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(04/14/14 10:04am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Duke and N.C. State hitters went to sleep Friday night with nightmares about the slider—a devastating pitch that looks like a fastball coming out of the pitcher's hand, only to break hard and away from the batter at the last second.Friday's series-opener between the Wolfpack and the Blue Devils featured 25 combined strikeouts between the two sides, mostly due to wicked sliders tossed by the starting pitchers—Duke's Drew Van Orden and N.C. State's Carlos Rodon."That was the old slider. I think [Rodon] had been throwing more cutters lately. Tonight, his slider was unhittable," Wolfpack head coach Elliott Avent said. "It's not going to be hit."Rodon—who is regarded as a surefire first-round pick in June's MLB draft and could be selected No. 1 overall—scattered six hits and just one earned run in 7.2 innings Friday night and also tallied 12 strikeouts.But Van Orden stole the spotlight.The senior right-hander tossed one of the best games of his career in front of a slew of MLB scouts who traveled to Durham to see Rodon. Duke's 2-0 win was Van Orden's third win of the season and snapped a six-game Blue Devil losing streak against the Wolfpack."It just made it more exciting, knowing that I'm going against a first-rounder on the other team," Van Orden said. "It just made me really want to get out there. I couldn't wait to get on the mound today, and I wanted to stay on the mound as long as possible."Van Orden gave up just three hits in eight innings of work and allowed only one walk. It took the senior 110 pitches to record 24 outs—11 of them strikeouts.The senior commanded the strike zone and rarely fell behind in the count. But it was his laser-beam of a slider that left Wolfpack hitters looking silly at the plate all night."It was clear by some of the swings [N.C. State] took that they didn't recognize it out of the hand," Duke head coach Chris Pollard said. "It's one thing to be able to see that pitch and not hit it. It's another thing to see it out of the hand as a fastball and then have it explode on you late."It didn't look like Van Orden was on his way to a big game after N.C. State's leadoff hitter drilled a hard ground ball down the left field line and cruised into second with a double to start the first inning. But Van Orden got a quick pop-up and then fanned two batters to escape the scoring threat in the top of the first.After N.C. State went down in order in the second inning, the Wolfpack again looked poised to score in the third after a single and an error put runners on the corners with no one out. But Van Orden, thanks in large part to a great throw from left fielder Ryan Deitrich, pitched his way out of the jam without letting a runner cross the plate.That was as close as N.C. State would get for the rest of the game.Van Orden gave up a hit in the fourth and a walk in the fifth but tallied three more punchouts. In the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, the right-hander sat down all nine batters he faced, recording three more strikeouts and allowing just one ball to leave the infield."Every time he stepped up it was strike one," Avent said. "He threw a lot of fastballs away that we took for strikes. And when it got to two strikes, that slider is pretty good."Van Orden felt strong enough to go back out in the ninth and tried to convince Pollard to leave him on the mound."I came down and Coach Pollard told me that was it, and I kind of gave him a weird look and tried to stay in," Van Orden said.But the Blue Devil coaching staff looked at his high pitch count and opted to go with closer Robert Huber to finish off Van Orden's gem.In college baseball, Friday nights are when teams trot out their aces. Rodon is not only one of the best pitchers Duke will face all season but also one of the best in the country. For Van Orden, who thought about trying his luck in the MLB Draft after his junior season, the idea of going toe-to-toe against the ACC's best pitchers on Friday nights brought him back for his senior year."I remind him on Thursdays, when he gets in these big games, that this is why he passed on professional baseball—to get a chance to come back and go head-to-head with arguably the best pitcher in college baseball," Pollard said. "He wanted that opportunity, and that's why he decided to come back."
(03/19/14 12:29pm)
A closer look at the Kentucky Wildcats' prospects in the 2014 NCAA tournament.
(03/19/14 11:30am)
A closer look at the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns' prospects for the 2014 NCAA tournament.
(03/19/14 11:18am)
A closer look at the Nebraska Cornhusker's prospects in the 2014 NCAA tournament.
