Yes, you're repeating defenses of him that were already made above. I'm only replying this time because there's no such thing as an undifferentiated 50 years of Duke football being all doctors and lawyers who had no real shot at the NFL, or the CFL for that matter. That's certainly true of the winless and one-win teams that we all recall. But Knowles coached Duke defenses with some real talent; his comment, though a throwaway, was both belittling and wrong.
If the worst thing anyone says about Duke is that we recruit bright student-athletes instead of being a football mill, I guess I’m okay with that.
Elko - I don't care what choice he was. I was impressed that Duke could land a guy with his pedigree who was already making something close to Cut's salary as a DC. Everything from the first press conference, to early recruiting results, to the 4-1 start this year, makes me feel good about the guy we got.
Knowles - sometimes a throwaway line gets microanalyzed beyond anything that was intended. I don't know the context or the tone of the comment. I do know, from reading twitter, that multiple former Duke players took offense. Some even did the math and determined that Knowles was technically incorrect - there were more players from that era that made NFL rosters than went to law/medical school. Ultimately it doesn't really matter. Knowles was a good DC here, which is why he has moved up the ladder. I have no doubt that coaching at Ohio State is different from coaching at Duke, and he may have simply been trying to make a harmless comparison.
Great point about Elko. I was getting nervous after the first few rumors and decisions by other coaches that Duke would end up with a real stretch (no thanks Jason Garrett). But then when we first started hearing about Elko I was worried it would not be high enough profile for him. This worked out great.
As for Knowles, I was curious how the players were responding. Even though I didn’t find it insulting, I’m more willing to see that angle if the actual players had that reaction.
Massive athlete in person. Wished him luck in Atlanta.
https://goduke.com/sports/football/r...e-finney/18061
Jim Sumner’s latest article about turnovers is excellent. The team sits at 10-2 (+8) but that will be an interesting stat to watch as the games theoretically get tougher. The biggest question to me is what happens against the better defensive teams, since only maybe Northwestern has any reputation as playing physical defense. Miami, Pitt and Wake will be the biggest tests there.
I’ll be curious to see where Duke ends up but the article suggests 20+ turnovers forced correlates very strongly with making a bowl game…
I think the 20+ forced is do-able...but no way we keep up the 5-1 ratio...regression to the mean, et al, even before you factor in tougher competition. I also think 4-1 start correlates to making a bowl as well....as does several of the "tougher" opponents looking a tad weak at the moment.
Duke has fumbled 5 times, and recovered them all. Duke's opponents have fumbled 10 times, and Duke has recovered 8 of them. You would expect teams to recover ~50% of fumbles in the long run, so I doubt our record of 13/15 will last. That is probably a bit of luck... and no less than the program deserves given the last few years.
On the more sustainable side, I do think this team is better at protecting the ball than recent years. For one thing, the OL has allowed just 5 sacks in 5 games. That is impressive. For another, Riley Leonard's decision-making has been a huge improvement over our last few QBs. His INT against A&T was earned, but the one he threw against Northwestern was hardly his fault.
Deon Jackson sighting in the Colts-Broncos game. Not doing much, but the OL isn’t doing much for him either. (Insert Duke football joke here.)
Jackson ended up with 13 rushes for 62 yards, plus 4 receptions for 29 yards. Was also used quite a bit in pass protection. Got a bunch of extra playing time when Nyheim Hines (a name Duke recruiting geeks like me may remember) got a nasty concussion early in this one.