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Dev11
08-25-2014, 07:42 AM
It's not the preseason anymore, so let's get to the game threads!

I don't have much to say, I'm just excited.

wilson
08-25-2014, 07:46 AM
We should never overlook any opponent (especially in light of our football program's recent past), but our Devils should easily handle Elon, who is coming off a 2-10 season and a tie for last place in the 2013 Southern Conference standings. This year, Elon is playing their first season as a new member of the Colonial Athletic Association.

Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15
08-25-2014, 09:09 AM
So glad to finally have a pregame thread. Our first four opponents and how we show up will likely say more about where we are at the end of the season than our conference record.

Let's show up ready to play, hit em with everything we have, and show them that the new brand of Duke football is her to stay.

CameronBornAndBred
08-25-2014, 10:05 AM
Steve Spurrier and the 1989 team will be honored during the first half.

wilson
08-25-2014, 10:10 AM
Steve Spurrier and the 1989 team will be honored during the first half.Will the OBC be in attendance? South Carolina plays on Thursday, so it's not out of the question that he could be in Wally Wade on Saturday night. That would be really cool.

Devil in the Blue Dress
08-25-2014, 10:22 AM
Will the OBC be in attendance? South Carolina plays on Thursday, so it's not out of the question that he could be in Wally Wade on Saturday night. That would be really cool.

Yes, Coach Spurrier will definitely be there.:cool:

PDDuke85
08-25-2014, 10:51 AM
Yes, Coach Spurrier will definitely be there.:cool

Hoping to see the Spurrier shining moment on the jumbotron Saturday

chrishoke
08-25-2014, 10:55 AM
I'm expecting a sell out. Come out and support the Blue Devils! I can't wait.

Bob Green
08-25-2014, 11:48 AM
Power tailback is out with broken leg:

http://www.thetimesnews.com/sports/elon-sports/broken-leg-sidelines-elon-tailback-1.363502

Redshirt senior Mike Quinn retains starting quarterback role:

http://www.thetimesnews.com/sports/elon-sports/quinn-keeps-elon-s-starting-qb-role-1.363106

Scrimmage information:

http://www.elonphoenix.com/news/2014/8/20/FB_0820143546.aspx

Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15
08-25-2014, 12:02 PM
Yes, Coach Spurrier will definitely be there.:cool

Hoping to see the Spurrier shining moment on the jumbotron Saturday

Amazing how great that picture looks. And how dated it looks.

Thank goodness, it's no longer the one bright spot of the last 30 years!

Reilly
08-25-2014, 12:21 PM
Yes, Coach Spurrier will definitely be there ...

What a cool night for our LB coach Jim Collins. He was on staff in 1989 as well -- so gets to share in that 25th anniversary of the ACC Championship -- and on staff now, so can share in being the reigning ACC Coastal Championship team. And he went to Elon. Coach Collins also coached with SOS at Florida for many years.

Henderson
08-26-2014, 01:53 PM
Yes, Coach Spurrier will definitely be there.:cool:

Will Ben Bennett be there? He was Spurrier's QB when Spurrier was Offensive Coordinator, and I still remember the upset win against Clemson when Bennett was penalized for taunting the Clemson players as he ran for a TD.

My experience may be limited, but it seems as though that Bennett team was the last pre-Cut team to engender optimism.

Devil in the Blue Dress
08-26-2014, 06:31 PM
Will Ben Bennett be there? He was Spurrier's QB when Spurrier was Offensive Coordinator, and I still remember the upset win against Clemson when Bennett was penalized for taunting the Clemson players as he ran for a TD.

My experience may be limited, but it seems as though that Bennett team was the last pre-Cut team to engender optimism.
Ben played 1980-83. Haven't heard when or if he will be attending any games this season.

Reilly
08-27-2014, 05:51 AM
Cut's tv show is up at goduke.com ... good preview to the season ...

Jarhead
08-27-2014, 10:23 AM
4304
Cut's tv show is up at goduke.com ... good preview to the season ...

http://crazietalk.net/ourhouse/images/smilies/happy/bouncyblue.gifThanks, Rielly. I missed last Sunday's show, and I can't wait to see what's next.http://crazietalk.net/ourhouse/images/smilies/happy/bouncyblue.gif

Newton_14
08-27-2014, 10:25 PM
Cut's tv show is up at goduke.com ... good preview to the season ...
I had to run a quick errand early afternoon and happened to catch part of a Cut interview on the Jim Rome show. I love Cut. Always straight up. One example: JR:"
so coach, have you ever dismissed a player for violating social media rules?" Cut: "Yes. More than once"

He then went on to say something else interesting. He stated that unofficial visits happen often, and if during a visit, the Duke players hosting the recruit get a bad vibe, or sense that the character of the kid is not going to be a good fit on their team, the recruitment stops there. The hosting players alert the staff, then Coach gets on the phone with the kids High School coach and/or parents the next week thanking them but letting them know Duke is ending the relationship. The other thing he mentioned was he is not dealing with a handler or "7 on 7" coach for a recruit. If Cut can't speak directly with a parent or the High School coach, the kid ain't wearing Duke Blue.