(02/09/14 6:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>CHESTNUT HILL, Mass.—After barely escaping Conte Forum with a 62-61 win against Boston College last year, Duke built off a four-point halftime lead and dominated the Eagles in the second half to take home the easy win.Thanks to one of the most prolific performances of Jabari Parker's freshman year and a resurgent scoring effort from Quinn Cook, the Blue Devils cruised to a 89-68 victory against Boston College."We were unbelievably concerned about this game," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "I think [Boston College] has been playing well. They should have won at Notre Dame. They had a bad half of shooting against Virginia and then in the second half came back. I thought they played well, until we played outstanding defense in the second half."Parker asserted his will over the Boston College defense for the entirety of the second half. The freshman had a double-double—his eighth of the season—with more than 15 minutes left in the game and finished with 29 points and 16 boards."Jabari was a monster today," Krzyzewski said. "He wasn't rewarded sometimes on his aggressiveness on the offensive boards with the finishes, otherwise it could have been a 35 or 36-point night. But he was sensational tonight."The Blue Devils (19-5, 8-3 in the ACC) jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the first five minutes of the game behind two 3-pointers from Rodney Hood and one from Tyler Thornton, but Boston College (6-17, 2-8) evened the game at 16 apiece thanks to the hot hand of sophomore guard Oliver Hanlan, who had eight of the Eagles' first 16 points.The Blue Devils continued to rely on the long ball throughout the first half, knocking down 6 of their 12 attempts before heading into the locker room. Cook—who has struggled in league play, shooting just 31 percent from beyond the arc in ACC games—contributed two 3-pointers of his own before picking up his second foul with 2:44 left to play and heading to the bench.Parker and Hood led the way on the offensive end for Duke in the first half, combining for 19 points on 8-of-17 shooting. While Hood struck from the outside, Parker utilized his size advantage over the smaller Boston College defenders to assert his will in the paint, pairing his 10 points with seven rebounds, four of which came on the offensive end.The Blue Devils went into the locker room at halftime nursing a 39-35 lead."I thought their whole team played well in the first half," Krzyzewski said. "They could have been winning at halftime.... But the way we started off the second half was outstanding."Parker picked up right where he left off early in the second half, taking a feed inside and turning to the baseline for a two-handed slam. Then after a turnover by the Eagles, the freshman took off on the fast break and converted a three-point play to put Duke up 44-35.The high-flying theatrics did not stop there.After extending the lead to 49-38, Parker pulled down a defensive board and pushed the ball ahead to Sulaimon on the wing in transition. Sulaimon raced to the basket and dished the ball back to Parker via a no-look behind-the-back bounce pass for an emphatic dunk to put Duke up by 13. Sulaimon would spend the remainder of the second half facilitating a series of spectacular slams from Parker."Our team needed something, that boost," Parker said. "What I really wanted to do was to just be there for them, and then that spark got everybody going."The Blue Devils knocked down nine of their first 11 shots to open the second half, racing out to a 64-44 lead to effectively seal the game with more than 10 minutes left to play.Cook continued his hot shooting in the second half as well, knocking down 5 of 7 3-pointers, including a contested fade away with the shot clock winding down to put the Blue Devils up 25 late in the half. The junior's 21 points marked his highest total since his 22-point performance in a loss to Notre Dame Jan. 4."Quinn has been struggling shooting, and he had a terrific game," Krzyzewski said. "That was more like he was playing in December and November."Hanlan—who finished with 24 points, four rebounds and four assists—proved to be the lone bright spot for the Eagles on an otherwise disappointing night in Chestnut Hill. Duke dominated every aspect of the second half and made sure it did not have a repeat of last year's closely contested matchup.
