2022 Season – Five Things I’m Looking Forward To

With the 2021 season in the past, I’m cautiously optimistic about the 2022 season. I’ve said it on the podcast already, and I’ll say it again here, I’m going to be patient this season and look for signs of improvement. Given the massive hit Duke took in the transfer portal, including at quarterback, we have a lot of unknowns coming into this season. And while Coach Elko is doing all the right things to get the Elkra – Elkera – Era? Forget it, I’ve got nothing good for a combo of Elko and Era. Anyway, Coach Elko is doing all the right things as far as putting his stamp on the Blue Devils and getting things off on the right foot. That said, preseason and regular season are two different things. With that in mind, here’s what I’m looking forward to this season:

1. A new offense. Readers of the site will know that I complained a lot about how predictable the offense got over the last several years. I’m excited to see what Coach Elko and the OC, Kevin Johns, can bring to the table. Johns has a good track record having worked at both Texas Tech and Memphis. He was also on the coaching staff for an Indiana team that put up a lot of points against Duke in the Pinstripe Bowl in 2015.
2. Moving the student section. It’ll be interesting to see the student section behind the opposing team’s bench this year. Given that the cameras are generally pointed towards the opposing team’s sideline, we always see the opposing team’s fans and colors during home games. It’s a little annoying, and I’m glad Coach Elko is taking steps to try and fix this. Hopefully the students will show up and we’ll see a lot more blue on camera this season. But, again, that depends on students showing up. Let’s hope that happens.
3. Getting down to Durham. I checked with my dad who thinks that the following is correct, but I’m pretty certain I’ve been able to get to a home game for every coach since Spurrier. We can’t recall if we went to games for both Franks and Roof, but feel like we were there for at least one of them. I can’t wait to get to Durham this season for the first of what will hopefully be many successful seasons under Coach Elko.
4. Players from the new coaching era on the podcast. Since Duke FB Talk has been getting guys on who are current players, I’ve taken a different approach and, with a few exceptions, tried to get former players on. That way we aren’t overlapping and doing the same thing. Blue Devil football fandom is a bit of a niche market and we don’t need to water things down by doing the same thing. That said, I’m hopeful I can get a player or two to come on who is currently on the team. I’ve had players from every coaching era since Coach Sloan with the exception of Ted Roof (I’m efforting to solve that problem, believe me) and I want to keep that streak going.
5. Becoming relevant again. As I detailed previously, Cutcliffe did a lot for the Duke program. Perhaps most important, he made the Blue Devils relevant for an extended period of time. Unfortunately, we fell from that standard and that is why we got a new head coach. I’m really, really hopeful that this new era will get us relevant again.

What are you excited about for the 2022 season? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter.

Go Duke!