Bull City Football: Duke 55, NCCU 13

[Devilwin]

Ok, let's play "Pick The Final Score". I will guess, Duke 51, NCCU 10.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Helmet closeup:

An apple a day keeps Central's offense away.

[Pghdukie]

Hockey "official" injury reports are by far the most vague and surely have a language of their own. Most include only 2 words - upper body or lower body.

[devildeac]

Ok, let's play "Pick The Final Score". I will guess, Duke 51, NCCU 10.

Duke 45
NCCU 7

[BigWayne]

48-7

[OldPhiKap]

54-3.

[killerleft]

41-0 Duke.

[duke2x]

Games like this are impossible to predict. I think the need to rest the 1's very early and eliminating VT film make this closer than usual. We could win this game without throwing a pass or running the wishbone.

NCCU----7
Duke----42

What we want to see:
No further injuries.
Minimize bad plays (<= 1 TO, no ST miscues, <= 1 "X" play for NCCU offense).

Where we get concerned:
Give up more than 14 points without preceding TOs/ST miscue.
Score less than 17 points.

[jwillfan]

I will be at my son's baseball tournament - does "ACC Network" mean I can stream on the ESPN app?

He will be starting pitcher (16u travel ball) and I will be unlikely to watch much so can do gameday - but still be interested to know.

I will likely do the Blue Devil IMG TuneIn audio using bluetooth but would like to watch a few of what I know will be fun replays. Knowwhaddimean?

[brevity]

I wasn't able to find a vintage program because the Bull City Gridiron Classic isn't exactly vintage. It started in 2009.

Duke NCCU 2009.jpg

Duke won 49-14. NCCU Athletics posted a throwback tweet last year with some pictures from that game.

[Bob Green]

Duke 51, NCCU 0

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Very vanilla offense...solid D...resting players...

Duke 38 Central 3

[budwom]

Get a big lead, protect Harris, play a lot of guys.

[swiseman]

Some injury updates are sprinkled into this story about how Duke has built the depth that has allowed it to, so far, keep winning with all the injuries. From what I've been told, don't expect many of the guys who have been missing games to return vs. NCCU. It shouldn't matter in this game. The VT game is, of course, far more important.



https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/...218749260.html

[jimsumner]

Get a big lead, protect Harris, play a lot of guys.

The Harris thing is interesting.

He clearly needs the work. As impressive as much of his game was against Baylor, he still completed only 40 percent of his passes.

But Katrenick also needs work. Maybe Holmberg. And Duke cannot risk an injury to Harris.

But Harris needs the work.

My best guess is that Harris plays all of the first half and a series or two in the second half and Duke calls very few plays that result in Harris carrying the ball.

But it is a balancing act.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

The Harris thing is interesting.

He clearly needs the work. As impressive as much of his game was against Baylor, he still completed only 40 percent of his passes.
. And Duke cannot risk an injury to Harris. But Harris needs the work.

My best guess is that Harris plays all of the first half and a series or two in the second half and Duke calls very few plays that result in Harris carrying the ball.

But it is a balancing act.

It is a balancing act indeed Jim...because the one thing we know - Harris is quicker than Jones is the first 10-20 yards after taking off. I don't know who is faster over, say 40 yards or more, but Harris looks quicker off the start.

The body of work for the deep balls is very small, but Harris - taking his deep throws only - had a terrific passing game. Based on what Cut said about his ability to throw deep, and the one game, that is encouraging. On the pretty good chance he'll have to play against VT, I'd like to see some QB draws and long balls, or fades, Saturday, and hopefully better performance on short and intermediate throws.

[Banana]

My updated Depth Chart for the North Carolina Central game is attached. Duke Football 2018 Depth Chart 09-21-18.pdf

My understanding from Steve Wiseman's recent article (see post 54 above) is that injured Aaron Young and Michael Carter are not available for tomorrow's game. Therefore, Chris Taylor should start again at wide receiver, and Myles Hudzick should get his first start at cornerback. I suspect that even if injured Zach Harmon is available tomorrow (as I believe he was last week), Jack Wohlabaugh will get most, if not all, of the snaps at center, due to his experience snapping to Quentin Harris while they were both on the second team. I also suspect that even if injured Jeremy McDuffie is available tomorrow, he won't play much, so as not to risk reinjury before the key Va Tech game next Saturday.

Scott Bracey caught his first pass of the season against Baylor. Even though Jake Bobo and Keyston Fuller are still awaiting their first catches, TJ Rahming, Johnathan Lloyd and Aaron Young have combined for 6 TD catches in just 3 games, so the wide receivers as a group have exceeded my expectations. While our 3 primary tight ends have 9 total catches, those catches have gone for only 70 total yards. I am hoping that at some point a TE can slip down the middle of the field for a long gain or two. That would open up things for the other receivers.

Dylan Singleton leads the team in tackles (28), and also has 2 forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup. No wonder Coach Cut says he is playing like an All-American so far!

By the way, I am now counting blocked kicks as turnovers in my tackles-for-loss and turnovers column. I know that is not the official treatment, but I am trying to highlight key defensive plays in that column, so there!

[brlftz]

Some injury updates are sprinkled into this story about how Duke has built the depth that has allowed it to, so far, keep winning with all the injuries. From what I've been told, don't expect many of the guys who have been missing games to return vs. NCCU. It shouldn't matter in this game. The VT game is, of course, far more important.



https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/...218749260.html

Great article as always. One amazing thing I learned as an interesting tangent is that the cornerbacks coach at Duke somehow has over 44k Twitter followers. Holy crap.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Great article as always. One amazing thing I learned as an interesting tangent is that the cornerbacks coach at Duke somehow has over 44k Twitter followers. Holy crap.

I heard that last year sometime...he's like an inspirational guru for his followers...probably helped his recruiting. People love him.

[budwom]

If Harris did anything wrong vs. Baylor, it was to throw the ball away prematurely too many times, but that was infinitely better than forcing the throws.

Sounds like the injury Cone of Silence is fully intact for this weekend...hope to at least hear of guys like Cerenord and Carter running around, not hobbling.

Agree with Jim, I expect Harris for a half and maybe a wee bit; have to build a lead...lots of others will play, but I don't expect to see hims passing behind the third string OL
as keeping him upright is an absolutely necessity.