Category: Game Previews

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.

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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.

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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 – Get to Know the Pitt Panthers with Noah Hiles

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First, let me apologize for some inconsistent audio quality. My Bluetooth headset kept cutting in and out on volume and I had to amplify the audio. Not sure why it happened. That can only mean I need a new headset. Any recommendations would be appreciated!

Pitt beat writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Noah Hiles stopped by to get us ready for a noon matchup with the Panthers at Wallace Wade. During this 5o+ minute interview, we talk about the struggles that Duke has had in beating Pitt, the disaster of a year the Panthers are going through and the fact that the Blue Devils have sort of kind of maybe fallen off after a good start.

In addition, we discuss the scheduling issues that ACC teams will continue face as a result of an unbalanced and ridiculously unfair schedule. To elaborate on that, there’s a reason that Duke is behind GA Tech, UNC and VA Tech this year. The Blue Devils have had, by far, the toughest schedule in The ACC. When you throw the injuries on top of that, this record shouldn’t be a surprise. Listen, guys, we’re just going to have to deal with getting a raw deal when it comes to the schedule. It’s not fair, but it is what it is.

Also, we get a guest pick from former Duke WR Ben Erdeljac! He’s taking the Blue Devils to close the season on a win. Let’s Go!!!

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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 – Get to Know the UVA Cavaliers with Dan Siegel

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Old friend of the podcast Dan Siegel returned to get us ready for a big game this weekend with UVA. Dan tells us about the Hoos’ improving situation that isn’t reflected in the W-L column. Turns out the Cavs have a good QB and a solid defense. We also discuss Tony Elliott’s future in Charlottesville.

Before we get into the interview, we have some voicemails which bring some real heat to the ending of the Duke-UNC game. These guys had a lot to say and it’s hard to argue with any of it.

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 – Get to Know the UNC Tar Heels with Mack Brown (Yep, Mack Brown)

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As I said all season, we got a major guest to preview the Duke-UNC game. And when I tell you something, you know you can trust me to deliver. To-wit:

Mack Brown, UNC’s head coach, stopped by to talk about the state of the Carolina program, how great of a job Coach Elko is doing and what to expect in the Battle for the Victory Bell. You won’t believe who Mack takes to win. During our interview, we also discuss Mack’s plan to return to broadcasting, The Carolina Way and why UNC has struggled with consistency so much during the last two seasons. It might be because he’s perpetually online. Oh, and Mack has some thoughts on MJ Morris redshirting and what Brennan Armstrong will do for the Wolfpack going forward.

If that weren’t enough, we’ve got a guest pick from all-time great Blue Devil Randy Cuthbert! It’s always a good day when you hear from a Duke legend who knows a thing or two about beating the Heels.

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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 – Get to Know the Wake Forest Demon Deacons with Conor O’Neill

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Conor O’Neill, co-host of the Big J & Little J Show and publisher for Deacons and Devils Illustrated, stopped by to preview Duke’s upcoming Thursday night game. During our interview, we discuss Wake’s struggles on offense, the chances it has left to get bowl eligible and we do a deep dive on the Blue Devils. During the Duke portion of the discussion, we recap the loss at Louisville, cover the struggles at the WR position, discuss the uncertainty surrounding the health of our quarterbacks and try to comprehend the slew of injuries that have struck the Blue Devils of late. My conclusion is that we’re fortunate to have a great coaching staff and we have to hope their tactical expertise will get the Blue Devils a victory on Thursday night. We’re lucky to have the staff that we have and we have to hope those guys will right the ship.

Oh, and it turns out we landed a big, big guest for the UNC preview. We didn’t drop the name in the episode, but this is a guy with significant coaching experience at CHC. You’re going to enjoy this one, I promise.

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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 – Richlandia

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Thanks to a scheduling conflict on the part of someone who will remain nameless who may also run this blog, I wasn’t able to schedule an interview with my friends over at From The Pink Seats. As a result, we filled the gap by checking in with our Richlandia correspondent, Dad.