That was awesome in my opinion. We surely lose talented kids from time to time due to the strict policy, but we are likely better off in the long run. High character man. The way it ought to be.

P.S.> As I was typing this Fedora and Bubba were on WRAL explaining why 4 UNC players are suspended for the first game. Gotta love the karma.

Bob Green
08-28-2014, 03:22 PM
Here is my stab at a game preview:

http://bluedevilnation.net/2014/08/game-preview-elon-duke/



Bottom Line: Duke is too talented, too deep, too strong and too fast for Elon. This is a game that should be decided by halftime.

budwom
08-28-2014, 04:55 PM
Here is my stab at a game preview:

http://bluedevilnation.net/2014/08/game-preview-elon-duke/

Bob, if we score only 41 points against Elon I'm going to throw a tantrum.

Bob Green
08-28-2014, 07:03 PM
Bob, if we score only 41 points against Elon I'm going to throw a tantrum.

I was actively trying to control expectations - mainly mine!

Reilly
08-28-2014, 07:09 PM
Bob, if we score only 41 points against Elon I'm going to throw a tantrum.

Cut's gentlemanly. We scored, what, 45, against Central, and could have had so many more. Cut will throttle back, run clock.

CameronBornAndBred
08-28-2014, 09:30 PM
Yes, Coach Spurrier will definitely be there.:cool:
Hopefully he will be smiling by then.

Jarhead
08-28-2014, 10:48 PM
Cut's gentlemanly. We scored, what, 45, against Central, and could have had so many more. Cut will throttle back, run clock.

Or just plain practice.

gep
08-29-2014, 12:23 AM
Hopefully he will be smiling by then.

Probably not now... after losing to Texas A&M :confused:

moonpie23
08-29-2014, 08:06 AM
Probably not now... after GETTING THRASHED SOUNDLY by Texas A&M :confused:



there,........fixed it for you...

Henderson
08-29-2014, 11:10 AM
Looks like Duke has opened as a 38 point favorite. And supposedly the game will be streamed on ESPN3 for free.

wilson
08-29-2014, 11:37 AM
Looks like Duke has opened as a 38 point favorite. And supposedly the game will be streamed on ESPN3 for free.I had terrible trouble getting the South Carolina-A&M game to load via ESPN3 last night (as in, it never did load and I gave up and watched the Cosby Show on Hulu instead). I really hope I don't have the same issue with the Duke game on Saturday.

oldnavy
08-29-2014, 11:50 AM
I am going to have to miss the game. I have family visiting for the holiday weekend so I will try to catch it on ESPN3.

Upside... I gave my tickets to my nephew, so he will represent for me!

GO DUKE!!

p.s. Ben Bennett was a horrible... lifeguard. I worked with him at Willohaven CC and he was beyond useless. It's not like the other lifeguards were overworked, but Ben took slacking off to a whole different level. That said, we had a ball, and he was fun to go out on the town with... best "quarters" player I have ever seen...
Ah... the good ol days!

OldPhiKap
08-30-2014, 04:21 AM
Game Day!!!!!

Bob Green
08-30-2014, 07:20 AM
Game Day!!!!!

I'm about to start packing up the car to head to North Carolina!!!

Reilly
08-30-2014, 07:35 AM
Gameday Saturday. Fight, fight Blue Devils. Rip 'em up, tear 'em up, give 'em hell, DUKE!

Reilly
08-30-2014, 07:54 AM
entrance video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgQUuasAwuE&feature=youtu.be

Bob Green
08-30-2014, 08:10 AM
Duke is currently a 37 point favorite in Vegas:

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-football/teams/team-page.cfm/team/duke

For comparison, UNC is favored over Liberty by 30; East Carolina favored by 39 over NCCU; Virginia Tech favored by 21 over William & Mary; Georgia Tech favored by 30 over Wofford; NCSU by 20.5 over Georgia Southern.

moonpie23
08-30-2014, 08:28 AM
is the game sold out? i keep clicking on "TICKETS" on go duke.com and it just loads the home page…. ??

Bob Green
08-30-2014, 08:53 AM
is the game sold out? i keep clicking on "TICKETS" on go duke.com and it just loads the home page…. ??

Duke has been experiencing technical difficulties with the ticket website all week. There are always folks selling tickets around the parking lots.

Merlindevildog91
08-30-2014, 09:03 AM
is the game sold out? i keep clicking on "TICKETS" on go duke.com and it just loads the home page…. ??

Duke Football had a walk-up ticket special on their FB page. $20 for adult tickets, $10 for youth.

Olympic Fan
08-30-2014, 11:28 AM
Cut said earlier this week that he expected the game to be a sellout -- of course, this is the game where all Duke employees get tickets. We'll see. Last year's home opener was the same deal and we only drew 22,000.

On another note, did anybody see the game-by-game projections in the ACC Sports Journal Yearbook?

They have Duke losing to Miami and Syracuse, but beating everybody else to finish 10-2, 6-2. The 6-2 is a tie with Va Tech in the Coastal Division, but since they have Duke beating VPI head-to-head, that would send Duke back to the title game ... against 12-0, 8-0 FSU.

