Month: December 2022

2022 Game Recaps – Military Bowl Champion Duke Blue Devils

Coming into the Military Bowl, Duke had a chance to finish off a great season with a bowl championship. This was an opportunity to make a statement about what the Blue Devils had done this season and what the ACC should expect next year. Duke took a swing and didn’t miss. Instead of a whiff, the Blue Devils knocked it out of the park. Home run. Grand slam. Whatever term you want to use, it fits. Duke came out of the gate running and didn’t stop. When it was over, the Blue Devils defeated UCF by a score of 30-13. After finishing the first quarter tied at seven, Duke closed the half up 20-7 and outscored the Knights 10-6 in the final thirty.

The Blue Devils won this game the same way we saw them beat UVA; Duke was methodical, forceful and more physically dominant than their opponent. Nothing was particularly exciting or unique from a scheme perspective (to the extent you can tell that from TV). It was old style football full of running, hitting and being more physical than the opponent. The teams put up close to the same number of yards (350-326), but the Blue Devils won the turnover battle (2-0) and made the most of their opportunities. It was a nice win over a team that will be a P5 next season.

Since I had to skip out on most of the second half to spend time with the family on our vacation (and, for the record, Duke scored again when I got back to the TV, so can someone tell Coach Johns I’m sorry for the second half funk? Great, thanks!), I’m going to spend some time discussing what this win means for the program by going back to last season’s Five Things:

One – With nine wins this season, Coach Elko set the record for most first season wins by a head coach in Blue Devil history. Fred Goldsmith had eight, but couldn’t win the Hall of Fame Bowl. Coach Elko is in the record books. Congrats, Coach!

Two – By getting to, and winning, a bowl game, the overwhelming majority of players on this team can forget all about the hellscape that was 2019-2021. Two-and-a-half lousy seasons are, without question, in the rearview mirror. Congrats, guys! We’re all ecstatic that you got to experience a season like this one. You deserved it.

Three – I’d like to see what Josh Cox’s Facebook relationship status is vis-a-vis Todd Pelino. Todd went 3/3 for the game with a long of 48. It looks like Duke has the kicking position locked down for the foreseeable future.

Four – The Blue Devils will have a target on them all next season. After going 8-4 (5-3) and losing four close games, Duke won’t be the ACC’s best kept secret in 2023. With a year of film for opposing staffs to digest, and a lot of good opponents on the schedule (Clemson, Notre Dame and Florida State, among others), the Blue Devils won’t be able to sneak up on anyone. In 2023, a victory over Duke won’t be a given and it won’t be taken for granted. The opponents will all want to beat the Blue Devils because doing so will amount to a statement win. For Duke, a bowl game will be expected, not a surprise. This is different from a lot of seasons we’ve seen in Durham. And with expectations this high, we’ll get to see exactly what this staff and this team are capable of.

Five – As I pointed out on Twitter, yesterday’s Military Bowl victory marked the fourth straight bowl win for the Blue Devils. Dating back to the Pinstripe Bowl in 2015, Duke has won every bowl it has played in. We are a long, long way away from where Blue Devils have been most of my life. From 1981 to 2012, Duke had only been to two bowl games (and I know there weren’t as many bowl games when I was young as there are today, but you get my point) and hadn’t won either of them. Since snapping a bowl victory drought that dated back to 1960 with a Pinstripe Bowl championship in 2015, the Blue Devils haven’t looked back. Let’s hope this continues next year and for many, many seasons thereafter.

And that’s it for the game recap. I’ll plan on doing a season recap in January and will try to follow it up by discussing some other great seasons in program history. I’ll also keep working on scheduling interviews (which I fell behind on).

So, with that, let me know what you think about what I think in the comments, on Mastodon, on Reddit, on Post, or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

2022 Game Previews – Military Bowl

Folks, since I’m on vacation for the Military Bowl, I’m going to be brief with the game preview. I already wrote about UCF when the bowl game got announced, so I don’t have too much more to add past that. However, in getting ready for the game, I noticed that Knights aren’t a team that Duke can afford to overlook. UCF ranks 10th in total offense and 70th in total defense, giving up one fewer yard per game than the Blue Devils. The Knights also come in with nine wins and is just one loss in the AAC Championship away from playing in the Cotton Bowl. A team that beat Georgia Tech, Cincinnati and Tulane knows how to win. Further, two close losses to Louisville and Navy kept this from being an eleven win season. (And we all know how close losses feel.)