(01/02/14 11:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>ATLANTA—Playing in front of almost 68,000 fans in the Georgia Dome—not to mention the many more at home watching the only college football game on television in the closing hours of 2013—Duke took advantage of a rare chance to make a statement in front of a national audience.It was clear from the beginning that the Blue Devils would do whatever it took to secure a program-record 11th win.On Duke's first play of the game, quarterback Anthony Boone took the snap and handed the ball off to Josh Snead on what appeared to be a simple run up the middle. But Snead stopped and pitched the ball back to Boone, who fired downfield to a streaking Jamison Crowder. Boone's pass was broken up, but the aggressive play call set the tone for the rest of the game."We came to play to win," Blue Devils' head coach David Cutcliffe said. "That's what we were going to do."The Duke offense, which racked up 661 total yards and scored 48 points, came out more aggressive in the first half than it had all season. The Blue Devils scored on all six of their first half drives, including five touchdowns.In his last game at Duke before heading to Florida to coach for Will Muschamp, offensive coordinator Kurt Roper dialed up deep passing plays throughout the first half. The Blue Devils traded in their traditional short range passing game for a downfield attack that resulted in five completions of 20 or more yards.But it was not just aggressive play calling that illustrated Duke's determination to win. Cutcliffe turned to special teams to shock the Aggies in the first half and take a 38-17 lead into the locker room.On Texas A&M's last possession of the first quarter, the Aggies offense stalled and was forced to punt from its own 39-yard line. Duke brought pressure off the edge, and Snead got a hand on Drew Kaser's punt, skyrocketing the ball high into the air behind the line of scrimmage. Texas A&M would recover the blocked punt, preventing the Blue Devils from returning it for a touchdown, but Duke took over at the Aggies' 24-yard line and would score just four plays later. The Blue Devils' first blocked punt of the season provided a huge swing in momentum and allowed Duke to jump out to a 14-3 lead.After scoring a touchdown to go up 35-17, the Blue Devils dialed up their second big special teams play. Jack Willoughby placed a beautiful onside kick that fell right into the hands of Juwan Thompson and gave Duke possession with less than three minutes to play in the half. The onside kick came after a four-minute touchdown drive, and the Blue Devils would hold the ball for the rest of the half, keeping Johnny Manziel and the Aggie offense off the field for most of the second quarter."Knowing that we were getting the ball first in the second half, I thought it was a good time to kind of put a hammer on the situation," Cutcliffe said. "Sometime that's a good time to go ahead and take a shot and take an advantage if you think you have a good opportunity."Duke's aggressive play calling continued in the second half. The Blue Devils took the third quarter's opening kickoff and marched all the way to the Texas A&M 35-yard line, where they found themselves in a fourth-and-1 situation. Instead of opting for the long field goal, Duke called a play-action pass that resulted in an incompletion and a turnover.The Blue Devils converted two fourth down attempts in the first half, and went 1-for-2 in the second half."I knew we were going for it in those circumstances even before we got in the stadium today," Cutcliffe said. "We made two of them in the first half that ended up resulting in touchdown drives. We don't make that one and it's frustrating, but it is part of it as it all falls in. I don't regret any of those."In a game that ended with 100 points between the two sides, both coaches were willing to make risky decisions.Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin made it clear after the game that he was willing to take chances late in the fourth quarter if the situation called for it. With Duke up by three points and driving towards the endzone, Sumlin approached Manziel and told him the gameplan if the Blue Devils took a 10-point lead."I walked down to him and I
said, 'We're going to get the ball, we're going to score, and then we're going
to onside kick and we're going to win the game,'" Sumlin said.An interception return for a touchdown put the Aggies up by four, and Sumlin never had to call for the onside kick. But Sumlin, like Cutcliffe, came to Atlanta willing to put it all on the line to go home with a win.For the Blue Devils, it may be difficult to find a positive message in such a crushing defeat. But Duke took advantage of its spot in the limelight of college football and pulled no punches in its attempt to defeat one the SEC's best teams led by a former Heisman winner. The aggressive play calling and high-risk, high-reward decisions turned the game into the most exciting postseason contest to date—the game's overnight television rating of 5.3 marks the highest rating for a non-BCS bowl game on ESPN since at least 2000."It grows our program, and it's going to continue to grow our program," Cutcliffe said. "I think it was great we had this time slot. We're recruiting quality people that can really play football well. That's what people hopefully saw tonight and will continue to see from Duke football."
(12/31/13 12:07pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>If there is one thing Texas A&M has learned to do well this season, it is score points.The Aggies enter Tuesday night's Chick-fil-A Bowl averaging 43.6 points on the year—the fifth-highest scoring offense in the nation—with last season's Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel at the helm."It's pretty incredible when you look at his two-year totals and numbers that he's been able to put together," Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. "The other thing is he's exciting. He ad-libs. He's consistent. He plays really, really well every time he plays the game."Manziel uses his unique ability to scramble out of the pocket, avoid sacks and turn busted plays into big gains by tucking the ball and turning upfield himself or finding an open receiver.