I'd take it ...

Newton_14
08-30-2014, 12:02 PM
Cut said earlier this week that he expected the game to be a sellout -- of course, this is the game where all Duke employees get tickets. We'll see. Last year's home opener was the same deal and we only drew 22,000.

On another note, did anybody see the game-by-game projections in the ACC Sports Journal Yearbook?

They have Duke losing to Miami and Syracuse, but beating everybody else to finish 10-2, 6-2. The 6-2 is a tie with Va Tech in the Coastal Division, but since they have Duke beating VPI head-to-head, that would send Duke back to the title game ... against 12-0, 8-0 FSU.

I'd take it ...

Thanks Oly. Darn straight. I would take that right now and not blink. Had we not lost Kelby and Braxton, I would feel flirting with 11-1/12-0 would be a possibility, but for the version of the team we now have, 10-2 would be outstanding.

It starts today. Can't be 2-0 if we don't start out 1-0 so let's kick the crap out of Elon today. Go Duke!

6th Man
08-30-2014, 09:15 PM
Great start to the season! Exciting to see some new talent that looks very promising. Sirk looked impressive to me and Shaun Wilson is a speedster at RB. Starters played well, couldn't ask for more. So astonishing to see what Cut has accomplished. Amazing man and football coach!

OldPhiKap
08-30-2014, 09:25 PM
Looked good everywhere, nice open. Playing like a contender should.

Like Sirk late, kid is big and strong.

Tom B.
08-30-2014, 09:30 PM
On another note, did anybody see the game-by-game projections in the ACC Sports Journal Yearbook?

They have Duke losing to Miami and Syracuse, but beating everybody else to finish 10-2, 6-2. The 6-2 is a tie with Va Tech in the Coastal Division, but since they have Duke beating VPI head-to-head, that would send Duke back to the title game ... against 12-0, 8-0 FSU.




They have us losing to Syracuse? The same Syracuse that needed two overtimes to beat Villanova, at home?

Duvall
08-30-2014, 09:31 PM
They have us losing to Syracuse? The same Syracuse that needed two overtimes to beat Villanova, at home?

Yeah, swap that with a loss at Pitt.

Dukehky
08-30-2014, 09:37 PM
I had terrible trouble getting the South Carolina-A&M game to load via ESPN3 last night (as in, it never did load and I gave up and watched the Cosby Show on Hulu instead). I really hope I don't have the same issue with the Duke game on Saturday.

That was on SEC Network which you have to pay more for.

Olympic Fan
08-30-2014, 11:02 PM
Okay, just got home. My immediate impressions of the Elon win:

-- Can't be unhappy with the 52-13 win. It could have been more, but Cut kept his offense under wraps most of the game and played his second and third teams from late in the third quarter on. When you look around the ACC and see NC State fighting for its life and UNC trailing in the third quarter, the Duke game was impressive.

-- The offense was excellent. A few drops early (two by Crowder), but Boone was accurate and the Powell/Snead combo chewed up ground consistently. All the starting receivers played well -- Crowder bounced back from his two early drops to have an outstanding game (seven catches for 93 yards and two TDs before leaving midway through the third quarter). Blakeney had two spectacular plays. And Max McCaffrey was great over the middle.

-- The most disappointing thing to me on the offensive side was the play of the backup WRs. Barnes had two drops (and unlike Crowder had no great plays to make up for it, unless you count his kickoff return). Nash, Als, Ryan Smith did little ... and we didn't get to see Lee or Taylor.

-- Balancing that, the play of the second team QB and RBs was outstanding. Now you see why I was raving about Sirk two years ago -- eight rushes for 54 yards and two TDs; 5-of-7 passes for 40 more yards in less than a quarter of work. Freshman Shaun Wilson was amazing -- 6 carries for 71 yards -- all right up the middle. Joe Ajeigble didn't do that much on the ground, but looked great on a 14 yard swing pass.

-- Our OL is pretty much seven deep ... and close to being 10 deep. Stone and Robinson are as good as the starters (except Tomlinson, who is in a class by himself). But Davis, Korona and Bradner aren't far off.

-- I wish I was as excited about the defense as the offense. It was okay, but not dominating. Just two sacks, although the rush forced Quinn to throw early on a number of occasions (Four QB hurries were recorded). Cut did use a lot of DL bodies and as a group, I thought they were pretty good. I was less impressed with the linebacking.

-- The two freshman corners -- Muniz and Saxton -- both made some big-time plays. Saxton had four tackles, a pass break up and a QB hurry. Muniz had a pass breakup and three tackles -- and both played less than a half. 30 different players recorded tackles.

-- The worst aspect of the game was our kickoff coverage and returns. Elon returned seen kickoffs for 174 yards. Duke returned 3 kickoffs 98 yards, but 60 of those came on one return by Barnes late. That's not the kind of domination we saw in this area last year.

-- On the other hand the kickers were perfect -- Martin had seven extra points and a 49 yard field goal. Monday two punts averaged 51.5 yards without a return.

I understand that the competition will get a lot tougher -- Elon is the weakest team we play. But it was still a good night -- a chance to play a lot of people. I'd give the offense an A and the defense a B. And as far as I could tell NO major injuries!

