Miami 49, Duke 31

[davekay1971]

Looking ahead, the games at Wake and at Vandy look pretty tough, so holding serve at home against a young but atheletic Miami team seems to me to be very important.

If Duke has any hopes of a surprise bowl trip this year, is Miami a must-win?

[wilson]

If Duke has any hopes of a surprise bowl trip this year, is Miami a must-win?

Yes it is. But I still fail to understand why anyone ever thought that even a "surprise" bowl trip was a realistic expectation in any way for this team.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Only for bowl hopes can Miami be looked at as a must win, but since very few of us had expectations for a bowl this year at all, I don't think any game is a must win.
Even for bowl hopes, I'm not sure the upcoming game as a victory is necessary, but it would help the options in the rest of the schedule. Not until we have 3 games left in the season, and still only 3 victories, is any game a must win game.

[Edouble]

Not until we have 3 games left in the season, and still only 3 victories, is any game a must win game.

CB&B gets it right again.

[Devilsfan]

A must win for Miami! Duke's glass is half filled. They show signs of improvement each week. They were simply over matched. Look at Vandy and picture Duke in two or three years. Very, very promising!

[devilirium]

I think we have a better chance against Wake than Vandy. We play well vs Wake in Winston, and I wouldn't put it past Duke to upset Wake. Their offensive line, for the first time in a long time, has not been a strength.

[footballfan2]

A must win for Miami! Duke's glass is half filled. They show signs of improvement each week. They were simply over matched. Look at Vandy and picture Duke in two or three years. Very, very promising!

I agree. This is a must win game for Miami. If they lose to either UCF or Duke... their fan base will explode. I have watched most of Miami's games. They are super talented; however their talent is in the freshmen class. Thus they are very inconsistent. Sometimes they look like world beaters. Other times they play flat.

The only way Duke beats Miami is if Thad Lewis is having a lights out game. The O-line is going to have to give him 2-3 seconds. That's a tall order for a terrible O-line; however, Miami's four man rush has been surprisingly poor. They do send in a lot of zone blitzes. Lewis is going to have to avoid those. However if he can, he might be able to pick off the secondary since that's clearly Miami's weakness. I haven't seen a Miami team with this poor of a secondary since the mid-1990s while they were under NCAA probation. Also factor in that Duke has no real running game to speak of... that's not going help Duke. On the flip side, if Miami's QB is given time to go through his reads... it's going to be a long day for Duke. VO and the D-line will have it's work cut out for them that day. I believe Miami has one of the largest Offensive lines in the country. Plus it is one of the few positions that is made up of seniors and juniors.

[jimsumner]

"But I still fail to understand why anyone ever thought that even a "surprise" bowl trip was a realistic expectation in any way for this team."

Because it only take six wins to become bowl eligible. Duke was one play away from ending September with four of those, needing to win two of the last eight. Doesn't seem unrealistic to me.

[Edouble]

"But I still fail to understand why anyone ever thought that even a "surprise" bowl trip was a realistic expectation in any way for this team."

Because it only take six wins to become bowl eligible. Duke was one play away from ending September with four of those, needing to win two of the last eight. Doesn't seem unrealistic to me.

In Wilson's defense, I think he meant "ever" in terms of pre-season expectations, and just worded it wrong.

[footballfan2]

"But I still fail to understand why anyone ever thought that even a "surprise" bowl trip was a realistic expectation in any way for this team."

Because it only take six wins to become bowl eligible. Duke was one play away from ending September with four of those, needing to win two of the last eight. Doesn't seem unrealistic to me.

it doesn't? you do recall that Duke had a hard time even winning one game prior to this year.

[RelativeWays]

There are no must win games for this Duke football team, their only mandate is to improve. I'd love for them to get one or two more wins, but I never expected them to be bowl eligible this year. Give Cut a couple more years recruiting and implementing his system so we can close the talent gap.

[whereinthehellami]

Miami is super talented but has some chemistry and discipline issues. I'm not sold on Shannon either. It doesn't seem like his team responds well to him. He seems very old school with how he runs his program which doesn't seem to jive with how he recruits. I could see Duke sneeking this game from Miami.

[ugadevil]

it doesn't? you do recall that Duke had a hard time even winning one game prior to this year.

I'd put money on Jim Sumner being able to recall just about anything in Duke athletics.