(12/30/13 6:36pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For the first time this season, the Duke defense will face not just a quarterback, but an artist when it steps on the field Tuesday. Johnny Manziel escapes the defensive pressure and extends plays better than any other quarterback in college football today. In short, he is an escape artist.Throwing for more than 3,700 yards and 33 touchdowns this year, Manziel finished in fifth place for the 2013 Heisman Trophy after winning the award last season. But the redshirt sophomore is revered not for the whopping yardage and scoring totals he racks up, but for the manner in which he compiles them."He's the best, obviously, that I think anyone has seen in our profession at ad-libbing and extending plays," Blue Devil defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said. "We usually talk about five-second plays, and we are able to count many occasions during the games that he plays where the plays become 10 seconds long."Manziel has spent the better part of two seasons in College Station making defensive linemen look silly, dodging and weaving in the backfield before taking off for positive yards or winging the ball downfield. His escapability plagues opposing defensives, throws off blitzes, confuses cornerbacks and safeties and leads to much of Texas A&M's offensive success.Manziel's ability to save a busted play or escape a sure sack has earned him comparisons with some of the game's greatest mobile quarterbacks—namely an NFL Hall of Famer who revolutionized the era of the scrambling signal-caller in the 1960s.
(12/30/13 11:01am)
From his earliest high school days, Juwan Thompson dreamed of attending Duke.
(12/23/13 5:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>LEXINGTON, Ky.—Duke shone bright when thrust into the spotlight Sunday afternoon in basketball-crazed Lexington, Ky. In front of 23,706 fans—the largest crowd for a women's basketball game in state history—senior Tricia Liston scored 28 points to lead the Blue Devils to victory. No. 2 Duke fended off a late-game comeback by the No. 5 Wildcats to escape a sold-out Rupp Arena with a 69-61 victory, avenging its 2011 loss to Kentucky in that same venue."It was a great crowd, super crowd for women's basketball," Blue Devil head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. "Last time we came there wasn't that crowd. There was a big crowd, but not that crowd. I was really proud of our team's poise and composure." Using its size advantage and physicality, Duke dominated the first half and headed into the locker room with a 36-24 lead. Though Blue Devils would maintain the lead for the entire second half, Kentucky would not go down without a fight. With 6:35 to play, Janee Thompson banked in her eighth point of the game to cut Duke's lead to 59-53. After a Blue Devil turnover, Thompson went hard to the basket again, drew a foul and knocked down both her free throws to bring the Wildcats within four and raise the decibel level in Rupp Arena.Then it was Tricia Liston's turn to put the game back in Duke's hands. Liston, who played all but one minute of the game, streaked down the court and converted an easy layup to put the Blue Devils back on top by six. The Wildcats failed to score on their ensuing possession, then Liston converted a three-point play to increase Duke's lead to nine, effectively killing Kentucky's comeback hopes."We just got more focused on staying into what we needed to do, like taking care of the ball and getting stops on defense rather than worrying about getting too tight," Liston said. "We needed to make sure that we didn't get too involved with the crowd and everything else that was going on. I think we did a really good job of staying poised and sticking to our game plan."With just nine seconds left in the game, Liston sank two foul shots to put Duke up by eight, and the record-setting crowd in Rupp Arena started to head for home. The senior notched her sixth 20-plus point game this season and finished one point shy of tying her career high."Tricia's leadership was incredible," McCallie said. "She is a very, very smart basketball player with a lot of experience. She was huge for us in terms of gluing the team together and making plays happen."After a strong offensive start to the game for both teams, the scoring leveled off as the first half wore