Next week, at Troy ... they were tough in Durham last year, but were hammered today at UAB. I doubt they'll be as easy as Elon, but it's another game that Duke should win.

PS The crowd was announced at 31,213 -- about 9,000 more than last year's opener!

devildeac
08-30-2014, 11:03 PM
The good:

We gained a lot of yards, through the air (292) and on the ground (275). We scored a lot of points with the runs, catches and TDs nicely distributed. Martin's FG might have been good from 55 yards, maybe farther.

The not-so-good:

Elon gained a lot of yards (328) and scored more points than I thought they might.

uh_no
08-30-2014, 11:09 PM
PS The crowd was announced at 31,213 -- about 9,000 more than last year's opener!

as is often the case, the actual tally was far fewer....the new blue seats were not more than half full (at best). I'm going to guess much of that is season ticket holders who didn't come out for elon, especially when those seats were likely baking in the sun all day. further, i'm sure some of the tickets handed out to employees weren't used

i would say maybe 28k were there? the student section and most of the west side of WW was packed solid

Dukeface88
08-30-2014, 11:43 PM
They have us losing to Syracuse? The same Syracuse that needed two overtimes to beat Villanova, at home?

I'm not sure which is more telling: that someone thinks a projection for Duke football to go 10-2 is not optimistic enough, or that it's actually a reasonable point.

Truly, this is a new and strange world.

uh_no
08-30-2014, 11:53 PM
I'm not sure which is more telling: that someone thinks a projection for Duke football to go 10-2 is not optimistic enough, or that it's actually a reasonable point.

Truly, this is a new and strange world.

eh. still lots of work to do. yeah we looked great against an overmatched opponent, but

we also gave up a lot on D, getting consistently beat on the outside run in the first half
as one pointed out, the kick coverage left something to be desired, and
we were 3-12 on third down....that's particularly poor given how we ate teams alive on third downs last year....3-12 against elon just isn't that good....given it was tempered by the 5-6 on fourth down


it's elon. we'll know more as the season rolls on...first game jitters? "fundamental issues"? we shall see...but things to keep an eye on nonetheless

and yes, i can always suck the joy out of a big win....but you don't get better by patting yourself on the back

Native
08-31-2014, 01:22 AM
the student section and most of the west side of WW was packed solid

We'll do our part! Once the freshmen learn to listen we'll have a packed student section all game long. Look for the games against UNC/UVA/VT/KS to be packed. The new DevilsGate thing is not too bad, either. Should bring a healthy number of students to games.

devildeac
08-31-2014, 06:49 AM
From the Raleigh N&O this AM:


http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/08/30/4110603/duke-rolls-to-52-13-win-over-elon.html?sp=/99/103/

Bob Green
08-31-2014, 07:27 AM
Shaun Wilson was impressive running the football - 11.8 yards per carry! Thomas Sirk is big and strong and should prove to be a great short yardage asset. His first carry for a 1st Down on 4th and 1 illustrated he can step in a produce as the short yardage situation QB.

On the kick coverage woes, significant credit must be given to Elon's Kierre Brown who is a talented return specialist and receiver. Yeah, it is a concern which the staff will need to address but I'll wait and see how the coverage is against Troy before being too worried.

The offensive balance, just under 300 yards passing and rushing is great to see. Being balanced pressures the opponents defense. We have so many options at RB and WR it will be interesting to watch the rotation develop over the next three games.

David Reeves was solid at TE.

The crowd was very good. As far as the empty seats go, there were thousands of people milling around the concourse during the game. I ran up to the concession stand during the 2nd Quarter to get a Lemonade and was amazed at the crowd on the concourse.

Overall, an extremely positive start to the 2014 season!

Reilly
08-31-2014, 07:41 AM
... The worst aspect of the game was our kickoff coverage ... crowd was announced at 31,213 -- about 9,000 more than last year's opener!

Book shows Martin kicked off 6 times, and Willoughby 3 times. I think it said 1 touchback for each. Wonder if that's a strategic call: try to not have a touchback; rather try to pin them.

I believe last year, Duke did *not* do the employee give-away for game 1 (it was the Troy game, maybe).

Reilly
08-31-2014, 07:42 AM
... The new DevilsGate thing is not too bad, either. ...

What is that?

uh_no
08-31-2014, 09:01 AM
What is that?

I think it was the area they had set up outside the student entrance....looks like they had sodas and some other stuff

wilson
08-31-2014, 09:19 AM
That was on SEC Network which you have to pay more for.I get SEC Network (or rather, my password does...); it just wasn't working. I watched SEC Net no problem yesterday.

Henderson
08-31-2014, 11:30 AM
My $.02 on the game:

1. The offense looks potent. The defense looks vulnerable, especially at the LB position. But more than half the Elon points came late when Duke had pulled most of its first team defense. Still, Duke and its opponents will score a lot of points. Bet the over.

2. Duke has a really good receiving core. 11 players caught passes in this game. Everyone knows Crowder (and darn, he's good), but I think we're also going to like Max McCaffrey and Isaac Blakeney. McCaffrey even looks like his dad in his moves.

