Sage Grouse
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'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013
They weren't great, but it didn't cost them the game. They were Big 12 refs. If they don't like their own refs, they can always complain to their conference. If we played anybody but UNC next week, I would be thanking my lucky stars that we finally have ACC refs again.
We need our "bad" quarter or half to be a little less bad in ACC play to win. Even though KS's coach builds his teams like Larry Fedora, we can't count on scoring 40 PPG very often. All of the ACC teams on our schedule are better than NW and KS, but none of them are very good with the exception of Wake.
Rock Chalk Jayhawk!
Good job Duke!
From the replay I saw, the flag never seemed to be thrown; but it clearly should have been. And that's true whether the Duke fair-catcher touched his own man or whether the ball hit the Duke player on the helmet. Kansas never game him the proper room in the first place. I think the back judge somehow muffed pulling out his flag. So the officials huddled and fixed it.
they <literally> threw it after the replay, to raucous applause from the crowd. I think that's what's being referred to.
Most of the calls were legit. the targeting, the fair catch...I didn't see the offensive pass interference on the one TD, as the stadium replays I don't think went far enough back to show the infraction (seems to be a common problem with the stadium replays), and still wasn't sure what they called it on.
1200. DDMF.
Exactly. Without the flag, the correct call on replay would have been a KU recovery (but interference was obviously the right call, practically could have called it on 2 different guys and a 3rd only missed because the other two guys got in his way).
Edit: and that would have been a penalty even if he hadn't called for a fair catch.
Great job on the recap, Jim. Money comments:
1. It was a Big 12 shootout, which was fun because Duke came out on top.
2. The defense needs to tighten up on opponents explosive plays.
3. Gunnar’s comments on being really proud of the team. He comes across as a strong leader.
Bob Green
Penalties were nearly even for the game... Duke 6 for 65 yards, KU 5 for 65 yards. The only thing I can think of is the one Holmberg TD run in which he punched it in from the 1... they could have called forward motion had stopped but they let the play run and he got in on the third push with a lot of help from the OL. Several of the KU players were visibly upset over that. But it made no difference to the game since it was not fourth down.
The offense gained 607 yards. Total yards gained through the first four games is 2,178. That total through the first four games exceeds other Duke teams all the way back to 1970. Individual players are approaching or matching other records as well. For a complete summary, see goduke.com.
To be fair, this Kansas team may be the worst P5 team in the land. Of course, it's nice that Duke is no longer that! CBS sports ranks Kansas as #119 out of 130 D1 teams. Arizona is the only P5 school worse. They rank Duke 85th incidentally. Northwestern is 92nd. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/rankings/cbs-sports-ranking/
I enjoyed the win and a beautiful day at Wallace Wade. We're not in the position to scoff at *any* win. That said...
Duke gave up 33 points and 530 yards to one of the worst teams in FBS. That is as bad a defensive performance as we've had in a long time. So far, I haven't seen anything from our defense to suggest that it will be competitive in the ACC.
On the other hand, the offense looks genuinely good. Gunnar has exceeded any realistic expectations. The OL doing enough in pass protection to allow him to make throws, and the skill players have been solid. Again, it's worth mentioning just how bad Kansas is. That honestly looked like a game against an FCS opponent. There were several plays - the Waters TD run, Calhoun TD catch, Mateo's long catch and run - where I was in awe of how slow and unathletic Kansas' defense was.
Overall, the good news is that we shook off that first loss and got to 3-1 in OOC. That gives us at least a chance at a bowl game. I expect a few ugly losses in ACC play. I also expect a few shootouts where our offense may just do enough to win. It will be exciting to see how many yards Mateo and Gunnar can rack up.