One man's trash is another man's treasure.
And one school's mess could lead to another school's first win.
When this season began, many would have predicted Miami (4-2, 1-1 in the ACC) to celebrate an easy win over Duke (0-6, 0-4) this weekend. But the Hurricanes, who are already experiencing a down year, will play without 13 players because of suspensions resulting from last weekend's brawl with Florida International.
The Blue Devils are still searching for their first victory and may have finally received the lucky break they need to get it.
"We're not going to focus on who's gone and who's not," said Duke senior captain Casey Camero, a defensive tackle. "They still have plenty of talented depth, and they're still Miami. And we're going to prepare for them like we normally would."
Although Miami head coach Larry Coker said Duke poses some problems for his team, the Blue Devils have struggled to play consistently on both sides of the ball throughout the season. Duke's offense recorded its highest score of the year against Florida State, but the Blue Devil defense also gave up more points than it had in any other game.
The Hurricanes head to Durham with the momentum of a four-game winning streak and the Blue Devils know they will have to play a complete game in order to win.
"What we've got to do is focus on going back to working out our mistakes and the things we can control," head coach Ted Roof said. "We can't control some of the things, so we're not going to worry about them-play the guessing game or anything like that. We're just going to get ourselves ready to play, because this needs to be our best football game of the year."
Miami's defense is ranked sixth nationally in average yards against and third in rushing yards against. The Blue Devils, whose running attack has been inconsistent, will look once more to freshman quarterback Thaddeus Lewis and his corps of receivers to produce the bulk of the offensive output.
Duke's air attack has accounted for approximately 1000 of the offense's 1400 total yards this season, yet the Blue Devils have run nearly 30 percent more rushing plays than passing plays.
Despite successes in certain areas, the offense has had a tendency to turn the ball over in key situations, especially in the first half.
"We've gotten behind the eight ball early, which has taken us out of our game plan," Roof said. "We cannot come out and make those types of mistakes and put our defense in those types of situations with either a turnover on offense or special teams early in the football game."
This Miami team, already facing intense national scrutiny, may be the weakest Hurricane squad Duke has faced in recent memory. The Blue Devils could start the long road back to salvaging this season with a win Saturday.
With a loss to Miami, the senior class's dream to visit its first and only bowl game will be extinguished. Despite the winless first half of the season, the seniors remain confident in their team and its abilities.
"Coming here, I was sold on turning the program around," Camero said. "Expectations were high. We wanted to be contending for a bowl game every year.. We're not where we want to be, but we're not going to let that affect the way we play the rest of our games."
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