3. On the other hand, David Reeves had a couple drops (hands) to go with his 3 catches. I'd like to see him show better hands to go with his substantial size and blocking ability. If he gets that squared off, the offensive potential goes up.

3. I like our running backs, and that's also a compliment to the offensive line and play-calling. But both Powell and Snead looked strong, and Shaun Wilson looks like a quality Freshman.

4. Nice to see Aaron Boone looking confident as "the man" running the offense. I loved Connette's game, but his departure may end up benefiting the team by empowering Boone.

5. Thomas Sirk isn't just a short-yardage run threat, though he certainly is that (a very nice thing). The guy has a gun for an arm. He had a long pass to the end zone that, unfortunately, didn't result in a catch. He had another into the end zone from close, and his throw was a rocket. When watching him, I had that sensation I had when Danny Ferry and Christian Laettner were freshmen: "This guy is going to be really good."

6. Duke beat the point spread, and that's a nice metric regarding overachievement.

devildeac
08-31-2014, 01:16 PM
What is that?


I think it was the area they had set up outside the student entrance....looks like they had sodas and some other stuff

The scoreboard boasted of free food for the students starting 2.5 hours before KO. Very good student crowd last PM.

jimsumner
08-31-2014, 01:23 PM
My $.02 on the game:


4. Nice to see Aaron Boone looking confident as "the man" running the offense. I loved Connette's game, but his departure may end up benefiting the team by empowering Boone.



It's not Aaron Boone. It's his brother Brett. :)

Tom B.
08-31-2014, 01:43 PM
I'm not sure which is more telling: that someone thinks a projection for Duke football to go 10-2 is not optimistic enough, or that it's actually a reasonable point.

Truly, this is a new and strange world.

I wasn't quibbling with the predicted record, per se -- if anything, I think 10-2 might be a bit more optimistic than I am. I just thought it was a little odd that they think one of our two predicted losses will be Syracuse -- which has been kind of a middling program the last few years and, if the Villanova game was any indication, may struggle this year -- rather than Georgia Tech, Pitt, Virginia Tech, or even Carolina, all of whom I'd regard as more challenging opponents. Time will tell, I guess.

Olympic Fan
08-31-2014, 01:57 PM
I wasn't quibbling with the predicted record, per se -- if anything, I think 10-2 might be a bit more optimistic than I am. I just thought it was a little odd that they think one of our two predicted losses will be Syracuse -- which has been kind of a middling program the last few years and, if the Villanova game was any indication, may struggle this year -- rather than Georgia Tech, Pitt, Virginia Tech, or even Carolina, all of whom I'd regard as more challenging opponents. Time will tell, I guess.

Obviously after watching Syracuse struggle with Villanova Friday night, I agree that my confidence soared for that matchup.

But I don't think it was an unreasonable preseason pick to take Syracuse over Duke. They fielded an extremely young team in 2013, including a first-year QB (Terrell Hunt) who got better and better over the course of the season. They have more starters returning than any team in the ACC. A year ago, they finished strong, including a 21-17 victory over Minnesota in the Texas Bowl.

Plus, they have been super-tough at home over the last few years. Last year, they were the same 5-2 at home as Duke -- the losses coming to Clemson and by one-point to Pitt.

I'm just saying that looking at that, picking Syracuse over Duke -- before the Villanova game -- was not unreasonable.

Right now, I like our chances. As I said in another thread, I thought their offensive line -- which was supposed to be a strong point -- as extremely unimpressive against 'Nova. Pus, their offense sputtered when Hunt was ejected for throwing a punch.

Still, a long way until we play them (Nov. 8) and who knows here the two teams will be then.

budwom
08-31-2014, 03:01 PM
Just to be clear, it's Brandner (substitute RFr OL) not Bradner, worth noting as there is also a (walkon?) OL Brodner, who doesn't play.

Sirk and Wilson were very impressive...Sirk does has some serious speed, and I was surprised and impressed about how quickly and crisply he threw the ball.
I expected more tentativeness in his throwing...but there was none.

A couple of Martin's kickoffs were line drives which were suboptimal, no hang time, definitely contributed to longer returns than we would like.

Only disappointments were the non emergence of secondary receivers, and the way we gave up too many rushing yards. But all in all, a very nice night.

Devil in the Blue Dress
08-31-2014, 03:30 PM
Just to be clear, it's Brandner (substitute RFr OL) not Bradner, worth noting as there is also a (walkon?) OL Brodner, who doesn't play.

Sirk and Wilson were very impressive...Sirk does has some serious speed, and I was surprised and impressed about how quickly and crisply he threw the ball.
I expected more tentativeness in his throwing...but there was none.

A couple of Martin's kickoffs were line drives which were suboptimal, no hang time, definitely contributed to longer returns than we would like.

Only disappointments were the non emergence of secondary receivers, and the way we gave up too many rushing yards. But all in all, a very nice night.
At one point, one of Sirk's passes was tipped up not far from goal line. He's so quick, he almost got there to catch the tip himself. Had he done so, that would be something to talk about... almost like catching one of his own passes.

