Originally Posted by
johnb
For those better informed than am I, what do you think the problem is in regards to the wins/losses?
The variables seem to include scheduling, luck, the talent of the average starter, the number of unicorns/team (ie, 3 stars-->NFL), coaching effectiveness, and some sort of esprit de corps.
Scheduling has gotten us to bowl games several times, though the team still has to defeat teams it might not have defeated pre-Cutcliffe.
The talent of the average starter seems solid to me. One problem is that some of the ACC's Big State U's routinely get several 4 and even 5 star recruits every recruiting cycle. That doesn't mean our guys can't play on the same field, but it does mean we're likely to lose.
Seems that there are 8 Duke alums currently active in the NFL, and the team is obviously improved when we have guys like Daniel Jones, Laken Tomlinson, and Jamison Crowder. Everybody knows, especially recruits, that it's helpful to their own development (and their NFL prospects) if the future NFL players are on the same college team at the same time. Ie, Jones gets protection from Tomlinson and has an extra half second to throw to Crowder, who gains 40 yards. As our current qb mentioned in a rare bit of honesty +/- undercutting one's current teammates: "it's great to be at Duke, etc, but at Clemson, I could throw the ball to approximately the right spot, and the great Clemson receivers would almost always, somehow make the catch" (paraphrase). Jones never said as much while he was at Duke, but it was obvious that many of his best passes ricocheted off the hands of receivers who are no doubt excellent football players but were not at the level that allows a team to routinely beat Carolina or Virginia, much less Clemson.
Two more thoughts--next post!