on. Kentucky and Duke came into Sunday's contest averaging 96.2 and 86.3 points per game, respectively, but turnovers by the Blue Devils and poor shooting by the Wildcats held both teams well below their normal first half scoring totals. Duke committed 11 turnovers in the opening period, and the Wildcats shot just 28.6 percent from the field.Kentucky's leading scorer and second-best rebounder, DeNesha Stallworth, had surgery to repair loose cartilage in her knee following the Wildcats' four-overtime thriller against Baylor two weeks ago and was not available for Sunday's game. With Stallworth out of action, Duke used its size advantage to dominate the paint in the first half, out-rebounding Kentucky 26-16. Liston pulled down five boards, and Elizabeth Williams and Haley Peters grabbed four apiece. The Blue Devils also outscored the Wildcats 22-14 in the paint. Williams used her size to dominate the interior, and Liston took advantage of Kentucky's smaller backcourt to drive to the rim and get to the foul line on her way to 12 first-half points."It was a big advantage," Williams said about the size differential between the Blue Devils and Wildcats. "Not only were the post players able to post up, but our guards were able to get buckets in the lane, which also helped us get to the foul line. It was really good for us."Williams and senior guard Chelsea Gray sat much of the first half with two fouls, and foul trouble would continue to plague the Blue Devils throughout the game. Williams and Gray would get into foul trouble again in the second half, and would play just 23 and 29 minutes, respectively.Despite her foul issues, Williams had no problem with offensive production in her limited time on the floor. The junior poured in 17 points, grabbed eight boards and recorded three blocks. Gray on the other hand had a quiet day, scoring just four points and dishing out six assists.But even Duke's foul troubles and the pressure of Kentucky's full court press could not limit the Blue Devils on the offensive end. Utilizing a size advantage at almost every position on the floor, Duke bullied its way into 40 points in the paint and 44.1 percent shooting from the field.The Blue Devils also limited the Wildcats to 33.3 percent shooting and held Kentucky to its lowest score of the season.For Duke, Sunday's victory was especially important because it marked the Blue Devils last game until 2014 and capped off a rigorous stretch of non-conference play, including a loss to top-ranked Connecticut. It also proved that Duke can knock off top-ranked opponents, even away from the friendly confines of Cameron Indoor Stadium."To be a special special team, you've got to do special things," McCallie said. "Winning at California. Winning at Oklahoma. Winning at Kentucky. Sending messages that we are trying to be a very special team."
(12/06/13 9:35pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As a part of The Chronicle's coverage of the upcoming ACC Championship game pitting the No. 20 Blue Devils against No. 1 Florida State, we took a look back at Duke's historic season.Here are links to a game-by-game recap of the sights and sounds from the Blue Devil's run to the ACC Championship game.Aug. 31: Duke 45, N.C. Central 0 (1-0)Sept. 7: Duke 28, Memphis 14 (2-0)Sept. 14: Duke 14, Georgia Tech 38 (2-1, 0-1)Sept. 21: Duke 55, Pittsburgh 58 (2-2, 0-2)Sept. 28: Duke 38, Troy 31 (3-2, 0-2)Oct. 12: Duke 35, Navy 7 (4-2, 0-2)Oct. 19: Duke 35, Virginia 22 (5-2, 1-2)Oct. 26: Duke 13, No. 16 Virginia Tech 10 (6-2, 2-2)Nov. 9: Duke 38, N.C. State 20 (7-2, 3-2)Nov. 16: Duke 48, No. 24 Miami 30 (8-2, 4-2)Nov. 23: No. 25 Duke 28, Wake Forest 21 (9-2, 5-2)Nov. 30: No. 24 Duke 27, North Carolina 25 (10-2, 6-2)For our preview and feature coverage, check out The Chronicle's football page.
(12/06/13 7:30pm)
Duke recorded its first shutout victory in more than 20 years as the Blue Devils defeated N.C. Central to open the 2013 season
(12/06/13 7:25pm)
Backup quarterback Brandon Connette led Duke to a 28-14 victory on the road against Memphis
(12/06/13 9:18am)
Duke stayed in the chase for the Coastal title with a win against the Demon Deacons in Winston-Salem, N.C.
(12/06/13 8:45am)
For Duke’s freshmen and sophomores, the Blue Devils are a bowl team and nothing else. But for the juniors and seniors, the memory of consecutive 3-9 seasons is still fresh.
