Duke football notes, 11-5-13

[jimsumner]

Everyone insists that Duke has come back to earth after the VT win.

The seniors called a players-only-meeting last week.

Perry Simmons on that meeting. "Just talking about how we need to move on from Virginia Tech. It was great to have a couple of days to revel in the Virginia Tech win and enjoy that. But we've definitely moved on and we're looking to NC State.

Cockrell-"We just got together towards the end of last week to bring everybody back down to earth. After you win a game like that, everybody's watching you on TV or hearing about you and you're going to get lots of different phone calls and a lot of different pats on the back that you've never gotten before. And that's great. It definitely brings you up. But you've got to realize that you've got four games left in November. Last year we were feeling the same way after UNC and things went downhill from there."

Cutcliffe said he doesn't ask players to call those sorts of meetings but applauds them if they stay short and to the point. "Say what you mean, mean what you say."

Cockrell sat out last week but returned to practice today. The boot is off. "Rehab went extremely well. Taking it day by day, trying to get as healthy as I can by Saturday."

Dwayne Norman also practiced today. Cutcliffe says he won't rule either out for Saturday and noted that ankle injuries can heal quickly.

Cutcliffe says Duke is "a pretty healthy team for November," a stark contrast to previous Novembers.

Perry Simmons was named one of 16 recipients of the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Award. A mechanical engineering major, Simmons has a 3.8 GPA. Sean Renfree was so honored last season. And it is a big honor.

Juwan Thompson has worked at both RB and LB this week. Cutcliffe called him "the nation's most unselfish player." He also said that Thompson was the best special teams player he has had at Duke and said that Duke would not hesitate to have him on the field at LB on crucial plays.

[BlueDevilinNYC]

I believe that our November tail-spin last year will help our players focus for these next four games. They are playing with a "We've been here before" attitude that was definitely absent last year (and understandably so).

Add to that the lighter November schedule, and I think our boys are set up nicely for a strong finish.

[Olympic Fan]

I believe that our November tail-spin last year will help our players focus for these next four games. They are playing with a "We've been here before" attitude that was definitely absent last year (and understandably so).

Add to that the lighter November schedule, and I think our boys are set up nicely for a strong finish.

I think this is the key. As focused and as healthy as Duke is today (as opposed to last year), a year ago a 6-2 Duke team had to play FSU and Clemson back-to-back. I'm as optimistic as anybody, but if we played either in the next two weeks, we'd lose twice. Remember last year's team, which got beat up badly in those two games, had to come back and play the two teams that tied for the Coastal Division title -- Georgia Tech and Miami ... and we were in both games.

In contrast, three of our last four opponents this year have losing records. Miami will be tough. But it's interesting that all four of our final teams have lost their best offensive weapon for the season -- Brian Underwood of NC State, Duke Johnson of Miami, Michael Campanero of Wake Forest and now Bren Renner of UNC ...

Personally, I'd put the over-under on Duke wins over the next four games at 2.5. As it stands, 2-2 would be a slight disappointment ... 3-1 would be a reasonable expectation ... 4-0 is not outrageous.