Yesterday was only a glimmer of what I think Thomas can do.

budwom
08-31-2014, 04:08 PM
As Bob Green mentioned, LOTS of people avoided sitting in their blue seats (including us) as the heat was absolutely stifling. We sought shade on the Duke side of the field for the first half.
Anyone who actually sat through the first half on the East side deserves some kind of commendation. Nasty, nasty hot.

Jim3k
08-31-2014, 05:12 PM
As Bob Green mentioned, LOTS of people avoided sitting in their blue seats (including us) as the heat was absolutely stifling. We sought shade on the Duke side of the field for the first half.
Anyone who actually sat through the first half on the East side deserves some kind of commendation. Nasty, nasty hot.

I wonder how difficult/expensive it would be to set up a misting system. We see it in many large scale public places. (Downtown Sacramento shopping mall is a prime example). The new Forty-Niners stadium has a similar problem. Not certain if they are looking into a misting system, though.

loran16
08-31-2014, 06:28 PM
The O was good and shouldve surprised no one.

The D...... again our issue last year was the Dline - and we lost our best , or maybe best 2, members of that unit. unsurprisingly, elon had way too much time to throw.....our secondary is going to need to be insanely good to cover for them

uh_no
08-31-2014, 10:14 PM
I wonder how difficult/expensive it would be to set up a misting system. We see it in many large scale public places. (Downtown Sacramento shopping mall is a prime example). The new Forty-Niners stadium has a similar problem. Not certain if they are looking into a misting system, though.

ehhh...for the one or MAYBE two patsy (boy isn't that a change...) games in the OOC schedule...probably not worth it

uh_no
08-31-2014, 10:16 PM
The O was good and shouldve surprised no one.

The D...... again our issue last year was the Dline - and we lost our best , or maybe best 2, members of that unit. unsurprisingly, elon had way too much time to throw.....our secondary is going to need to be insanely good to cover for them

we didn't bring a whole lot of pressure, but that was often reserved for the fourth quarter last year, when our starters were out yesterday. they're still adjusting to the loss of Mr. Brown, no doubt. I'd give it time before declaring it hopeless.

Devil in the Blue Dress
08-31-2014, 10:38 PM
I wonder how difficult/expensive it would be to set up a misting system. We see it in many large scale public places. (Downtown Sacramento shopping mall is a prime example). The new Forty-Niners stadium has a similar problem. Not certain if they are looking into a misting system, though.
There were announcements about the hot weather plan... use of shade, hydration, etc. I thought there was some mention of locations of misting stations. I was sitting in the heat of the shady west side and admit that I wasn't paying close attention. Perhaps others who were at the game Saturday listened more closely than I did. I checked the A-Z Game Day Guide on goduke.com to try to get some clarification of the hot weather plan, but it's not included in that guide.

Acymetric
08-31-2014, 11:01 PM
There were announcements about the hot weather plan... use of shade, hydration, etc. I thought there was some mention of locations of misting stations. I was sitting in the heat of the shady west side and admit that I wasn't paying close attention. Perhaps others who were at the game Saturday listened more closely than I did. I checked the A-Z Game Day Guide on goduke.com to try to get some clarification of the hot weather plan, but it's not included in that guide.

Yep, not sure how many but there were misting stations with free water and a small shade tent around the concourse.

billy
08-31-2014, 11:26 PM
I had to run a quick errand early afternoon and happened to catch part of a Cut interview on the Jim Rome show. I love Cut. Always straight up. One example: JR:"
so coach, have you ever dismissed a player for violating social media rules?" Cut: "Yes. More than once"

He then went on to say something else interesting. He stated that unofficial visits happen often, and if during a visit, the Duke players hosting the recruit get a bad vibe, or sense that the character of the kid is not going to be a good fit on their team, the recruitment stops there. The hosting players alert the staff, then Coach gets on the phone with the kids High School coach and/or parents the next week thanking them but letting them know Duke is ending the relationship. The other thing he mentioned was he is not dealing with a handler or "7 on 7" coach for a recruit. If Cut can't speak directly with a parent or the High School coach, the kid ain't wearing Duke Blue.

That was awesome in my opinion. We surely lose talented kids from time to time due to the strict policy, but we are likely better off in the long run. High character man. The way it ought to be.

P.S.> As I was typing this Fedora and Bubba were on WRAL explaining why 4 UNC players are suspended for the first game. Gotta love the karma.

This reminded me of a speech I saw Lee Corso give, which was surprisingly good. Money quote was "You win with character, not characters"

Henderson
09-01-2014, 12:56 AM
It's not Aaron Boone. It's his brother Brett. :)

Aaron Boone's brother is "Bret" not "Brett". But my Cincinnati roots are showing, calling Anthony Boone Aaron. Sheesh.

Off-topic funny story about Bret Boone: Bret Boone showed up spring training in March of 2001 totally cut with an additional 20 lbs of muscle from the previous September. 20 lbs. of muscle in 7 months. On a second baseman. And he'd never been a cut muscular guy. A beat writer for the local paper (Boone had moved on to the Mariners by then) told me soon after that the guys in the locker room nicknamed him "Juice." Never publicly, but there were lots of jokes about needles and ... how to put this ... pectoral growth aberrations. He'd hit something like 21 HRs the previous year; in 2001 he hit 37.

