Category: Bowl Games

Interview – Get to Know the Troy Trojans with Josh Boutwell

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Josh Boutwell of the Troy Messenger stopped by to talk about Duke’s next opponent, the Troy Trojans, and what to expect from Troy in the Birmingham Bowl. During our interview, we talked the coaching change for both teams, my time working for a sign company and the advantage it gave me in recognizing random cities and towns across the United States, the Trojans’ football culture, what a great stadium we’ll get to watch the game in and the terrible parking situation in Birmingham. Not to give away the ending, but the Blue Devils are going to have their hands full come December 23.

In addition, Josh discusses his cancer treatment during the interview. Please stop by this site to help out with his medical costs if you are so inclined.

Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode.

Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments, on Mastodon, on Reddit, on Post, on Instagram, Spoutible, Bluesky or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

Interview – Steve Wiseman Talks Coaching Search and Birmingham Bowl

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Steve Wiseman stopped by to talk about a crazy, crazy week of Duke and ACC football. We begin by talking about how FSU got the shaft courtesy of Boo Corrigan, et al., as did SMU. And, most important, I got to use one of my favorite historical quotes. It’s Truman on Nixon. I mean, what else do you need?

After that, Steve and I talk about his hectic schedule trying to cover Elko’s departure from Durham and the Blue Devils’ coaching search. There’s a lot of ground to cover and Steve will tell you pretty much everything you need to know about what happened with Elko and how Nina King is leading Duke through this transitional period. If that weren’t enough, we also go over how the Blue Devils landed in the Birmingham Bowl and not the Gasparilla Bowl. Thanks, CFP Selection Committee. And Notre Dame.

Oh, and it turns out Duke has a basketball team. Who knew? In all seriousness, we spend some time trying to diagnose why the Blue Devils have been struggling out of the gate. As always, Steve was a great and informative guest. You’ll love this episode.

Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode.

Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments, on Mastodon, on Reddit, on Post, on Instagram, Spoutible, Bluesky or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

Interview – Mike Elko Reaction Episode

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After a few voicemails and a message from former site contributor Mike Kline, Dad took a break from Richlandia to stop by and check in after Mike Elko left Duke for A&M. We talk about the current state of the program, possible head coach candidates and the program’s foundation. We all trust Nina King to bring a quality head coach to Durham. It may take a few years, but Dad feels confident that the Blue Devils will be 10-2 soon. Nothing can shake this man’s optimism for Duke football.

Programming note – stay tuned as we will have an interview with Steve Wiseman in the coming days. That will be a fun one. Steve is a great guest and always has something interesting to tell us. I can’t wait!

Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode.

Let me know what you think about what we think in the comments, on Mastodon, on Reddit, on Post, on Instagram, Spoutible, Bluesky or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

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!