Football 2020

[budwom]

Ok, I need some 'splaining. This strikes me as the usual muddled Duke missive. They clearly begin by stating that Duke will BEGIN the Fall season without fans; then they pivot to offering rollovers and refunds for season tickets.
Does that not imply that we will also END the Fall season without fans? What if you opt for a refund or rollover, then they allow fans in November? You get to partly repurchase your rolled over season ticket?

Is there any reason they chose that wording other than poor language skills?

[CameronBornAndBred]

Ok, I need some 'splaining. This strikes me as the usual muddled Duke missive. They clearly begin by stating that Duke will BEGIN the Fall season without fans; then they pivot to offering rollovers and refunds for season tickets.
Does that not imply that we will also END the Fall season without fans? What if you opt for a refund or rollover, then they allow fans in November? You get to partly repurchase your rolled over season ticket?

Is there any reason they chose that wording other than poor language skills?

My guess is that they know at no point during the season will the be able to have a full capacity stadium. So might as well ditch the "season tickets" now, and if able, allow a limited number of purchases on a per game basis later.

[budwom]

My guess is that they know at no point during the season will the be able to have a full capacity stadium. So might as well ditch the "season tickets" now, and if able, allow a limited number of purchases on a per game basis later.

That could be it, though they could have mentioned the possibility of future attendance at some point in the note...at least the default option is to get tickets rolled over into 2021,that was a good idea.

[chrishoke]

Duke is offering purchase of Due Fan Cardboard Cutouts to be placed in Wallace Wade. I purchased mine today. Pretty cool. Go Duke!

[devildeac]

Duke is offering purchase of Due Fan Cardboard Cutouts to be placed in Wallace Wade. I purchased mine today. Pretty cool. Go Duke!

Darn shame we're not playing Alabama or ND at WW this year as they could purchase 40K cutouts and fill the place...

[Bob Green]

Duke is offering purchase of Due Fan Cardboard Cutouts to be placed in Wallace Wade. I purchased mine today. Pretty cool. Go Duke!

Did you use your profile photo? Grace flipping off the TV cameras would look great.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Did you use your profile photo? Grace flipping off the TV cameras would look great.

I support this. Photoshop some Blue Devil horns in.

[chrishoke]

Did you use your profile photo? Grace flipping off the TV cameras would look great.

Ha! I should have but I used my ugly mug instead.

[Stray Gator]

Ok, I need some 'splaining. This strikes me as the usual muddled Duke missive. They clearly begin by stating that Duke will BEGIN the Fall season without fans; then they pivot to offering rollovers and refunds for season tickets.
Does that not imply that we will also END the Fall season without fans? What if you opt for a refund or rollover, then they allow fans in November? You get to partly repurchase your rolled over season ticket?

Is there any reason they chose that wording other than poor language skills?

I assume that Duke will proceed with a plan under which any fan attendance that might be permitted during the season will be done solely on a single-game ticket basis, with those tickets being offered for sale based on some form of points system using Iron Dukes priority and/or football season-ticket holder seniority. That's essentially what Florida is doing, although they're still holding out the possibility that some percentage of capacity (perhaps 25%) may still be allowed to attend. So as Gator season ticket holders, we can either (a) decide now not to attend any games, in which case we have the option of rolling over the tickets to next season, or taking a refund, or donating the payment to the athletic department; or (b) hold onto our season tickets for now and wait to see whether, if attendance at games is permitting, we might be eligible to acquire tickets for one or more of the home games, presumably with the balance of our unused season ticket payments being rolled over to next year. I hope that helps.

[chrishoke]

I assume that Duke will proceed with a plan under which any fan attendance that might be permitted during the season will be done solely on a single-game ticket basis, with those tickets being offered for sale based on some form of points system using Iron Dukes priority and/or football season-ticket holder seniority. That's essentially what Florida is doing, although they're still holding out the possibility that some percentage of capacity (perhaps 25%) may still be allowed to attend. So as Gator season ticket holders, we can either (a) decide now not to attend any games, in which case we have the option of rolling over the tickets to next season, or taking a refund, or donating the payment to the athletic department; or (b) hold onto our season tickets for now and wait to see whether, if attendance at games is permitting, we might be eligible to acquire tickets for one or more of the home games, presumably with the balance of our unused season ticket payments being rolled over to next year. I hope that helps.

If we'd been given your last option, I would have taken it.

[Stray Gator]

If we'd been given your last option, I would have taken it.

That's the option we've elected. I see no reason to throw in the towel on the whole season at this point, particularly when I'm confident that the option to roll our tickets over to next year will remain available if it turns out that we're not able to attend any games.

[Wander]

Just got an email that Duke will start the season without fans at events.

