I have said for 3 seasons now that we should take seriously what Duke was accomplishing as an overall program. They have made unbeliable strides in this period of time in all aspects of the program. First, take a look at the current 247 national recruiting rankings for the conference for 2016:
3 FSU
10 Miami
(15 Notre Dame)
21 DUKE
24 Clemson
25 UNC
26 Louisville
34 VT
41 UVa
45 WF
54 BC
55 Syracuse
60 NCSU
65 Pitt
70 GT
Even though we were improving late last season, Duke was able to win fairly easily in Durham due to the quick consecutive scoring fueled by a surprise on-side kick and a fumbled punt return by us deep in our territory. The game was tied 7-7 in the first quarter until they scored 3 times in a row. Duke took control with two touchdowns in 9 seconds in the first quarter off these miscues.
As most of you are aware, through recent history, our games with them are usually close regardless of overall W/Ls when we play. Duke blew their chance at the ACC title game last year by being upset at home to a mediocre UNC team. Their best win was away at GT who was very good last year. The year before they made it to the title game but lost 45-7 to national champ FSU and took Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M to the wire in their Chick-Fil-a Bowl game.
So, where do we stand in comparison today? Well, after the BC game, not as bad as I thought. IOW, we are not as far behind them overall as it seemed. Take the recent BC game. We both played BC on consecutive weeks so not a lot of change in personnel. If anything, our loss of Hinton was the biggest negative. But the games were very similar and each could have been easily won by BC. BC was holding Duke scoreless in the 2nd half (....and Duke never crossed the goal-line, either, like us). Below are the comparative stats:
Duke BC WF BC
R 33 164 33 196
P 195 141 109 74
T 228 305 147 270
BC outgained us both but Duke allowed more passing yards. Duke rushed the exact same yardage as we did. Also, We played on BC's home field and Duke got them at home.
So, I like our chances at 6 wins and what Clawson has done from year 1 to year 2. I feel like we at least have a shot at Louisville and NC State and if things stay the same, the game with Duke should be a toss-up.
3 FSU
10 Miami
(15 Notre Dame)
21 DUKE
24 Clemson
25 UNC
26 Louisville
34 VT
41 UVa
45 WF
54 BC
55 Syracuse
60 NCSU
65 Pitt
70 GT
Even though we were improving late last season, Duke was able to win fairly easily in Durham due to the quick consecutive scoring fueled by a surprise on-side kick and a fumbled punt return by us deep in our territory. The game was tied 7-7 in the first quarter until they scored 3 times in a row. Duke took control with two touchdowns in 9 seconds in the first quarter off these miscues.
As most of you are aware, through recent history, our games with them are usually close regardless of overall W/Ls when we play. Duke blew their chance at the ACC title game last year by being upset at home to a mediocre UNC team. Their best win was away at GT who was very good last year. The year before they made it to the title game but lost 45-7 to national champ FSU and took Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M to the wire in their Chick-Fil-a Bowl game.
So, where do we stand in comparison today? Well, after the BC game, not as bad as I thought. IOW, we are not as far behind them overall as it seemed. Take the recent BC game. We both played BC on consecutive weeks so not a lot of change in personnel. If anything, our loss of Hinton was the biggest negative. But the games were very similar and each could have been easily won by BC. BC was holding Duke scoreless in the 2nd half (....and Duke never crossed the goal-line, either, like us). Below are the comparative stats:
Duke BC WF BC
R 33 164 33 196
P 195 141 109 74
T 228 305 147 270
BC outgained us both but Duke allowed more passing yards. Duke rushed the exact same yardage as we did. Also, We played on BC's home field and Duke got them at home.
So, I like our chances at 6 wins and what Clawson has done from year 1 to year 2. I feel like we at least have a shot at Louisville and NC State and if things stay the same, the game with Duke should be a toss-up.
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