FB: Syracuse @ Duke - 4 pm - ACCNetwork

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Denial is not a river in Egypt...but that "we were so close" talk when we were very clearly never remotely close comes directly from the man at the top. QH didn't just pull that off the top of his head. I don't mind throwing that line out there to the public (although it is pretty grating to here) but if anyone within the program legitimately believes that including QH or Cut or anyone then that would be a pretty significant cause for concern.

I don't think Duke coaches manage their player comments that way...maybe I'm wrong, but I think this is QH being QH. I thought his comments were much further from reality than Cut's, who was not exactly on the mark himself.

[Acymetric]

I don't think Duke coaches manage their player comments that way...maybe I'm wrong, but I think this is QH being QH. I thought his comments were much further from reality than Cut's, who was not exactly on the mark himself.

I don't think the coaches are managing the comments, but I think he is at least in part repeating what the coaches are saying to the players.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

I don't think the coaches are managing the comments, but I think he is at least in part repeating what the coaches are saying to the players.

May be the first time in a while...but we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

[jimsumner]

I mean, they lost to Virginia Tech (not a great loss, but not a terrible one as they appear to have turned things around since we blew them off the field) and Clemson. Seems like Wake is doing just fine to me? Prior to that the blasted NC State and beat FSU. Not like they're on some kind of terrible 5-game skid or something.

Wake Forest has lost its last two games by a combined score of 89-20.

[Acymetric]

Wake Forest has lost its last two games by a combined score of 89-20.

Getting blown out by Clemson doesn't constitute a slide. Nothing about Wake's last two games suggest they are a team that is struggling right now (although the loss of Surratt was a big hit, going forward). If you don't see how "Wake got blown out by Clemson and are now on the slide" is a ridiculous sentiment I don't know what else to tell you.

[jimsumner]

Getting blown out by Clemson doesn't constitute a slide. Nothing about Wake's last two games suggest they are a team that is struggling right now (although the loss of Surratt was a big hit, going forward). If you don't see how "Wake got blown out by Clemson and are now on the slide" is a ridiculous sentiment I don't know what else to tell you.

Please show me where I said Wake Forest was on a slide.

What I said was they were not exactly on a roll. If you think losing back-to-back games by scores of 36-17 and 52-3 contradicts that, then you're welcome to that opinion.

Just don't ask me to defend something I never said.

[Acymetric]

Please show me where I said Wake Forest was on a slide.

What I said was they were not exactly on a roll. If you think losing back-to-back games by scores of 36-17 and 52-3 contradicts that, then you're welcome to that opinion.

Just don't ask me to defend something I never said.

No, you're right. I read more into "not exactly on a roll" than was actually there. I'll eat this one, my apologies.

[SavDukeGrad]

Jim, has there been any news on Casey Holman today? I have been looking for news (tweets, etc) but haven’t seen anything new. Thanks.

[jimsumner]

Jim, has there been any news on Casey Holman today? I have been looking for news (tweets, etc) but haven’t seen anything new. Thanks.

My understanding is that Holman was going to have an MRI today. If so, nothing has been disseminated.

[Acymetric]

Jim, has there been any news on Casey Holman today? I have been looking for news (tweets, etc) but haven’t seen anything new. Thanks.

My understanding is that Holman was going to have an MRI today. If so, nothing has been disseminated.

From TDD/Adam Rowe (posted by his dad):



Sounds like positive news with no lasting damage.

[SavDukeGrad]

From TDD/Adam Rowe (posted by his dad):



Sounds like positive news with no lasting damage.

Great news! Thank you, and to Jim as well.

[DukeDTD]

Haven’t posted in awhile. Long time football and basketball season ticket holder including before Spurrier. Always interesting to read the insight and most recent frustration expressed on DBR. Thanks to all. Even though we certainly have elevated our talent level in recent years our lack of depth really hurts us toward the end of most seasons when nagging injuries impact our starters. But honestly-and I write this with some hesitation-our team including both players and coaches just didn’t seem to care much. And the post game comments didnt reflect much hurt either. I sense that Something is up internally but I have no clue what it is. Even In the bowl era of everybody gets a trophy this team just doesn’t measure up. Hope to be more competitive at least vs Wake and Miami

Well stated. I agree with all of it.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Haven’t posted in awhile. Long time football and basketball season ticket holder including before Spurrier. Always interesting to read the insight and most recent frustration expressed on DBR. Thanks to all. Even though we certainly have elevated our talent level in recent years our lack of depth really hurts us toward the end of most seasons when nagging injuries impact our starters. But honestly-and I write this with some hesitation-our team including both players and coaches just didn’t seem to care much. And the post game comments didnt reflect much hurt either. I sense that Something is up internally but I have no clue what it is. Even In the bowl era of everybody gets a trophy this team just doesn’t measure up. Hope to be more competitive at least vs Wake and Miami

I think you're right....there's a skunk in the woodshed....something deeper than bad play calling and poor blocking went bad.

