The bell of the Blue Zone stock exchange has just rung again, meaning it's time to take another look at who is rising and falling with their performances for Blue Devil sports teams. Each week The Blue Zone will look at whose stock is on the rise and whose stock has taken a hit from the week in the world of Duke athletics.
Trending Up
Duke football—With Saturday’s quadruple overtime victory against Virginia Tech, the Blue Devils are 6-1 and bowl eligible for the fourth consecutive season. Quarterback Thomas Sirk was named the ACC Offensive Back of the Week following his four-touchdown performance and gritty game-winning two-point conversion. Senior Max McCaffrey totaled 94 yards and two touchdowns to become just the 11th player in Duke history to record three seasons with at least three touchdowns. The Blue Devils moved up one spot in the AP poll to No. 22 and kept pace atop the top of the division with North Carolina and Pittsburgh.
Duke men’s Soccer—After struggling through a six game winless drought, the Blue Devils now find themselves riding a three-game win streak into Tuesday’s game against Jacksonville. Two of the three wins were against top 25 opponents, including No. 10 Elon on an overtime goal off the head of junior Brody Huitema. Sophomore Jeremy Ebobisse scored the lone goal in 1-0 shutout against Pittsburgh on Saturday, which clinched a spot in the ACC tournament for Duke. With just two games remaining in Durham to close out the regular season before tournament time, the Blue Devils will look to stay hot and enter postseason play on the rise.
Duke volleyball—Head coach Jolene Nagel’s squad showed great resilience Friday as they overcame a two-set deficit against Pittsburgh to win 3-2, only to follow that up on Sunday with a solid 3-1 win against Virginia Tech. Junior middle blocker Jordan Tucker’s 35 kills and nine blocks in the two-game stretch earned her ACC Player of the Week honors. The Blue Devils have won three of their last four conference matches, and are looking to continue their strong play against in-state rival Wake Forest Wednesday.
Trending Down
Scheduling—This Saturday marks Halloween—a holiday filled with scary costumes, superstitions and trick-or-treaters—but for the Blue Devils it means game day for football, volleyball and field hockey. Both the volleyball and field hockey teams will be hitting the road and it remains to be seen what kind of crowd is on hand for Duke football's matchup against Miami.
To make matters worse, the gridion-version of the Tobacco Road Rivalry found itself back in the early morning spotlight this year. Despite possibly featuring two top 25 teams with 7-1 records, the announced possible game times for Duke's matchup against North Carolina were noon and 12:30 p.m. After disappointing in the Thursday night spotlight a year ago, it doesn't appear that the Blue Devils will have a chance to atone their loss in front of a national audience this year.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.