I won't guess what time. The town of Evanston is mildly confrontational toward night games, but school isn't in session yet. Baylor is probably a Fox Sports Regional game. Please give the 11AM EST spot to KSU or ISU.

Did Army's QB get a 6th year? I know this was an option in the spring.

[OldPhiKap]

Did Army's QB get a 6th year? I know this was an option in the spring.

Well, if anyone knows how to run an option . . . .

[HereBeforeCoachK]

A hidden benefit nobody is mentioning: NW had 2 extra days of rest and prep because they open @Purdue on Thursday. It's down to 1. That game will garner no national attention, but it is huge for the seasons of both teams. It's a tossup between two preseason top 30 teams in my book, and a L could trend things toward 4-5 wins with this schedule.

Great catch, on the NW game, and another day of rest/prep...