Football Appreciation Thread (and Bowl Vigil)

[davekay1971]

Yesterday was a fun day of football around the country, but it was also a great day for Duke Football. After a very rough stretch of games, starting with the Miami robbery, followed then by the UNC debacle, the team finally righted the ship with a nice home win over Wake. They were already bowl eligible, but this win, taking the team to 7-5, helped to cement a bowl appearance, and keep us from sliding in on a terrible losing streak. In addition, it guaranteed a winning season (three in a row!), and gave the current Junior/Senior classes the best 3 season win total (26) in the history of the football program.

Now it's time to put on your Clemson orange for the ACC Championship game to quiet all the talk starting to emanate from Cheater U about how they deserve a spot in the college football playoffs (if you just threw up in your mouth, you're not the only one). Honestly, even if UNC beats Clemson, they're not getting in the playoffs, but their cheating-loving fans will still talk endlessly about how they deserved to be there. We can't have that. Go Tigers!

And, more importantly, time to find out where Duke will be playing in our 4th consecutive bowl game.

[OldPhiKap]

Excellent points,call.

Thanks to the coaches, staff and players who fight hard to represent Duke University.

Go Tigers, beat the Heels.

[Devilwin]

Got a feeling this is our year to win a bowl...Don't really care which one, long as we win it!:cool:

[chrishoke]

When you have three straight winning seasons and go to four straight bowls, you have a football program. This is a dream come true for this long time (55 years) Duke football fan. Thank you Duke Gang!

[Dr. Rosenrosen]

I have complained a good bit this year but only because our success under Coach Cut has lifted my expectations to such heights. I try often to remind myself that I endured the full Barry Wilson era when I was at Duke and that it took us 4 years to win 13 games, including just 4 total ACC wins in that time.

Yeah, I'd say appreciation and thanks are fully in order.

[devildeac]

I'm a glass half empty person so a lot of wailing and moaning from me on a regular basis, but, on Saturday night after beating WFU and sipping a Belgian style triple ale, I've concluded it was a good season, especially upon further reflection about how far out of the huge pit from which we climbed over the last several years. I hope they practice hard the next 3-4 weeks and are able to come home in late December with a bowl championship trophy and turn those verbals into signatures in early February.

[killerleft]

With our football history, I have no trouble appreciating a 7-5 year, especially when 8-4 was only a decent replay ref away. I, too, celebrated with a Belgian triple Saturday evening. I am not ashamed to admit that an 11-ounce pour of Allegash Curieux had me appreciating my designated driver-wife even more than usual.

It's time for that bowl win wherever and whomever we play. Go Duke!!

[Devilsforlife]

Solid season overall. 7-5 (and all of us, including the ACC, know we were really 8-4) isn't bad, especially when you consider that this is only the sixth time since 1962 that we've won seven or more games.

Hopefully we make it to the Pinstripe Bowl and finally get over the hump, putting an end to that awful bowl drought.

[gep]

Solid season overall. 7-5 (and all of us, including the ACC, know we were really 8-4) isn't bad, especially when you consider that this is only the sixth time since 1962 that we've won seven or more games.

Hopefully we make it to the Pinstripe Bowl and finally get over the hump, putting an end to that awful bowl drought.

Only the sixth time? Amazing. And... wasn't this supposed to be a "re-building" year? Even better...:cool:

[scottcpa]

Very proud of the football program on and off the field! Thank you players and coaches for representing Duke so well!

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I posted this in another thread, but when can we expect to learn Duke's destination? It is some written or unwritten rule that we wait until the CFP positions have been allotted? I might be mistaken, but I thought bowl bids came out pretty quickly after a team's final game was played.

Just eager, I guess!

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

I posted this in another thread, but when can we expect to learn Duke's destination? It is some written or unwritten rule that we wait until the CFP positions have been allotted? I might be mistaken, but I thought bowl bids came out pretty quickly after a team's final game was played.

Just eager, I guess!

Many conferences have their championship games scheduled for tomorrow. The bowl bids are announced on Sunday evening.

