FB: Duke 23, Wake Forest 17

B

Bob Green

Moderator
The final game of the 2024 regular season is upon us. Duke (8-3) travels to Wake Forest (4-7) in search of win number nine. Discuss the game here.
 
This has all the makings of a trap game for Duke. They might be playing for a better bowl, but I'm not sure how much the difference between 9-3 and 8-4 would make. Wake is a team that I think is slightly better than their record indicates, offensively they can throw the punches to keep up with Duke. Defensively Duke is the better team. Outside of that run Wake had at the end of the Cutcliffe era, the games are normally close despite the record. Clawson has no love for Duke and finishing the season 5-7 is much better than 4-8. This will be a much tougher game than some expect and I expect WF to be hungry to win.
 
HoKogan said:
This has all the makings of a trap game for Duke. They might be playing for a better bowl, but I'm not sure how much the difference between 9-3 and 8-4 would make. Wake is a team that I think is slightly better than their record indicates, offensively they can throw the punches to keep up with Duke. Defensively Duke is the better team. Outside of that run Wake had at the end of the Cutcliffe era, the games are normally close despite the record. Clawson has no love for Duke and finishing the season 5-7 is much better than 4-8. This will be a much tougher game than some expect and I expect WF to be hungry to win.
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I don't know... Manny's message within games has been to finish strong, and his players have surely taken that to heart. I would imagine he's plugging the same message heading into this weekend, particularly after the mistake-laden game against VaTech.

As for Wake... 5-7 versus 4-8 is largely irrelevant. Their season is over after this weekend regardless. Senior day will bring its emotion for them, but as we saw this Saturday, those emotions run all over the map and can hurt you just as much as they can help you. If we come in focused, we should win. We're the better team.
 
Wake Forest Fans used to be a pretty good bunch, but a while back they took some stupid pills that made them think too highly of themselves. Not as bad as Cheat fans but pretty bad. I'd say it's worse in basketball than football but still pretty close. I say this as someone that lives very close to Winston-Salem. I'm hoping we beat the snot out of them, so I won't have to listen to their mouths.

GoDuke!
 
Papa John said:
I don't know... Manny's message within games has been to finish strong, and his players have surely taken that to heart. I would imagine he's plugging the same message heading into this weekend, particularly after the mistake-laden game against VaTech.

As for Wake... 5-7 versus 4-8 is largely irrelevant. Their season is over after this weekend regardless. Senior day will bring its emotion for them, but as we saw this Saturday, those emotions run all over the map and can hurt you just as much as they can help you. If we come in focused, we should win. We're the better team.
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Agreed plus I do think 8-4 with a loss to a sub-500 team will hurt the resume because the team currently has no bad losses.
 
I don’t see this as a trap game fwiw.

Manny was pretty clear after the last game that we did not play well and did not do what we have done all year. He called it our worst performance of the season. I’m sure that practices are pretty focused this week.
 
budwom said:
"internally" and no doubt minimally...his taunt was not directed at other fans, but at his coach...
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Unfortunately, even though it may have been directed at his coach, it was visible to everyone in the stadium and to viewers of the telecast. Like shouted expletives, obscene gestures cannot be confined in the scope of their exposure to the targeted individual or group. Most fans who attend games in this day and age will simply shrug off such incidents as expected, if unwelcome, features of the sporting event experience. But for those who take their young children or grandchildren to games, the use of offensive language and gestures by others still creates an awkward and somewhat embarrassing situation, because such displays demand an immediate explanation.

In the old days, players usually tried to conduct themselves on the field or in public consistent with the understanding that they were being viewed as role models; and fans tended to be more courteous in their behavior when they were aware of children nearby. When unruly fan behavior did occur, it was generally acceptable for a parent or grandparent to ask the offenders to "watch their language" or "please be considerate of my kids"; and in most cases, the fans complied with such admonitions without reacting with anything more than muffled grumbling. But times have clearly changed. And some old-timers like me, who grew up during that age when people practiced mutual respect and felt a sense of shame, miss those days, especially for the families whose attendance and viewing choices are adversely affected.

At least in this case, the late kickoff made it likely that fewer youngsters were in the stands or were watching the game on TV when Murphy "celebrated" his moment. But if the prospect of seeing -- and having to explain -- such behavior discourages fans from sharing the college football experience with their youngsters by bringing them to the stadium or watching the games with them on TV, I'd regard that as a lamentable consequence.
 
Stray Gator said:
Unfortunately, even though it may have been directed at his coach, it was visible to everyone in the stadium and to viewers of the telecast. Like shouted expletives, obscene gestures cannot be confined in the scope of their exposure to the targeted individual or group. Most fans who attend games in this day and age will simply shrug off such incidents as expected, if unwelcome, features of the sporting event experience. But for those who take their young children or grandchildren to games, the use of offensive language and gestures by others still creates an awkward and somewhat embarrassing situation, because such displays demand an immediate explanation.

In the old days, players usually tried to conduct themselves on the field or in public consistent with the understanding that they were being viewed as role models; and fans tended to be more courteous in their behavior when they were aware of children nearby. When unruly fan behavior did occur, it was generally acceptable for a parent or grandparent to ask the offenders to "watch their language" or "please be considerate of my kids"; and in most cases, the fans complied with such admonitions without reacting with anything more than muffled grumbling. But times have clearly changed. And some old-timers like me, who grew up during that age when people practiced mutual respect and felt a sense of shame, miss those days, especially for the families whose attendance and viewing choices are adversely affected.

At least in this case, the late kickoff made it likely that fewer youngsters were in the stands or were watching the game on TV when Murphy "celebrated" his moment. But if the prospect of seeing -- and having to explain -- such behavior discourages fans from sharing the college football experience with their youngsters by bringing them to the stadium or watching the games with them on TV, I'd regard that as a lamentable consequence.
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The days of "act like you've been there" are long long gone.

I'm no pearl clutcher, but I do get weary of the constant gesturing, chest-thumping, whining-to-refs, me first junk. It seems to have filtered its way from the professional levels, to the top tier prospects, and now to whatever Duke is. I'm not so prim as to say that it ruins the games for me, but it does make me feel like it has passed me by to a degree.
 
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