Originally Posted by
Devilsforlife
To me, there have been a number of points in the decline.
-2015 Miami: this robbery is when we stopped competing for Coastal titles, having been in the race every year starting with 2012.
-2016: the 4-8 year, when our offense noticably declined following the departure of Scottie Montgomery, and promotion of Zac Roper to OC. John Latina also retired after 2015, and the OL went from a huge strength to a major weakeness.
-2018: Jim Knowles left for Oklahoma State, and the defense entered a similar spiral. The 59-7 evisceration against Wake in the finale was also the first game Duke quit under Cut, a sign of things to follow.
-2019: the halfback pass on the goal line at Kenan, which is when we stopped being competitive in the ACC, as our 2-19 record in the last 21 league games showcases. There were several more blowouts where the effort was subpar, too.
-2020: Covid, and the Chase Brice experiment, which was a miserable failure. Gunnar has played better this year than Brice ever did, and I wish Cut had given him some opportunities. The Brice pickup seemed exciting at first, but the plug should've been pulled by mid-season at latest.
-2021: the Charlotte and GT late game collapses, which were the final nails in the coffin. If we get stops to close out those two games, Duke is 5-5, with 2 home games left to reach bowl eligibility.
It's been a combination of talented assistants leaving and not being adequately replaced, a swing and a miss at QB, and some devastating losses (Miami 15, UNC 19, Charlotte and GT this year) that killed the program's mojo. Back in early 2019 I truly thought Cut would be coaching Duke until the mid-2020s, making minor bowls most years, but things really imploded.