Congratulations to Duke Football

[sympathy4thedevils]

I am a long-time reader but first-time poster. Just thought it was worth saying 'thanks' to the football team and Coach Cut and his staff for a terrific year. A bunch more steps in the right direction, as always they make me proud to be a Duke fan. We will miss this senior class...

[EKU1969]

I agree...didn't quite end the way we wanted, but Duke played with heart and desire. Congrats also to Thad Lewis for all the school records he set in his 4 years at Duke...look forward to next year.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

The seniors played hard today, many with lingering injuries from the November 7 game.

In the post game radio interview, Coach Cutlciffe said he could now talk about Thad's injury. Thad hasn't been able to practice for the past three weeks. The first few days, he couldn't even walk. The deep bruise was so bad the injured thigh has been swollen 2-3 times normal size. He and the head trainer have worked daily on rehabbing the injury. Despite that hardship and pain, Thad threw for enough yards to pass Chris Weinke as #2 in the ACC career passing yards.... a career total of more than 10,000 yards. Only Philip Rivers accrued more yards in his four year career. Thad is the 60th. QB in NCAA history to throw for more than 60 touchdown passes.

The hard work is paying off. The program is headed in the right direction. Can't wait for next year!!!

[Acymetric]

The seniors played hard today, many with lingering injuries from the November 7 game.

In the post game radio interview, Coach Cutlciffe said he could now talk about Thad's injury. Thad hasn't been able to practice for the past three weeks. The first few days, he couldn't even walk. The deep bruise was so bad the injured thigh has been swollen 2-3 times normal size. He and the head trainer have worked daily on rehabbing the injury. Despite that hardship and pain, Thad threw for enough yards to pass Chris Weinke as #2 in the ACC career passing yards.... a career total of more than 10,000 yards. Only Philip Rivers accrued more yards in his four year career. Thad is the 60th. QB in NCAA history to throw for more than 60 touchdown passes.

The hard work is paying off. The program is headed in the right direction. Can't wait for next year!!!

I'll make the minor correction that it was 2-3 inches bigger than the other leg, not 2-3 times the size (that would be serious indeed). That does explain why he was missing some guys on easy throws, though, if he hadn't really practiced with them in weeks. Guy is tough as nails, going to be weird watching someone else under center next year (I know we saw someone else this year, but I always felt that Thad would remain the guy). Immediately after the game I was almost disappointed that I went, but in retrospect I had a lot of fun (most of it in the first half).

Here's to this year being the last year we say "next year." Except of course, for the eventually "we'll get that championship...next year." Thats a next year I can handle.

[Brim]

Ditto. I'm extremely proud of these guys. A 5 win season is quite an accomplishment for this team. Duke football is on the radar, has earned respect of a number of opposing coaches, and hopefully this is just the beginning for them.

[Jarhead]

Duke football is in good hands. Coach Cutcliffe will be flying out tomorrow on a recruiting trip, so we can rest assured that he is preparing the program for the future. To me it looks like the 2011 season will get us a bowl game, and hopefully a bowl victory. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if he accomplished that next year. I'm pumped for next year's schedule with seven home games, I've heard.

[Newton_14]

Thanks for starting this thread. The guys deserve to be praised. They fought adversity all year long starting with injuries and the Swine Flu in the late preseason and early season, yet battled hard and won more games than they were predicted to win.

Today was disappointing for sure, but like DIB stated, we took a beating physically in the hole game and never really recovered from it. Our D just did not have it in them today and you could tell Thad was laboring. As was Vince.

Still, a couple of mistakes at key times, and being inches from making key plays on a few occasions hurt today. It could have been a different day.

The crowd numbers wise was decent. Not what I had hoped for, but not a bad crowd for a holiday weekend.

But all in all I am very proud of our team, our coaching staff, and our program. We have come a long way in 2 short years and the program is finally headed in the right direction.

Congratulations to the Duke Football Program. Keep working hard and striving for excellence.

[dukeman28428]

Thanks go to all of the seniors, as well as all of the other players and coaches for a good year. We were close in several games we could have won but this team made a lot of progress in our program and hats off to the seniors for getting us on the road to success. Also, a big thanks to the Duke administration for putting more emphasis on football and giving some fair resources to make our program attractive to recruits. It was a very good year and I feel strongly the future will be bright. GO DUKE

[PDDuke85]

Just imagine the size of Thad's thigh bruise if he were 2-3 inches taller.

I think back to Coach Frank's last game when the Devils were blown out by W-F at the half and where the program is today. A huge thank you to the entire team for the hard work they obviously have put in to become competitive. A big thank you to the university for arriving at the decision to make football relevant, and a big thanks to Coach Cutcliffe and his extremely dedicated group of assistants. They collectively shunned the "bigger" of the NFL and the likes of the SEC to come here and BE SUCCESSFUL.

All in all, a great season. Now, lets get on the recruiting trail and bring in the next generation of Thad's, Vince's, Vinnie's et al.

[Devilsfan]

I love over achievers. I enjoyed attending football games much more this year. And I too am proud of the fight in our guys. Now all I want for Christmas is a TRUE pass rusher, a couple of cover D backs and an ACC O line. If we could recruit our #2, we can do that for all our needs. I think he's the BEST receiver I have seen in a Duke uniform including Eron and that's saying a lot.

[DukeSince'77]

DevilsFan - you've nailed it. A couple of key recruits, real cover guys/playmakers...a-bowling we will go!!!