But Duke isn’t too shabby, either. This is the most physical, determined team we’ve seen in Durham in a long time. Many of the guys on the roster want to get the bad taste of the last several seasons out of their collective mouth. And a bowl win against a team headed to the Big 12 would be a great way to do that. Given that context, I expect the Blue Devils to come out motivated, angry and determined to prove something. That should give Duke an edge and carry the Blue Devils to their ninth win of the year.

As with any game, and I don’t consider this to be much in the way of brilliant analysis, a lot of it will come down to which coaching staff will do the best of controlling the flow of the game. It’s in that area that I think Duke is going to do a little better than the Knights. In looking back at the scores of both teams’ games this season, you’ll notice that the Blue Devils didn’t get blown out. The same can’t be said for UCF. The Knights lost two games by 17 or more points this season – losing by 21 to ECU and by 17 in the rematch against the Green Wave. Look, Gus Malzahn is a good coach, and Auburn sure hasn’t done much without him, but Coach Elko and his staff seem to have their collective finger on the pulse of their team. While two bad losses may not say too much in the way of a negative for a team, the fact that our guys have managed to avoid a blowout says a lot about what Coach Elko and his staff are capable of.

Sidenote – UCF’s offensive coordinator, Chip Lindsey, is going to UNC to take over for Phil Longo. I don’t think that’s much of a loss because Malzahn calls the plays and has his hands on the offense. I’m not minimizing anything Lindsey did in Orlando. I’m only making the point that Malzahn is well-suited to handle the departure.

After looking at what Duke and the Knights have done this season, and considering the coaching staffs, I’m taking the Blue Devils to win a fun game. While both offenses can put up points, it wouldn’t shock me to see Duke come out and dominate the game defensively. So, with all that said, I think the Blue Devils will win by a score of 38-24. The main reason I’m taking Duke to win is because the Blue Devils have shown a real ability to play complimentary football. The three units – offense, defense and kicking – fit together well. Duke has also shown a lot of depth at wide receiver and running back as well as on the offensive line. It’s been a while since we could say this, but the Blue Devils have depth. Expect that depth to show up and make a difference come Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. (You will be able to watch the game on ESPN. And since I’m in Mexico, I may give the Spanish broadcast a shot.)

Let us know what you think about what I think in the comments, on Mastodon, on Reddit, on Post, or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

Interview – Jackson Hubbard

Listen here.

We have watched Jackson Hubbard as the holder on placekicks for what seems like forever and a day. Jackson joined Duke in 2017 and, after a redshirt and a COVID year, he’s about to wrap up his sixth season as a Blue Devil with an appearance in the Military Bowl against UCF.

In this interview, we learn what brought Jackson to Duke, how he became the holder, how he went from being a walk-on to earning a scholarship and why it’s always LACES OUT!!! (Side note, I’m not sure he’s seen Ace Ventura. So, once again, I was made to feel rather old during an interview with a current player.) We also learn about the new coaching staff and how the team turned things around this season.

Let us know what you think about what we think in the comments, on Mastodon, on Reddit, on Post, or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

Interview – Ron Frederick

Listen here.

Ron Frederick played at Duke under Coach Red Wilson after transferring in from ECU. He was fortunate enough to play alongside several Blue Devil greats including Ben Bennett and Chris Castor. After playing in Coach Spurrier’s offense, Ron got a chance to show his stuff and made it into professional football with Tampa Bay and then with the Birmingham Stallions in the USFL.

During the interview, we discuss Ron’s football career, his time in Durham, the current state of Duke football and the unique motivational abilities of Coach Spurrier. In addition, we covered the reincarnation of the USFL and have a good talk on how coaches should sometimes stay where they are. This was a fun talk with a diehard Blue Devil.

Big shoutout to my friend Dan for helping put this together and getting me and Ron in touch. This interview wouldn’t have happened without him.

Let us know what you think about what we think in the comments, on Mastodon, on Reddit, on Post, or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

Interview – Lauren Brownlow

Listen here.