(12/06/13 8:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Charlotte holds a special place in the hearts and minds of the Blue Devils.That is where Duke played, and lost, its first bowl game in almost two decades last year. The Blue Devils fell 48-34 to Cincinnati in the Belk Bowl at Bank of America Stadium in a contest that many Duke players believe they should have won.But Charlotte has also served as a recruiting hotspot for head coach David Cutcliffe, as 20 Blue Devils hail from within 30 miles of the city's center. To them, Charlotte is not the site of a crushing loss, it is their hometown."I’ve always enjoyed recruiting Charlotte, and we’ve
gone down there and struck gold," Cutcliffe said. "I
believe we have seven or eight Charlotte area players starting in this game."The Queen City has become a pipeline for Duke, and Cutcliffe has spent the past five years funneling talented prospects from in and around the city to Durham. Cutcliffe's recruiting work in Charlotte has paid dividends, especially this season.Wide receiver Jamison Crowder hails from Monroe, N.C., just outside of Charlotte. The junior broke Duke's single season record for receptions this year with 88, and stands just 19 yards shy of breaking the single season record for receiving yards. Crowder earned All-ACC first team honors as result of his record-setting season.Linebacker Kelby Brown and cornerback Ross Cockrell are also from the Charlotte area and both were named first-team All-ACC as well. Brown averages 9.2 tackles per game, the second highest total in the conference, and Cockrell holds Duke's all-time record for passes defended in a career with 53.For Crowder, Brown, Cockrell and the rest of the Charlotte natives, this weekend will provide a rare chance to play in their own backyard. It also provides a chance for friends and family of the players to watch a Duke game closer to home. Each Blue Devil is allotted six tickets to give out to relatives and friends, but for some that may not be enough.
(12/04/13 1:04pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With the ACC Championship game approaching, Duke's campus is more focused on football than it has been in a long time, or maybe ever. After all, the Blue Devils have never won 10 games, never played in the conference title game and never been to back-to-back bowl games before now. And they have been playing football for a long time.Duke, or Trinity College as it was then known, fielded its first football team in 1888. Trinity's squad went 4-1 that year with John Franklin Crowell at the helm. That name might sound familiar—in his spare time, Crowell also served as the school's president.Now, more than a century later, the Blue Devils are rewriting the record books. And the hype surrounding Duke football has multiplied each week as the wins pile up and the milestones are passed.Students, North Carolina residents and the nation have given the Blue Devils a certain amount of celebrity that comes with being a hot, new sports story. What Duke is doing is unique, and people want to be a part of that. The New York Times even sent someone to Durham to get the scoop on the Blue Devils and bring their story into the national limelight. In other words, Duke football has made it. Look at game attendance. The Blue Devils opened the season against N.C. Central to a crowd of fewer than 23,000. Sure the Eagles aren't exactly the cream of the college football crop, but everybody likes watching a 45-0 shutout victory.By week three, Duke was 2-0 for the first time since 1998. With Georgia Tech coming to town, the battle to stay undefeated was on. That's a story fans can get behind. But fewer than 22,000 showed up. The Blue Devils lost to the Yellow Jackets and then lost again at home to Pittsburgh the following week, and the Duke football season was right on track.But then something incredible happened. The Blue Devils beat Troy and Navy at home and knocked off Virginia on the road. They followed that up with an upset of then No. 16 Virginia Tech in Blacksburg—the first road win against a ranked opponent in 42 years—and returned to a campus that genuinely cared. Duke stood 6-2 with N.C. State coming to Durham, and people hung banners from their windows on West Campus, DSG sent out emails urging people to go to the game against the Wolfpack and the school stood behind its team in a way that I had not seen in my three years at Duke.Then 32,000 people showed up to watch the Blue Devils secure their seventh win.More than 30,000 fans came the following week and stormed the field following Duke's win against then-No. 24 ranked Miami on Senior Day.The last two weeks the Blue Devils played at Wake Forest and North Carolina with a noticeable contingent of Duke supporters in the stands. The idea of the Blue Devils having a road presence and a traveling fan base would have been absurd two years ago coming off back-to-back 3-9 seasons.And now with arguably the biggest game in Duke history approaching, my inbox is full of emails about purchasing a ticket for Saturday's game.When I first began to notice the attention that the Blue Devils were getting in the second half of the season—from the student body, administrators and the nation as a whole—the first thing I felt was jealousy.For those who have been going to every game since freshman year, for sports writers who have covered the team each week, even before the record-breaking victories, for those people who supported the team and were proud of Duke football before it went viral, it felt like outsiders were jumping on the bandwagon. And it hurt.But did the team feel the same way? No. They were just happy to play in front of a crowd. They understand that people are being drawn to the