Men's basketball crushes Clemson in Cameron Sunday
(01/10/01 5:00am)
Maybe you can chalk it up to the celebration of his 21st birthday. Or maybe it was just shear luck.
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Maybe you can chalk it up to the celebration of his 21st birthday. Or maybe it was just shear luck.
Surprise, surprise. Only two years into college football's most recent incarnation of "we pander to the money-rich bowl system, but pretend to care about who wins the national championship," there is already massive controversy in the Bowl Championship Series. You remember, of course, that this is not the first time that the bowl games played around New Year's Day will not give fans the undisputed national champion they deserve. In 1990, before computer polls were even considered in factoring a national champion, the disparity between the two major polls led to a co-national championship, much to the chagrin of Georgia Tech and Colorado. Both of these teams were undefeated and both were victorious in their bowl games, meaning that they both had rightful claims to the national championship trophy. An even more pertinent example of national championship turmoil occurred in 1994, when Bobby Bowden won his first title at Florida State, despite the fact that his Seminoles had fallen to Notre Dame earlier in the year. Although Notre Dame had the same number of losses as the 'Noles (one), won their New Year's Day bowl game and beaten Florida State earlier in the season, it was Bowden who had the "luck of the Irish," as both the coaches' and writers' polls handed the national championship to him. Why is this example so relevant to the current national championship picture? Quite simply, Bowden might be able to get away with the same thing he did six years ago. You see, Miami lost by less than a touchdown to No. 4 Washington in only the second week of the season, but beat Florida State 27-24 three weeks later. So, of course, the 'Canes deserve to be ahead of the Seminoles in the national rankings because of the outcome of the head-to-head game, right? "Wrong" say BCS officials, who average the rankings of 10 computer-based polls in order to determine who should be playing for the title. Inexplicably, the Seminoles have continued to hold and have even solidified their lead over Miami in the BCS rankings, despite losing to their intrastate rivals earlier in the season. I want a full and accurate recount! Until a playoff system is enacted, though, no perfect solution will name our national champion. I, for one, hope that Oklahoma wins its Big 12 championship game this weekend and goes on to beat the Seminoles in the Orange Bowl over New Year's. That way, at least we'll have a clear, undefeated, undisputed national champion. But if this doesn't pan out, then we will witness another instance of the absurdity that is college football's postseason.
Even though last night's Duke-Illinois game was a heart-stopping thriller of March Madness-like proportions, the actual outcome and the important factors that influenced this outcome were far from surprising.
For the 11th straight season, Duke will have a whole offseason to ponder a loss against its archrival.
Unlike many of its exhibition contests in the past, Duke's opponent Saturday, the Grand Rapid Hoops of the Continental Basketball Association, was expected to give the home team fits throughout the evening.
Apparently, three times wasn't a charm for the women's soccer team.
When N.C. State takes the field tomorrow, it might be without its life-blood. Phillip Rivers, the freshman quarterback who is everybody's choice for ACC rookie of the year, strained his shoulder last weekend during the Wolfpack's loss to Maryland and only returned to practice two days ago. And even when he did rejoin the team, he experienced mild pain in his throwing shoulder, forcing coach Chuck Amato to limit his throwing for the remainder of practice. In fact, midway through the workout, Rivers returned to the training room. As a result, the media has questioned whether it was wise for the Alabama native to continue playing against the Terps after injuring himself early in the first half. So is Phillip Rivers too tough for his own good? "Yes and no," Amato said. "He loves the game. If we had 85 people that loved to play the game like him, we would be tough.... That is why he is such a good leader. He knew what he was doing. If he did not have his shoulder [injury], he would have went airborne to get the first down." Duke coach Carl Franks, who has enough to deal with on his own, is one person who would probably not like to see Rivers play. The second-year coach has praised Rivers' play this season. "He has great poise under pressure," Franks said. "He makes a lot of smart decisions and does not make a lot of bad ones.... It is certainly one of the best performances that I have seen out of a freshman quarterback." The Duke game is not the first time Rivers has attempted to fight through a sustained injury. When Rivers entered N.C. State for spring practices, he broke a bone in his hand which he craftily concealed from his coach and teammates. This time, though, Amato was has been careful all week about Rivers' status. In addition, the Wolfpack coaching staff has begun extensive preparation with Rivers' possible replacement, freshman Olin Hannum. The backup brings less size to the N.C. State offense, giving up four inches and nearly 30 pounds. However, Amato cautions that Hannum is significantly quicker than his classmate. Whether or not Hannum gets the nod, many would agree that if there were ever a week for Rivers to take it easy, it would be against the winless Blue Devils. N.C. State enters the contest as the prohibitive favorite with or without Rivers because of the Wolfpack's wins over Georgia Tech and North Carolina and a close loss to Clemson. Regardless, Amato points to the recent string of close contests between the two intrastate rivals, and posits that his team will not take Duke lightly. "Look at the last couple of games," Amato said. "In the 1990s, the average number of points in the game has been 60. They have all been shootouts. They have all been close. It's a [rivalry]. When you are that close, they are all rivals."