IsInTheDetails
09-01-2014, 10:47 AM
A few observations from the Elon game. . .

+ One thing that stuck out to me in watching the Elon game was Boone's arm. Is it just me, or does it look like his passes - particularly his passes downfield - have a bit more zip on them this year? He had some rifle shots, including the shorter of the two TDs hauled in by Crowder.

+ In the past, though this started to change last season, I feel like we used the screen pass in lieu of a reliable running attack, as it was the only way we could get chunks of yards in early downs. As last season progressed and in the Elon game, we certainly had a potent running game, and it felt like we used the screen more as a way to tighten up the defense secondary and open up those downfield opportunities. If defenses have to respect our running game up the middle (hello, Shaun Wilson, by the way) *and* our screen game *and* Boone's downfield targets, I like our chances. The offense looks potent.

+ Like others on the board, I was a bit worried about our defense coming out of the Elon game. While we dominated on the scoreboard and gave up a touchdown only late in the game, it felt like we were giving up chunks of yards pretty easily. As I thought about it more, though, it seems like we were playing a rather soft, vanilla defense. Perhaps others have more of an eye for defensive schemes than I do, but I seem to recall our secondary playing fairly deep and our linebackers holding stationary pre-snap. Perhaps we just put out a base, vanilla defense and held more scheme variety back for later, tougher games? Too soon to worry?

Great start to the season. Let's keep it rolling.

budwom
09-01-2014, 11:40 AM
Yup, while we might not have shown all we have defensively, it was a bit unnerving watching how easily Elon ran off tackle much of the night.
I expected our defensive line, especially the ends, to perform better than they did.

Bob Green
09-01-2014, 04:23 PM
...As I thought about it more, though, it seems like we were playing a rather soft, vanilla defense. Perhaps others have more of an eye for defensive schemes than I do, but I seem to recall our secondary playing fairly deep and our linebackers holding stationary pre-snap. Perhaps we just put out a base, vanilla defense and held more scheme variety back for later, tougher games? Too soon to worry?

Our cornerbacks were playing off Elon's receivers a good 7 or 8 yards so it appears to me we were conceding the short routes to ensure they didn't beat us long. It is definitely too soon to worry.

PDDuke85
09-01-2014, 05:40 PM
our cornerbacks were playing off Elon's receivers a good 7 or 8 yards so it appears to me we were conceding the short routes to ensure they didn't beat us long. It is definitely too soon to worry.

Bob, I suspect we saw
vanilla schemes from both sides of the ball. Concur with not losing sleep over the defense after week one.

Here's what impressed me Saturday PM: crowd size and enthusiasm, a marching band with now 5 tuba's, the expectation and delivery of a good team performance, and the palpable reality of WW upgrade. To those with the fortitude to endure the weather, what was life like in the blue seats?

Cheers

sagegrouse
09-01-2014, 06:12 PM
Here's what impressed me Saturday PM: crowd size and enthusiasm, a marching band with now 5 tuba's, the expectation and delivery of a good team performance, and the palpable reality of WW upgrade. To those with the fortitude to endure the weather, what was life like in the blue seats?

Cheers

Wow!! Five tubas!! Move over, Ohio State!

-jk
09-01-2014, 07:44 PM
Wow!! Five tubas!! Move over, Ohio State!

One of those is my nephew! A double-DUMB-alum! And his father played tuba for Duke as a senior in high school; there were damned few tubaists then. (As I understand it from them, Duke has a small tuba scholarship these days...)

Why does everyone hate a tuba right off?
Saves time.

Tuba Player: Did you hear my last recital?
Roommate: I hope so.

What do you call ten tubas at the bottom of the ocean?
A good start.

-jk

devildeac
09-01-2014, 08:19 PM
One of those is my nephew! A double-DUMB-alum! And his father played tuba for Duke as a senior in high school; there were damned few tubaists then. (As I understand it from them, Duke has a small tuba scholarship these days...)

Why does everyone hate a tuba right off?
Saves time.

Tuba Player: Did you hear my last recital?
Roommate: I hope so.

What do you call ten tubas at the bottom of the ocean?
A good start.

-jk

Small tuba scholarship? Does that mean limited number of $$ or money given for playing one of these 4316?


(sorry, -jk, couldn't resist:o)

Newton_14
09-01-2014, 09:19 PM
Finally got a chance to post some thoughts. First the crowd, it was great. Like Bob or someone else opined, thousands of folks on the concourse all game, and sitting on the east side prior to the sun going down was a non-option. Feel sorry for the souls that chose to sweat that out. I did that in the Bama game and said, never again. Speaking of which, I thought it was easily the biggest crowd since the Bama game. Did not get a chance to sit in them but the blue seats looked great from the other side. They will make the stadium look much better once they are put in every section.

On to the game. I was beyond pleased. First it was a refreshing to watch Duke play Football knowing the other team had no chance in hell of winning, because of where the program is now. It has not been so long ago that we would have been biting our nails early on.