During the interview, we talk about the potential shortcomings of analytics in specific situations, recap the FSU game and preview what to expect on Saturday when Duke travels to Louisville. In addition, we get into the remaining teams on the Blue Devils’ schedule, I trash the B1G and we both agree that North Carolina has benefited from an easy schedule. Sorry, not sorry. And, because I’m a younger brother, I take a few moments to throw some shade at my older brother and demand an explanation from Dad as to a parenting choice he made when me and my brother were both teenagers.

We also make a reference to one all-time classic TV show episode, “Space, Geeks, And Johnny Unitas“, and Dad avoids going full Abe Simpson during the open mic.

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, or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

Interview – Get to Know the FSU Seminoles with Ehsan Kassim

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To get ready for a big road game this Saturday, I sat down with FSU beat writer Ehsan Kassim. During our talk, we went over Ehsan’s Seminole origin story, his SEC roots and then got into Duke’s upcoming opponent. We covered how Mike Norvell utilized the transfer portal to build the team, the overall strengths of FSU and how the teams will match up with one another in Doak Campbell Stadium. We also talked about CFP scenarios and speculated about what the Committee would do with one loss PAC-12 and ACC teams come selection time.

We listen to a few voicemails, discuss how the Blue Devils did against NC State, check in on Richlandia during the prediction segment and get Joey Finison to stop by with a guest pick. I also botch a Fight Club quote (the actual quote is “In the Tibetan philosophy, Sylvia Plath sense of the word, we’re all dying. But you’re not dying the way Chloe is dying.” And, of course, I detour into Roman history. I mean, why wouldn’t I?

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, or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

Interview – Get to Know the NC State Wolfpack with Joe Giglio

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Before we get started, I botched my notes and misspoke about the NC State-Marshall game. I combined the Armstrong package with a question about Morris’s performance and somehow jumbled the two together into Morris being a running QB against Marshall. Joe quickly called out my idiocy and I corrected it. This was my mistake. I own it. I’ll get better. I’ll take a knee next time. Back to our regularly scheduled program …

As you know, Duke has a game with NC State coming up. And who better to introduce us to the Blue Devils’ upcoming opponent than Joe Giglio. In addition to co-hosting the OG Podcast, Joe hosts The Law of the Wolf Podcast which is dedicated to the Wolfpack. It’s a great podcast with a spectacular interview with Debbie Yow that I highly recommend to all.

Before getting into the upcoming game between NC State and Duke, we talk about the OG Stable of Champion Podcasts including the OG, Young Gun and The Law of the Wolf. In addition to briefly discussing the flaming dumpster fire that is the Carolina Panthers, we also get into a discussion about the origin of the term “student athlete”. I highly, highly recommend you take the time to learn about Ray Dennison. His on-the-field death and his school’s successful attempt to avoid paying Worker’s Compensation benefits to his widow and children gave us the term “student athlete”. It’s a sad story.

We also discuss what it will take for the Blue Devils to get to the ACC Championship game, what other teams still have a chance to win the ACC title (looking at you, FSU) and what we can expect on Saturday from both teams. Despite the injury to Riley Leonard, it turns out that Joe is big on the team as well as on Coach Elko and what he and his staff are doing in Durham. We also hear from the Boy and check in on Richlandia.

We also have a guest pick from Brian at DukeBlogger.Com. Check out his stuff, folks!

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, or on Twitter.

As always, Go Duke!

Interview – Get to Know the Notre Dame Fighting Irish with Dan Sullivan

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We all know that there’s a big game coming up at Wallace Wade what with Notre Dame coming by to get exposed to a real college football environment. Sticking with our theme of the season, our guest Dan Sullivan gives you a chance to get to know the Irish. Dan is a fellow attorney and good friend of mine who grew up watching Notre Dame and is my source for information regarding the Irish. During our interview, we discuss how Notre Dame has done this season, the loss to Ohio State and how Duke will match up with the Irish on Saturday. We tell some stories about cases we tried together and what a jerk I apparently was early on in our professional career. I think I was just misunderstood. We also talk about conference restructuring, my overall thoughts on the Blue Devils so far this season and we get a game prediction from Jay Pelosky before checking in on things in Richlandia.

Please call the pod (540-632-0160), leave a message and you’ll get in an episode. We had three in this episode alone!

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

As always, Go Duke!