We all know Lauren Brownlow, purveyor of all things ACC, from her Twitter account and The ACC Panic Room. What started off as a conversation about ACC football got sidetracked into more entertaining subjects like how awful Pete Carroll is and the punchable face that he has, did Russell Wilson get a hex put on him (and by whom?) and the Catsup toss that was the 2010 Music City Bowl. We also discussed Long-COVID and the difficulties associated with being a woman in sports journalism.

Now, we did actually discuss a lot of issues with ACC football including the conference serving as Notre Dame’s sidepiece (and, because I wasn’t clear initially, my complaints about the Irish go back to 2013 when they “joined” the conference), a mixed bag of good and not so good bowl games and what Coach Elko and Duke accomplished this year. We also discuss the sort of implosion we’re watching real-time over at that school in Chapel Hill. There’s also a good discussion about what it will take to keep the Blue Devils competitive over the coming seasons.

And, of course, we relive this glorious moment of ACC football:

In the open mic session, Lauren made good use of her time and talked about the need to donate to domestic violence shelters. Please consider doing this during a time that many families could use some help. It’s a great cause.

Let us know what you think in the comments, on Reddit, on Mastodon or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

Interview – Colby Campbell

Listen here.

We all remember Colby from the 2021 season at Duke.

Colby transferred in from Presbyterian College and, after being a beast on special teams, went on to be a part of a championship team in the Finnish Maple League and was named the MVP of the championship game. Colby will play for the Albany Empire this coming season as he continues to pursue his dream of getting to the NFL. In addition to these topics, Colby and I discuss the 2021 season and how Coach Elko (and Coach Feeley) turned things around this year. You’ll also hear from Future Ben as he reads Colby’s prediction for Duke’s bowl game. This was a great talk with a memorable Blue Devil.

Now, let me conclude by saying that there will be a discussion about the team meeting with law enforcement during the 2021 season and the effect it had on the team. This podcast is not set up to fully and completely engage in a discussion about use of force by law enforcement, so please don’t consider this to serve as that discussion. The level of detail that topic requires is well beyond the scope of this podcast.

I hope you enjoy the interview. As always, Go Duke!

2022 Bowl Game – Military Bowl

It’s official! Duke will play UCF in the Military Bowl at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on December 28 at 2pm. The Blue Devils are back in a bowl game for the first time since 2018. Coach Elko is the first Duke head coach to take the Blue Devils to a bowl since Fred Goldsmith did it way back in 1994. With a win, he would be the first head coach to win nine games in his first season since … I think anyone! I am going to check that again before the bowl, but I think he would be the first head coach to start with nine wins in a season if Duke beats UCF. Let’s all hope that happens because that would be awesome.

As a quick primer on UCF, they went 9-4 in the American Athletic Conference, finished second to Tulane in the regular season and lost to the Green Wave in the conference title game. UCF’s head coach is Gus Malzahn who had a good stretch at Auburn and is 18-8 (11-5) in two seasons at his current gig. UCF had a decent year with wins over Georgia Tech, Cincinnati and Tulane (in the regular season. They lost the rematch in the AAC Championship). They also lost to Louisville and ECU.

While some folks wanted a P5 opponent, which I get, don’t overlook UCF. This team is headed to the Big 12 next season, so you know they can compete. Regardless of the fact that this isn’t a P5 opponent, this is a good matchup and should be a fun game. Further, I don’t see the Blue Devils sleepwalking into this one. Our guys will be ready to win a bowl game.

And that’s it for the quick update. Let me know what you think about what I think in the comments, on Reddit, on Mastodon, on Post or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

Interview – 2022 ACC Recap with Matthew

Listen here.

Matthew from The ACC Weekly Podcast returned to the podcast to recap the 2022 ACC football season. We covered a lot of topics including Coach Elko being ACC Coach of the Year and the great season that Duke had, how FSU is on the cusp of getting back to the top of the ACC mountain, the disappointing seasons that UVA and Miami had as well as the future of the conference and what it needs to do in order to stay viable. We also both take Clemson to win the ACC Championship (and I called out the ACC for conspiring to put UNC in the title game over the Blue Devils). And we talked about Russian misinformation in online sports communities! This was a fun talk with an expert on all things ACC.

As always, Go Duke!