OK, but when is Duke going to announce changes caused by covid?

[Bob Green]

Jim Sumner on the wide receivers:

https://www.dukebasketballreport.com...hilyaw-johnson

Receiving corps lacks experience but there is raw talent and speed. You can’t teach speed. Philyaw-Johnson and Garner can take the top off a defense, and Pancol has demonstrated big play ability in limited opportunities.

Jake Bobo has great hands catching the ball in traffic. Jalon Calhoun was team’s leading receiver as a true freshman.

This could be an explosive group of receivers.

[jimsumner]

OK, but when is Duke going to announce changes caused by covid?

Can we please put a lid on this? Yes, the small, academically-elite private school with a limited student body and the geographically-dispersed fan base doesn't draw as well as the two nearby large state-supported schools that suck much of the oxygen out of the Triangle atmosphere by sheer virtue of numbers.

But that small private school has thousands of loyal football fans, many of whom regularly travel to Duke from places like Vermont and Florida, and yes, even New Bern. They support their team with their time, their money and their energy and the team and coaches notice that.

Not picking on you specifically, Wander and YMMV. But this whole narrative seems more than a little insulting to the Duke fan base and I suspect I'm not the only one who finds it played out.

Back to your regular programming.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Can we please put a lid on this? Yes, the small, academically-elite private school with a limited student body and the geographically-dispersed fan base doesn't draw as well as the two nearby large state-supported schools that suck much of the oxygen out of the Triangle atmosphere by sheer virtue of numbers.

But that small private school has thousands of loyal football fans, many of whom regularly travel to Duke from places like Vermont and Florida, and yes, even New Bern. They support their team with their time, their money and their energy and the team and coaches notice that.

Not picking on you specifically, Wander and YMMV. But this whole narrative seems more than a little insulting to the Duke fan base and I suspect I'm not the only one who finds it played out.

Back to your regular programming.

Damn skippy!
Couldn't spork you, but I wholeheartedly agree. The days of Duke being the butt of the "no fans" jokes are thankfully behind us, due to the wonderful job that Coach Cutcliffe has done and the support that the administration has thrown behind the program. We'll never be biggest fan base, but we do show up! The difference between going to a game in 2005 and to a game in 2019 is absolutely incredible.
The days of an empty Wallace Wade stadium and "Duke sucks" are long gone. The jokes need to follow; they no longer apply. And while I am very happy that Duke has made the right decision to not have fans present at the games, I sure as hell am going to miss being there.

[Bob Green]

Jim Sumner on the wide receivers:

https://www.dukebasketballreport.com...hilyaw-johnson

I’ll be tacky and quote myself. I’m disappointed there has been zero comments and discussion on Jim’s excellent article. With a new QB and Coach Cutcliffe as OC, multiple wide receivers could have breakout seasons.

[budwom]

I’ll be tacky and quote myself. I’m disappointed there has been zero comments and discussion on Jim’s excellent article. With a new QB and Coach Cutcliffe as OC, multiple wide receivers could have breakout seasons.

I'm just not sure if the whole season is a tease at this point...I want to look forward to it, but don't want to invest too much emotional capital in case it's a no go...
Regarding our WR group: it's a vast mystery to me: last year our OL couldn't block for a QB who couldn't throw...yet we do seem to have some talent, a new WR coach last year whose impact couldn't be assessed...so who knows?

[jafarr1]

I'll echo budwom's sentiment that it is difficult to get excited enough to discuss a season that seems less and less likely to happen, and add that I am stuck with mixed feelings about whether it even should happen. That this particular article discusses hypothetical emergences from multiple players who have rarely been seen in college game action (or even practice highlights) makes it even tougher to comment, as it feels difficult to do much more than echo Jim's points.

That said, I always, always appreciate Jim's good work, as it is some of the best insight into Duke football around. I read every one of his articles with interest.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I'll echo budwom's sentiment that it is difficult to get excited enough to discuss a season that seems less and less likely to happen, and add that I am stuck with mixed feelings about whether it even should happen. That this particular article discusses hypothetical emergences from multiple players who have rarely been seen in college game action (or even practice highlights) makes it even tougher to comment, as it feels difficult to do much more than echo Jim's points.

That said, I always, always appreciate Jim's good work, as it is some of the best insight into Duke football around. I read every one of his articles with interest.

Well stated on both accounts. I'm not disinterested in this season, I just will believe it when I see it.

[OldPhiKap]

Y'all have expressed my sentiment wonderfully.

I am very interested in our team. I'm just not convinced we're going to play a game, let alone a meaningful "season."

But if we beat Dame and then they call the season, I guess I would take that as a pretty good result under the circumstances.