After four straight NIT seasons, one could say that it is put-up or shut-up time in Raleigh.
Just how similar are Chris Duhon and Jason Williams?
WINSTON-SALEM - It was the game.
Thora Helgadottir could not have picked a better time to play the game of her life.
Excitement is in the air.
An alarming trend has set in for the 20th-ranked women's soccer team recently.
The only thing worse than facing a Goliath is facing a Goliath that is extremely furious. Such is the case for the Duke football team (0-5, 0-2 in the ACC) tomorrow at 7 p.m., when it faces No. 7 Florida State (5-1, 3-0), a squad that was the top-ranked team in the nation last week. The Seminoles fell from the top spot in the polls after a 27-24 loss at rival Miami last Saturday, halting their nation-best 17-game winning streak and seriously damaging their hopes of a national championship repeat. Clearly, coach Bobby Bowden's squad will be looking for retribution when it returns home to Tallahassee to take on the Blue Devils at Doak Campbell Field. And Duke is more than aware of this situation. "Looking at that game, with the loss they had, they'll definitely come in with a chip on their shoulder," junior cornerback Ronnie Hamilton said. "Any time you play FSU, it's a chance to measure yourself against one of the best teams in the country." Duke will have difficulty containing the nation's most potent offense, which averages 523 yards per game and has continually kept the chains moving with 160 first downs this season. It features a Heisman trophy candidate, quarterback Chris Weinke, who averages 318 yards of total offense per game and engineers a passing offense that leads the nation with 375 yards per game. However, if the Blue Devils can take solace in one fact, it is that Florida State was unproductive running the ball in its game last week. The Seminoles gained only 69 yards on 27 running plays, by far their lowest output of the season, and leading rusher Travis Minor was held to 36 yards on 12 running attempts, nearly 40 yards below his average. As a result, the Duke coaching staff has attempted to prepare its defense to attack this potential weakness. "I think Coach Bowden is going to try to restart the running game and make an example out of us," defensive tackle Troy Austin said. "We definitely noticed [their running difficulties], so our defensive staff came up with a game plan that should continue their running woes." The Blue Devils also remain optimistic because they finally feel rested after enduring a tough five-game stretch to start the season. After its most impressive offensive outing of the season against Clemson two weeks ago where it scored 22 points against the Tigers, Duke was able to enter the bye week slightly upbeat and relieved at the chance to recover from minor injuries. "I'm probably about as healthy as I'm going to get," senior quarterback Spencer Romine said. "It was good to get a little time off, a chance to settle down." While Romine is happy to be injury-free, he might not have the opportunity to display his newfound health if Franks decides to start quarterback D. Bryant. Bryant made his first career start two weeks ago in Romine's absence and turned some heads with his performance against Clemson-one of the nation's top defenses-as he compiled 168 yards on 16-of-35 passing attempts. Thus, it is likely that Franks will have a difficult decision to make in terms of naming a starting quarterback for the contest against Florida State. Regardless of Franks' decision, though, Romine just wants to contribute to the team in any way he can. "It would be nice to be the guy, but when it comes down to it, we need to win a game," Romine said. "If it takes me doing the things I can do or D. doing the things he can do to put it together, that's fine. I'm not trying to base my life and my future on football, but if we can win some games I'll be happy about it. "Whenever they want me to play, I'll be ready to play and do my best. Whatever happens, happens."