program only because it is winning, but that doesn't matter. Playing in front of fair-weather fans is better than playing in front of no fans. But as a sports fan, the sudden influx of supporters bothered me. Anyone who has ever supported a losing team knows the pain that comes with continual defeat. To the newcomers, this pain was unknown. They hadn't suffered through any losing and didn't belong in the stands.People will always get behind a team that is winning, especially when their narrative is as powerful as the one the Blue Devils have produced this season. And there will always be fans who were there before it was cool. And they will always be inclined to look down on the newcomers, the unworthy, who didn't experience the pain of losing and the humiliation of supporting a loser. I am saying all this from the perspective of three years of Duke fandom. Imagine what Blue Devil fans from the pre-Cutcliffe era must be saying about fans like me. To them, I am the newcomer, the bandwagon fan. To them, my one season of supporting a losing team does not count me in the ranks of the truly faithful. I imagine that many of these older fans were bothered by the newcomers even more than I was.As the magnitude of what Duke was doing this season set in, though, my jealousy started to melt away. After a while, I didn't care that people only supported the Blue Devils now that they were winners. I realized there is no point in jealously guarding the team, as if its success could only be enjoyed by those who were there for the losing as well as the winning. What Duke football is doing this year is too important for that.This year, the Blue Devil bandwagon has enough room for everybody. Whether you've been a fan for three weeks, three years or three generations, this year's Duke team is yours to proudly support.The bandwagon leaves Saturday for Charlotte—all aboard.
(12/04/13 3:28am)
Notes from head coach David Cutcliffe's press conference.
(11/25/13 1:03pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.—The Blue Devils own the fourth quarter this year.Duke proved its late-game dominance again Saturday, blanking the Demon Deacons in the game's final period to secure its ninth win of the season and at least a share of the ACC's Coastal Division title."I think it's a tribute to Jim Knowles and the defensive staff and their ability to adjust. It's also a tribute to some older players that we finally have become systematic defensively," Blue Devil head coach David Cutcliffe said. "We have answers. They do this, and we do this. That's one of the great beliefs that we have is that you have to be systematic. I think it's helped us play better as the game goes."Duke has outscored opponents 117-34 in the final period of play, the best fourth-quarter scoring margin in the FBS.After going down 14-0 in the first quarter, the Blue Devils stormed back to tie the game 14-14 heading into the locker room at half time. Wake Forest scored on its opening drive of the second half but would not put points on the board for the rest of the game. Duke registered two touchdowns in the third quarter to take a 28-21 lead, and then sat back and let its defense do the work in the fourth quarter to finish off the Demon Deacons."Our model is to finish," senior cornerback Ross Cockrell said. "We've been talking about it all year long, and we're going to continue to talk about it. We know that when the game gets tough, it's in the fourth quarter. That's when you have to be at your best."After going up by a touchdown with a little more than three minutes left in the third quarter, the Blue Devils had perhaps their most important defensive stand of the whole game.Wake Forest was able to move the ball from its own 25-yard line to Duke's 23-yard line in 12 plays. Tanner Price fired incomplete on first down, and then the Demon Deacons committed a false start penalty to bring up second-and-15. Price dropped back again to pass but was swallowed up by defensive end Kenny Anunike for a seven-yard loss. The sixth-year senior sacked Price again on third down, this time for a loss of 13 yards."I just had a fire in my eyes. I just wanted to go out there and get it," Anunike said. "Coupled with our defensive coordinator's perfect call, I just went out there and executed."The penalty and two sacks from Anunike pushed Wake Forest out of field goal range and forced them to punt, keeping the Demon Deacons off the board to start the fourth quarter."Kenny is a playmaker for us," Cockrell said. "That's why we call him the Night Train. We go as he goes. We jump on his back and he carries us. For him to make those play for us was huge."After a quick punt on Duke's ensuing possession, Wake Forest again took over looking to tie the game. But a forced fumble recovered by redshirt-junior linebacker Kelby Brown again kept the Demon Deacons off the board.Kicker Ross Martin missed a 48-yard field goal attempt on the Blue Devils' next drive, setting Wake Forest up at their own 30-yard line with 4:11 left to play in the game. Down one touchdown, the Demon Deacons picked up just one first down before Cockrell intercepted Price's pass over the middle and sealed the win for Duke."They had been running a drive route, a deep in-route. They hit us on it a couple times trying to attack the middle of the field," Cockrell said. "I was fortunate enough to see it, and I made a good jump."The Blue Devils have allowed just three offensive touchdowns in the fourth quarter all season. With the offense stalling late against Wake Forest, the defense came up big, as it has all year."That's our goal is to outplay a team for 60 minutes, three-and-a-half hours," Brown said. "The fourth quarter is big for us—it really has been this year."
