You’ll notice that I haven’t spent much time doing game previews this season. This is primarily because all I would have to do is change out the name of the opposing team each week. My preview for each game would generally boil down to: a) Duke will turn the ball over; b) Duke’s turnovers will results in a loss. It’s pretty much been this way since the end of the Duke-UNC game last season.
I will do one for the Charlotte game, though. This is because the game will take place on Halloween (which, you know, never ends well for Duke) and because some people think the Blue Devils can win this game. The logic is Duke is in the ACC, Charlotte is new to this level of competition and Cutcliffe’s teams generally get their wins each season aginst non-conference teams.
Given my general nature, I’m not optimistic about the Blue Devils’ chances. To begin with, the 49ers were pretty good last year. They finished the season with a 7-6 record and a loss in the Bahamas Bowl. Duke didn’t make it to a bowl. You can argue that our opponent knows how to win games. But, but, but … Charlotte is currently 2-2 with losses to FAU and App State. The wins are against North Texas and UTEP, so you could say that Duke should be able to coast through this one.
But I’m not confident about this one. Why? To begin with, Charlotte has won two straight and has more wins than the Blue Devils. Moving that most obvious of stats aside, I’ll turn to the most important concern I have going into this game – Duke turns the ball over way, way too much. I’ve covered this extensively and won’t get into it now – if you’re reading this, you know how sloppy the Blue Devils are with the ball. So, moving to the next area of concern, keep in mind that Duke makes a lot of dumb penalties. How many times has Chris Rumph jumped offsides at critical moments? Too many to count.
And what about the injuries? We’re already thin in the secondary and now Mark Gilbert is gone from Wallace Wade forever. That won’t help. The Blue Devils are also down to a third-string center as Will Taylor is going to undergo surgery and Cutcliffe has said that Taylor is likely to miss the rest of the year. I like the OL more than most, and the bye week helps to give the unit more time to gel with a new center, but I’m not crazy about it. I’m rooting for Graham Barton, but this offense has struggled all year (mainly due to, you know, the turnovers).
Let’s be honest, Duke is 1-5 – why would we expect a sudden change in fortunes?
All of these problems and mistakes add up. A team that is injured can’t make mistakes by turning the ball over and making dumb penalties. The breakdown in discipline behind the turnovers and the penalties is something that can kill any team, especially one that doesn’t have any margin for error. For the Blue Devils to win, all three units (offense, defense and the kicking teams) will have to be flawless or at least not a complete disaster. Mistakes will have to be minimized and the team will have to stop being so sloppy. Given that Duke is 1-5 and the head coach is in season 13, I don’t see them improving this week.
Sure, the Blue Devils could still win this game playing the way the team has played all season. It worked against Syracuse. But even if Duke does notch its second win and overcomes terrible play, do you think that formula will work against UNC? Against Wake? Against FSU or GT? I don’t. It sure didn’t work against ND, BC, UVA, VT or NCSU, so I don’t expect it to work against the other ACC teams remaining on the schedule. You can win by playing bad, you just can’t do it often.
To conclude, what’s my prediction? Duke scrapes by with a win in a very, very close game.