We’re back! It’s been a while thanks to COVID-19 and all the upheaval we’ve dealt with. But that’s over. The season starts today at 2:30 p.m. on NBC. Duke travels to South Bend to take on the 10th ranked Irish. This is going to be a tough game, there is no question about it. The Irish dominated the Blue Devils last year by a cool 38-7. We’ve covered all the changes during the off-season, so while we can’t say things will be the same as they were last year, there’s also reason to expect a loss. Notre Dame is ranked 10th. Duke isn’t. Notre Dame consistently outperforms Duke. The game is at South Bend. Jack Wohlabaugh is out for the season. Need any other reasons to be pessimistic?
How about reasons for optimism? It starts with Chase Brice.
A good quarterback will elevate your team and get you wins you shouldn’t. Remember Daniel Jones against UNC? We do because we were there. It was one of the greatest performances by a Blue Devil we ever saw on the football field. So, there’s one reason.
The WR corps is also better than it has been throughout most of Cutcliffe’s tenure. While he may not have a Jamison Crowder just yet, this is a deep group (Damon Philyaw-Johnson, Jalon Calhoun, Darrell Harding, Jr., Eli Pancol, etc.). And Noah Gray at TE is a big plus. There are a lot of weapons for Brice to get the ball to. If Duke can keep the defense honest by running the ball effectively (Deon Jackson and Mataeo Durant, anyone?), Cutcliffe’s next NFL QB may have one heck of a season. The weapons on offense give us a second reason for optimism.
The defense, while it had some turnover, should also be strong (especially with Mark Gilbert coming back which is freaking great).
Ben Albert is a heck of a coach and the talent level has consistently improved especially since he came on board. These guys can make plays and will give the Irish their best. Cutcliffe has generally gotten his team ready for big games at the start of the season. Remember how well an undermanned team played against Alabama last year? Remember the year before that when, while it was later in the season, Duke actually lead against Clemson? Cutcliffe, with time to prepare, can give better teams fits. So that’s a third reason for optimism.
But, speaking of Cutcliffe, I’ve been throwing cold water on him as the play-caller ever since he announced he was taking over the job. Just scan through our Twitter account — it’s there. Cutcliffe ran predictable plays in the red zone, messed with the offense’s flow by switching QBs and wasn’t always the best at clock management. As much as we love Cutcliffe here, we are honest about the fact that he gave up those duties for a reason. And his talking about a goal line package should give us cause for concern (he said it isn’t a priority for this week, but history tells us to be worried).
Final prediction? Irish to win, but a fun game. Go Duke!
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