[rtnorthrup]

I think you're right...there's a skunk in the woodshed...something deeper than bad play calling and poor blocking went bad.

Honestly felt this way since the Wake Forest game last year. That was the worst game I have ever seen a Cutcliffe team play. They totally quit on him. Watching the Syracuse game I had similar feelings. Not sure how much more fight this team has in them at this point.

The coaching staff doesnt trust the offense and you might even say the coaches are scared to call anything positive. Not sure where that comes from, they watch practice all week and all I see are games.

Its pretty clear this team isn't playing to win right now which makes it even worse to see players like Holman and Bracey lying face down on the field. There is no passion, no fight in anyone.

Well see what happens in the off-season.

[HereBeforeCoachK]

Honestly felt this way since the Wake Forest game last year. That was the worst game I have ever seen a Cutcliffe team play. They totally quit on him. Watching the Syracuse game I had similar feelings. Not sure how much more fight this team has in them at this point.

The coaching staff doesnt trust the offense and you might even say the coaches are scared to call anything positive. Not sure where that comes from, they watch practice all week and all I see are games.

Its pretty clear this team isn't playing to win right now which makes it even worse to see players like Holman and Bracey lying face down on the field. There is no passion, no fight in anyone.

Well see what happens in the off-season.

I too think that the WF game last season was a harbinger, an inflection point of sorts, a canary in the coal mine. That kind of televised embarrassment doesn't go away...poor play, getting beat by 52 by another private school in your state, nobody in the stands...that's what we call "recruit repellent" big time. And that kind of embarrassment can only happen to a program with deeper issues. The rout of Temple made me feel like maybe the WF game was just an outlier, a one off. Clearly we've had several more like that this season, none worse than the Cuse game.

[Banana]

If this seems like one of the worst stretches during Cut's tenure, that's because it is. If we define a blowout loss as a loss by at least 4 touchdowns, the number of blowout losses per season since Cut arrived is as follows:

2008 - 0
2009 - 2: #22 Kansas and #7 Georgia Tech
2010 - 2: #1 Alabama and #23 Virginia Tech
2011 - 2: #6 Stanford and unranked Miami
2012 - 3: #25 Stanford, #11 Florida State and #10 Clemson
2013 - 1: #1 Florida State
2014 - 0
2015 - 1: #21 North Carolina
2016 - 1: unranked Pittsburgh
2017 - 0
2018 - 2: #2 Clemson and unranked Wake Forest
2019 - 4: #2 Alabama, unranked Virginia, #15 Notre Dame and unranked Syracuse

This is the first season with at least 4 blowout losses, and the first with at least 2 blowout losses to unranked teams. This is a bad trend, and there does not seem to be enough urgency to fix it. As Jim Sumner explained last week, Cut may have been limiting Quentin Harris to quick passes and few runs against Notre Dame in order to reduce the risk of injuring him, because we have no effective backup QB. But that strategy made no sense in a must-win game against Syracuse. We cannot beat anyone (with or without QH) with the current offensive strategy, as opposing defenses can focus almost exclusively on stopping the run and jumping our short pass routes. We need to open up the offense, even if some of the more exotic plays don't work, so that opposing defenses have to play a little looser. Also, this team does not seem to be as disciplined as past teams, as there are, among other things, too many false starts in critical situations in recent games. So I, too, am sensing a lack of passion in the coaches and/or players - except for Chris Rumph, who seemed truly on fire during one key defensive series in the second half against Syracuse.

Banana

[budwom]

Honestly felt this way since the Wake Forest game last year. That was the worst game I have ever seen a Cutcliffe team play. They totally quit on him. Watching the Syracuse game I had similar feelings. Not sure how much more fight this team has in them at this point.

The coaching staff doesnt trust the offense and you might even say the coaches are scared to call anything positive. Not sure where that comes from, they watch practice all week and all I see are games.

Its pretty clear this team isn't playing to win right now which makes it even worse to see players like Holman and Bracey lying face down on the field. There is no passion, no fight in anyone.

Well see what happens in the off-season.

well stated. It will indeed be interesting to see how Cutcliffe responds to this state of affairs.
Teams have learned (apropos to your statement about the coaches being scared to call anything positive) we absolutely can't, or won't, throw the ball downfield. As such we're a very easy team to defend.

[Devilwin]

And how are we going to recruit a good qb when we are so timid about opening the offense up?

[budwom]

And how are we going to recruit a good qb when we are so timid about opening the offense up?

and can we hold on to this year's four star QB recruit? Let's hope so.

[Devilwin]

Looks pretty good. Good arm, but needs to put on some weight.