Author: BullCityCoordinators

I run a monthly(ish) podcast covering topics from Classical Antiquity Sidequest. It covers topics from Classical Antiquity. Movie and TV reviews are included.

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

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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!

2022 Regular Season Recap – A Great One

If you guys know anything about me, it’s that I’m fairly pessimistic about Duke football. This site got started as a way for me to vent my frustrations about the program collapsing in 2019. After watching the way the team performed in 2020 and 2021, I had a lot of doubts about what this team could accomplish in 2022. Given that the core of the team remained more or less the same, I was hopeful, but realistic. My hope was that the Blue Devils would be competitive in each game they played and could snag a few wins. That, without more, would have been a tremendous accomplishment after the last 2.5 years. While I heard a lot of good things from a lot of players heading into the season, I took a “Prove it” mentality. And these guys did just that – they proved it.

Eight wins. Five conference wins. Let that last one sink in for a minute. While Duke hadn’t won eight games in a season since 2018, the Blue Devils hadn’t won five conference games since 2014. That’s a long, long time. That was the same year that Duke last produced a winning record in conference. So, while eight wins is fantastic, I’m way, way more excited about the five conference wins. Because the ability to win championships starts in divisions (well, not next year for the ACC, but you get my point), you have to win your ACC games to get to a championship. Getting over .500 in the ACC is a big deal.

What else was great about this season? Pretty much everything. Coach Elko pushed the right buttons, hired the right staff and saw Coach Johns and Coach Smith deliver on their respective sides of the ball. The offense and defense played real complimentary football and were in every game they played this year. And let’s pause to think about that. After a series of blowout losses over 2.5 years, this team came together and competed every week. That’s a big deal. The Blue Devils’ four losses this season were by a total of 16 points. Had the ball bounced a little differently, and had a garbage penalty against Chapel Hill College not been called, this team could’ve easily won 10 games. To think that this team went from 3-9 (0-8) to being a few plays away from 10 wins is hard to comprehend. But it happened, and we should all be grateful.

But my favorite part of the season had to be the final game against Wake Forest. Coming into that game, Duke had beaten a lot of teams that, and let’s be honest about this, weren’t particularly good. Temple finished 3-9 (1-7), Northwestern was 1-11 (1-8), A&T was 7-4 (4-1) in the FCS Big South, UVA was 3-7 (1-6), Miami was 5-7 (3-5), Boston College was 3-9 (2-6) and Virginia Tech was 3-8 (1-6). Now, you have to beat the teams that you’re supposed to beat, but if you want to get to the next level, you also have to beat the good teams. The Blue Devils were close a couple of times but fell just short against Pitt and Chapel Hill College. And while Georgia Tech wasn’t awful this year, that was a game that Duke should have won. And had they done so, the win would have looked better after the Jackets upset Carolina. So, there was a lot riding on the last game of the season. And the Blue Devils delivered. It. Was. Perfect.

This was a great season, no question about it. As the Elko Era progresses, I hope that we’ll get to look back on this as a the first of many great seasons.

What did you think about this season? Let me know what you think about what I think in the comments, on Reddit, or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

2022 Game Recaps – Eight Wins!

Showcasing the ability to play with any team, Duke showed up against what many, myself included, considered a superior Wake Forest team. Despite almost letting the game slip away in the third quarter, the Blue Devils hung around and left Wallace Wade with a win. It was tense. It was nerve-racking. But, most important, it was a win.

Duke got the game off to a solid start when Todd Pelino drilled a 42-yard field goal on the opening drive to take a 3-0 lead. The Demon Deacons weren’t rattled and scored a touchdown of their own after that. The second quarter saw an offensive explosion in which the teams traded points but the Blue Devils kept the lead (going up up 10-7, 17-7 and 20-17). Then, in the second half, Sam Hartman did Sam Hartman things and cut a 27-17 Duke lead to 24-27 before taking the lead 31-27.

At this point, Co-Coordinator Tim remarked “I’ve seen this movie before.” But I, ever the optimist who never gives up on Duke no matter how bad things look, told Tim, “Relax, man, we got this. Hagans is going to get a big touchdown. Just watch.” And for those of you who say that didn’t happen, you’re right. I was pretty worried when Wake took the lead. At that point, it seemed like the Deacons had found their rhythm. Put another way, Wake looked like last year’s team and sure seemed ready to leave Durham with a win.

But that didn’t happen. Riley Leonard and company calmly lead the team down the field and, after a nice 20-yarder to Hagans, the Blue Devils had the lead. Hartman tried to put together another game-winning drive, and it looked like he was going to do it with 2:04 and three timeouts, but after a few nice plays, he missed an open receiver and threw deep. Chandler Rivers disrupted the receiver without getting called for interference and the ball landed in Darius Joiner’s hands. Ball game. Win. 8-4 (5-3) to finish the regular season.

This was a nice one. Riley Leonard had an amazing game (29/41, 391 yards, 4 TDs and 1 INT). Jaquez Moore paced the backs in yardage with 62 on only 6 carries. And the receivers were awesome. Calhoun, Hagans and Jordan Moore all had touchdowns. Calhoun and Hagans both had more than 100 yards receiving. And the defense, well, what can you say? These guys bend, but they don’t break. Heyward and Carter both got sacks and the front seven put just enough pressure on Hartman throughout the game to keep it close and give the Blue Devils a chance to win. While giving up 347 passing yards isn’t something the defense would necessarily write home about, this unit plays some real complimentary football. This has been a solid group that may give up points, but also gets stops and gives the offense chances to win. And after what we saw the last two seasons, none of us really thought we’d get what we’ve gotten from these guys.

I have some more thoughts on the nature of this win which I will post later in the week when I do a regular season recap. Rest assured, there will be a lot more positive talk about this game and what it means for this season.

Now as an aside, it wouldn’t surprise me if Dave Clawson looks around for other jobs with the way that his season ended. I’d like to discuss this in more detail on a podcast episode, but it wouldn’t stun me if he thinks he’s taken the Demon Deacons as far as he can. He’s a good coach and he may want to try his hand at a larger program.

So, that’s it for the game recap. Let me know what you think about what I think in the comments, on Reddit or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

2022 Game Previews – Can We Beat Wake Forest? Please?

Here is my Thanksgiving-themed preview of the upcoming Duke game against the Demon Deacons.

I hope you enjoyed this. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and, especially, to Dad. We’re all thinking of you! I hope you get to see the Blue Devils win this weekend.

As always, Go Duke!