I agree with PA85 that we ran very vanilla stuff on both sides of the ball, yet still dominated. Loved the play of Boone, and loved seeing McCaffrey and Blakeney stepping their games up. McCaffrey looked quite a bit bigger and stronger to me. Blakeney showed great hands on that corner post fade route for the TD. That was a much harder catch than it looked. If Aaron Brett Bret Anthony Boone can work hard to spread the ball around like he did against Elon it will open up the offense a lot. The running backs looked good as well. Another year of 4 strong running backs. Snead and Powell will carry the load but Wilson is a speedy stud, and Ajeigbe impressed me as well. Someone mentioned he did not do much but he had one pretty strong run.

Defense was solid but not spectacular or dominant. The main disappointment was lack of pass rush when not blitzing, and then no forced turnovers, but still they kept Elon at bay limiting them to just 13 points. We miss Kelby but still have a lot of talent there. We will see how good the defense is when it matters and we are using every tool in the tool box. This was not the game for that.

Kick coverage was the only disappointing thing. The kicks were bad (blame it on the day-glo orange shoes/day-glo lime green shoes??) when we were not going for the touchback, and the coverage was pretty weak. (We miss Juwan Thompson maybe?? :) )

Finally, Mr. Sirk says hello. The mantle has been passed. Connette Package is now the Sirk Package. Thomas looks like Brandon out there except he is stronger, faster, and has a quicker first step. That one run was unbelievable. He got going as quick as lightening, hit the hole then showed great strength slamming into the defenders, and willing his way into the end zone. Also showed a strong arm throwing. Sirk is going to be a stud.

All in all a great night at Wally Wade. Shout out to Native and his fellow students. The student section was slam full an hour before kickoff, and it ended up overflowing. They spilled over into the next section and the steps. Amazing.

On to Troy!!

Go Duke!!

Devil in the Blue Dress
09-01-2014, 09:51 PM
Finally, Mr. Sirk says hello. The mantle has been passed. Connette Package is now the Sirk Package. Thomas looks like Brandon out there except he is stronger, faster, and has a quicker first step. That one run was unbelievable. He got going as quick as lightening, hit the hole then showed great strength slamming into the defenders, and willing his way into the end zone. Also showed a strong arm throwing. Sirk is going to be a stud.

Go Duke!!
If I may add something of a divergent thought.... we now have two QBs who can run and pass. I suspect that the day of knowing whether we run or pass based on the QB is passing out of sight.

One other play from the game..... one of Sirk's passes near the goal line was tipped up. Thomas is so quick he almost made it in time to catch the tipped ball himself. I would love to see that happen... how many times do you see a QB catch his own pass?;)

The competition between the top two QBs is going to be fierce this year.... a good thing for the team. Anthony is very good. Thomas is just winding up. Please forgive me for being redundant, but I must reiterate that Thomas Sirk is going to make history at Duke.:D

Acymetric
09-01-2014, 10:34 PM
If I may add something of a divergent thought.... we now have two QBs who can run and pass. I suspect that the day of knowing whether we run or pass based on the QB is passing out of sight.

One other play from the game..... one of Sirk's passes near the goal line was tipped up. Thomas is so quick he almost made it in time to catch the tipped ball himself. I would love to see that happen... how many times do you see a QB catch his own pass?;)

The competition between the top two QBs is going to be fierce this year.... a good thing for the team. Anthony is very good. Thomas is just winding up. Please forgive me for being redundant, but I must reiterate that Thomas Sirk is going to make history at Duke.:D

I know Brett Favre did it (his first play from scrimmage I think) but it was for negative yards off an offensive lineman's helmet.

Devil in the Blue Dress
09-01-2014, 10:53 PM
I know Brett Favre did it (his first play from scrimmage I think) but it was for negative yards off an offensive lineman's helmet.
Actually, what I had in mind was more along the lines of this monologue... "I Wanna Play for You, Bear." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdMNp3rkopA

ancienteagle
09-02-2014, 09:49 AM
Wow!! Five tubas!! Move over, Ohio State!

Technically, I think they were Sousaphones. The band was good! I don't care if they bring in ringers or not, they are vastly improved. Although I was there for the football, having a good band is important. DUMB was about twice the size of last year, and sounded great!

TruBlu
09-02-2014, 03:28 PM
Is this the first time that the band has actually formed the letters D U M B on the field during their performance? I had not noticed it before.

The band may want to bypass that formation when playing UNC. UNC fans will think it is a tribute to their UNC graduates.

Jarhead
09-02-2014, 05:08 PM
Bob, I suspect we saw
vanilla schemes from both sides of the ball. Concur with not losing sleep over the defense after week one.

Here's what impressed me Saturday PM: crowd size and enthusiasm, a marching band with now 5 tuba's, the expectation and delivery of a good team performance, and the palpable reality of WW upgrade. To those with the fortitude to endure the weather, what was life like in the blue seats?

Cheers

The blue seats were fine, but anybody over 6'2" might have a problem. They'll do, but row depth may be a problem down the road. On sunny days, a roof would be nice, but...