Luckily for the Duke women's soccer team, an ongoing trend in their opponent's season-to-date did not continue Saturday night.
Watching Duke football this year has not been the prettiest thing, but in a season where it can't get much worse and any news must be good news, there is news. Now it gets worse. When the No. 7 Clemson Tigers roll into Wallace Wade Stadium tomorrow at noon, things might just get down right horrific. And you thought this was as bad as it gets. As if seeing the Blue Devils (0-4, 0-1 in the ACC) get outscored by more than 100 points in their last four games was not bad enough, they now have the luxury of facing a team who could score nearly 100 points on them in one game. To say this game will be a squashfest could be an understatement. So far this year, the Tigers (4-0, 2-0) have outscored their opponents 186-26. They also boast the nation's top-ranked offense and second-ranked defense, besides being tied for first in the ACC at 2-0. However, even with a team Duke coach Carl Franks would probably give his left pinky for, Clemson coach Tommy Bowden is not taking Duke lightly. "So far this season we have come to play every Saturday. Going to Duke this weekend we will see very quickly if we can do it again," he said. "If you look at the history of this game, you will see that we have not been very successful at Duke in past years. Over our last six trips, we have a 3-3 record against them and they have averaged 16 points per game. Given that track record, we had better be ready to play on Saturday." Aside from the looming problem of the Tigers, Duke also has to contend with having a new quarterback-D. Bryant or Bobby Campbell-starting the game in place of the injured Spencer Romine. Franks still hasn't chosen his starter for tomorrow and made no promises that he would do it much before kick off. He did say he wanted to assess both players and decide who he thought would best be able to lead his team. "I'd rather do it sooner so people can settle in and know who it is," he said. "Sometimes people don't do it to keep the other team guessing, but I don't think Clemson's too concerned about who our staring quarterback is." Truthfully, Clemson doesn't have too much at all to worry about tomorrow. Regardless of who Franks picks, the Tigers should have a field day with Duke's young, weak team. So far this year, Clemson has been led by the stellar offensive play of quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Woodrow Danztler, who, when teaming with wide receiver and potential All-American Rod Gardner, has been lethal. Not only has Danztler thrown for seven touchdowns this year, he is also leading the ACC-as a quarterback-in rushing. On the other side of the ball, Clemson has been privy to the superb defense of linebacker Keith Adams, arguably the best in the country at his job. With 12.5 tackles per game, he has been eating the opposing line for lunch. Whomever Franks decides to play this week at quarterback should be prepared to run-a lot. Either way, regardless of what happens to Duke this weekend, the game should be a learning process. "I think our guys realize what we're setting out to do, and that is to improve our play each week," Franks said. "I think we learned that we can do that. It's a matter of focusing on the small battles we can win during the game and hopefully give us enough of an opportunity." One small battle Duke can probably win this week is special teams. Punter Brian Morton has been excellent for the Blue Devils and is on the verge of becoming the all-time ACC punt leader. Duke may be able to outplay Clemson's relatively untested special teams unit. However, chances of the Blue Devils pulling off an upset are pretty slim. They just want to go out there and play better than they have this year, because next game they face No. 2 Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla. "Now we get to the easy part of the schedule," senior defensive tackle Troy Austin jokingly said at a recent press conference.
Can luck strike twice?
CHAPEL HILL - While the Duke women's soccer team is always happy with a win, their victory over a mediocre Oregon team in the Nike Carolina Classic Friday night left much to be desired.
After three grueling games on the road to start the season, the Duke women's soccer team returns home this weekend-well, sort of.
Maybe the women's soccer team should schedule all of their games on the road.