[duke blue brewcrew]

I'm a glass half empty person so a lot of wailing and moaning from me on a regular basis, but, on Saturday night after beating WFU and sipping a Belgian style triple ale, I've concluded it was a good season, especially upon further reflection about how far out of the huge pit from which we climbed over the last several years. I hope they practice hard the next 3-4 weeks and are able to come home in late December with a bowl championship trophy and turn those verbals into signatures in early February.

Even w/o the assistance of a Belgian, I would have to agree. My original prediction was an 8-4 finish as a worse case. Duke was one badly blown call away from that mark. The team didn't finish the stretch run in a fashion that Blue Devil fans were hoping for, but they can make all of that seem a lot better with a Bowl victory to send these seniors out on top. LET'S GO DUKE!

[scottcpa]

Even w/o the assistance of a Belgian, I would have to agree. My original prediction was an 8-4 finish as a worse case. Duke was one badly blown call away from that mark. The team didn't finish the stretch run in a fashion that Blue Devil fans were hoping for, but they can make all of that seem a lot better with a Bowl victory to send these seniors out on top. LET'S GO DUKE!


I also think it was a successful season especially since we lost 2 main defensive starters for the entire season, lose Kyler Brown for a couple critical games, and 3 of our 4 RB's with injuries during the season. This speaks to the depth we are building! I am excited about the present and the future of Duke Football!

[budwom]

To me, it was only marred by the fact we were 7-1 for about 10 minutes. Before the season began, I estimated seven wins due to the usual, oft mentioned reasons: new QB,
loss of Crowder, loss of two OL stalwarts, questions about receivers.

Obviously if we had started something like 4-3, the second half of the season would not have seemed quite as disappointing.

I also think we were somewhat misled by our very easy out of conference schedule, and the lack of competent passing teams we faced
in the first half of the season....all that talk about a nationally ranked defense was unfortunately premature.

Having said all that, I'm happy with 7-5, and a bowl win would be especially nice.

Then the next task is to hold onto our current recruiting commits before signing day in February.

[tux]

Re: our football team this year. I think the biggest surprise to me in terms of our players was the relative disappearance of Braxton Deaver this year. I was expecting him to be a major part of our passing attack and it just never materialized. I wonder if it's one of the effects of Scottie taking over two seasons ago. I.e., a different approach to the passing game. Or, maybe the injury had some lasting effects...

[DU82]

I just received an email from the IDs asking if I want to upgrade my seats for the Pinstripe Bowl. While they were clear that this doesn't ensure that Duke is going there, they also said that other emails were going out for bowls that also had multiple price points. Since I signed up for almost every bowl, and haven't received other emails, I'm guessing our lobbying for NYC is working, or at least has a good chance of success.

[budwom]

Re: our football team this year. I think the biggest surprise to me in terms of our players was the relative disappearance of Braxton Deaver this year. I was expecting him to be a major part of our passing attack and it just never materialized. I wonder if it's one of the effects of Scottie taking over two seasons ago. I.e., a different approach to the passing game. Or, maybe the injury had some lasting effects...

yes, very perplexing and disappointing. We'll have two new robust tight ends for next year to join Schneider, the highly touted transfer Helm, and freshman Birmingham...both four star talents.

[mbird30]

yes, very perplexing and disappointing. We'll have two new robust tight ends for next year to join Schneider, the highly touted transfer Helm, and freshman Birmingham...both four star talents.

Yes, Helm should be great and birmingham may be good next year too. He has a bad speech impediment, but seems to be using it as something to overcome and work harder as a result of it. I wouldn't be surprised if he is a captain someday. Remember that guy who de-committed last year to go to USC... Still upset about that, but maybe not as much as I was when I heard that UNC had stolen a commit

[scottcpa]

Yes, Helm should be great and birmingham may be good next year too. He has a bad speech impediment, but seems to be using it as something to overcome and work harder as a result of it. I wouldn't be surprised if he is a captain someday. Remember that guy who de-committed last year to go to USC... Still upset about that, but maybe not as much as I was when I heard that UNC had stolen a commit

Yes, I was upset about those two de-commitments until Coach Cut put it into perspective. Someone like that would never have been fully committed to the program so better to find out before they enroll.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

Nice article on ESPN, except that they lump us in with some dingdongs down the road.

Duke, North Carolina's ACC mastery extends outside basketball to football http://es.pn/1OJfQI8