BTW Jim, I was going through my bookshelf the other day and noticed "Tales from the Duke Blue Devils Hardwood". Great read!

[jimsumner]

"you do recall that Duke had a hard time even winning one game prior to this year"

Pretty sure David Cutcliffe wasn't coaching any of those teams.

At the beginning of the season, I stated a number of times my opinion that six wins probably was the ceiling for this year's team and that Duke probably needed to run the table during the four-game home streak that opened the season. Almost happened but not quite.

I still think six wins is doable. How does Duke respond to its first real stinker of the season? We'll know in two weeks.

But I don't think we should be so quick to dismiss those first four games. Duke toasted a James Madison team that might be the best FCS team in the country. Duke outplayed Northwestern and NW is 5-0. Duke beat the same Navy team that beat Wake Forest and crushed a Virginia team that just mauled Maryland.

Using the transitive property, we now know that Duke is better than Florida, Clemson, and California.

David Cutcliffe has said from the very beginning that this year's football team will be defined by what happens in November. I'm pretty sure he's not planning on a second-half collapse and I'm not sure we should assume one either.

[watzone]

Bob Green previews Miami and he feels Duke has a good chance to win. As for me, I think it will be a battle. Despite the ugly score this past weekend, Miami's defense held Central Florida to no offense. I mean, 4 yards rushing and around 50 for the game is fairly impressive to me.http://bluedevilnation.net/?p=1117

[footballfan2]

i will be there. I'm predicting a tight game between the two.

Miami 24
Duke 17

[TwoDukeTattoos]

Duke needs to go to the air early and often. This is a passing team, not a running team. And doing so will help to open up the running game a bit. This game is certainly winninable as long as they play smart football.

[wolfpackdevil]

Duke needs to go to the air early and often. This is a passing team, not a running team. And doing so will help to open up the running game a bit. This game is certainly winninable as long as they play smart football.

I agree 100% with that! I think last week in perticular we tried to run the ball way too much. We are not a good running team without Boyette in the backfield. I think that Coach Cut and Thad need to stick to the short screen passes and slant plays to gain good yardage. We havn't seen the "big play" that we saw a lot of last year from Thad to Riley. If Duke keeps making the simple plays on both sides of the ball they will have a great chance to win.

And just think; wins against Miami, NCSU and UNC at home, put us in a bowl game. No road wins are necessary. Wouldn't a win at home against the Tar Heels to clinch a bowl berth be the sweetest feeling ever!

Duke will keep bowl hope alive and well this weekend.

Duke: 21

Miami: 17

[Diddy]

Look folks, I am super amped about how the team has done so far. Further, I feel really good about our future prospects.

That said, UM might very well blow us away this week. They are a young team, but they are extremely talented. Shannon has all the makings of a good coach. All of their losses have been respectable.

Their offense is still feeling their way arround, so they might not score a lot of points. But their D is downright nasty. That D was able to corral Florida for three quarters, and has generally looked pretty good. I just don't think we have enough talent on the offensive line to keep their defenders out of our backfield. They have some D linemen that are going to be household names in a few years, along with their linebackers. The Secondary is pretty good too.

I see a convincing loss coming up. This miami team doesn't look like the Davis era teams yet, but they will when all the current frosh and sophs are Jrs and Seniors. This may well be the most talented, albeit inexperienced, team we face all year.

[wolfpackdevil]

Look folks, I am super amped about how the team has done so far. Further, I feel really good about our future prospects.

That said, UM might very well blow us away this week. They are a young team, but they are extremely talented. Shannon has all the makings of a good coach. All of their losses have been respectable.

Their offense is still feeling their way arround, so they might not score a lot of points. But their D is downright nasty. That D was able to corral Florida for three quarters, and has generally looked pretty good. I just don't think we have enough talent on the offensive line to keep their defenders out of our backfield. They have some D linemen that are going to be household names in a few years, along with their linebackers. The Secondary is pretty good too.

I see a convincing loss coming up. This miami team doesn't look like the Davis era teams yet, but they will when all the current frosh and sophs are Jrs and Seniors. This may well be the most talented, albeit inexperienced, team we face all year.

This Miami team you speak of is the same team that just beat Central Florida 12-7 in Miami. They also blew a double-digit lead to carolina in the second half. This is a very young and inexperienced team