(11/21/13 11:44am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Saturday the Blue Devils will get a chance to do something no Duke team has done since World War II.The Blue Devils head to Winston-Salem, N.C., this weekend looking to secure their ninth win of the season, a feat Duke last accomplished in 1941. The Blue Devils are on a six game winning streak, and Wake Forest has lost its last three games."I like history," Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. "I think it's fun to mimic it, or make it, either one. I would like that for our program and for our kids. There's only one way were going to get it, though. We have to play well."The No. 25 Blue Devils (8-2, 4-2 in the ACC) have turned the ACC Coastal Division on its head this year. Picked to finish last in its division, Duke now sits in first place and controls its own destiny in hopes of playing against No. 2 Florida State in this year's ACC Championship game. A win against the Demon Deacons (4-6, 2-5) would leave the Blue Devils just one victory away from a trip to Charlotte to play in the conference title game for the first time in program history.Duke also finds itself in an unusual position among its ACC counterparts. Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Miami and North Carolina are all nipping at the Blue Devils' heels, looking for a chance to finish the season atop the division.Despite losing to Louisiana-Monroe in week three, Wake Forest got off to a promising 4-3 start to the year. The Demon Deacons relied on strong defensive efforts—letting up 10 and 13 points, respectively, to ACC foes N.C. State and Maryland—to win games. But the inability to put points on the board has plagued Wake Forest all season, especially during the Demon Deacons' current three-game slide.Wake Forest's offense has struggled this season, and the loss of star wideout Michael Campanaro to a collarbone injury stole the Demon Deacons' biggest playmaker. The senior racked up more than 800 receiving yards and six touchdowns prior to his injury against Syracuse three weeks ago. Wake Forest's offense averages only 17.8 points per game, ranked 114th out of 123 FBS teams. Without Campanaro on the field, the Demon Deacons have only scored a combined three points in their last two games."I think they are finding themselves," Cutcliffe said. "I enjoy watching Campanaro play until we have to play them. He's got some good tape out there. He's a really good football player. I love his competitiveness, and his skill level is high. Anybody would miss him. Compare that to if you don't have Jamison Crowder suddenly. That affects any football team."On the offensive side of the ball for the Blue Devils, the dual quarterback combination of Anthony Boone and Brandon Connette proved extremely effective against Miami. Boone went 11-for-15 for 104 yards and started the game under center. Connette worked in throughout the game and finished with five touchdowns, four of which came on the ground. Although Boone is listed first on the depth chart for Saturday's game, Cutcliffe indicated he will continue to split time between his two quarterbacks."We're not doing two because we don't have one," Cutcliffe said. "We're playing two because we have two."The biggest obstacle the Blue Devil offense will have to overcome this weekend is nose tackle Nikita Whitlock. The redshirt senior has compiled 16.5 tackles-for-loss and 8.5 sacks on the year, as well as two blocked kicks. Whitlock provides the foundation for the Demon Deacon defense, which allows less than 24 points per game."He is fun to watch as a football coach until the week you play them," Cutcliffe said. "He plays wire-to-wire every game and goes wire-to-wire every play with his effort. I don't know if you could give a player more accolades."Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe lost his first of 12 career matchups against the Blue Devils last season. Replacing an injured Sean Renfree, Boone led Duke to a 34-27 victory over the Demon Deacons, the first win against Wake Forest since 1999. Despite the historic significance of last year's victory, a Blue Devil win this year would have even larger implications for Duke football as it tries to secure a spot in the conference championship game and a chance at a BCS bowl bid.
