Category: Game Recaps

Interview – Get to Know the FSU Seminoles with Ehsan Kassim

Listen here.

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 – Steve Wiseman

Listen here.

Steve Wiseman stopped by for his second appearance on the podcast. In what will hopefully become an annual thing, we used the bye week to talk about the wild ride that was the Notre Dame game, Riley Leonard’s injury, injuries to other players, the struggles we’ve seen from the kicking teams this season and what to expect from the team going forward. We also discuss what a fantastic job Coach Elko and his staff have done in getting Duke ready for every single game. Seriously, what this staff has done with the Blue Devils is amazing.

Steve also takes a moment to introduce us to Jared McCain who will be one of Duke’s incoming guards. Give the story a read, folks! Hopefully the Blue Devils’ basketball team will be able to handle the pressure of being at a football school.

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

Listen here.

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!

Interview – Get to Know the UCONN Huskies with Graham Chamberlain

Listen here.

To get ready for Saturday’s road game, we sat down with Graham Chamberlain of UCONN Rivals. In this almost hour long discussion, we cover the recent history of UCONN football, discuss the challenges the Huskies face in building a program, listen to a few voicemails and give our prediction for the game. The episode starts out with a brief recap of where Duke is so far this season before getting into the upcoming game. We also take a few shots at UVA because why not?

In addition, we discussed the future of UCONN football and The ACC going forward. I give my opinion on adding the three new schools and how the conference will look over the next decade. You will hear me tell UNC, Clemson and FSU to shut up and stop whining about money if you don’t want to add SMU at no real cost to The All Coast Conference. Seriously, guys, stop complaining about money if you aren’t going to take that free pile of cash the Mustangs gave you.

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 Northwestern Wildcats with Louie Vaccher

Listen here.

To get ready for Duke-Northwestern on Saturday, we’ve got an interview with the editor of Wildcat Report, Louie Vaccher. During a very informative discussion, we talked about the Northwestern hazing scandal, the associated lawsuits, listen to a few voicemails and, hey, we actually talk about the Wildcats and the Blue Devils! We have some game predictions from me, Louie and Duke running back Joe Ajeigbe! We also check in on Richlandia.

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!

2023 Game Recaps – Spring Ball

It may not be a game that counts in the win-loss column, but it’s still football. And Duke’s Spring Game was a lot of fun. After a late time change to Friday night, the Blue Devils kicked off a fun night. Now, I’m not going to do the kind of game recap I would do for a regular season, nor am I going to do my Five Things. Instead, I’m just going to list a couple of things I noticed that stood out to me about the game.

No. 1 – Wide receivers. With Hagans, Calhoun, Jordan Moore and Robertson, this unit looks stacked. Eli Pancol didn’t take the field till late, which may be him easing back in from his injury last season, and looked faster and more skilled than last year. And that’s saying something because last year was his best season in Durham. To conclude, it looks like Riley Leonard will have a lot of weapons headed into next season.

No. 2 – Kick returns. There weren’t a lot of those last night, but I liked seeing Hagans on the opening return. None of us understood why he didn’t get more involved in the return game last season given what he did against Georgia Tech. Let’s hope Coach Elko & Co. heard our collective griping and has decided to give Hagans chances to make plays on returns.

No. 3 – All the quarterbacks looked good. Leonard and Loftis looked to be quarterbacks 1 and 2 on the depth chart. Henry Belin looked okay, but a little shaky at first. Once he got a few runs underneath his belt, he started to look a little more comfortable. If Belin can keep running the ball like that and get a little more comfortable in the passing game, he could be real hard for other teams to defend in the coming seasons. Of course, if Loftis can toss bombs like he did in the fourth quarter, the QB battle will be something to watch over the next few years.

No. 4 – Ja’Mion Franklin looks like a man among children. Dude looks like an NFL nose tackle. I think he may cause a lot of problems for the opposing offense.

No. 5 – The linebackers. The unit looked pretty good although it’s hard to know how much we can expect from them. Dillon got a hit or two in as did fan favorite Mem Factor. They also looked much improved from a depth perspective over the last few seasons. It’ll be interesting to see what that group can do as the year unfolds.

Wait, did I just do my Five Things?

Overall, the team looked pretty good. Our safeties played pretty well and showed the ability to put some hits on people. While you can’t always project out too much from the Spring Game, you can get a sense of which guys are ready to play and which guys aren’t. From what I could see, our starters are ready to play and we didn’t have any glaring gaps.

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 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 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 Recaps – You Can’t Be Serious

When I was a kid, I watched a lot of Duke football games with my dad. The games unfolded in the same general pattern – after making you believe victory is possible, the Blue Devils lost after a series of mistakes, miscues and, to top it off, an occasional bad coaching decision or two. Basically, the team would hang around long enough to get your hopes up and then break your heat. I bring this up because, after watching Duke lose to Pitt by a score of 28 to 26 (not a typo), I felt like I had relived some painful déjà vu.

Now, I can’t really explain why these painful losses keep happening to us. Maybe it is nothing more complicated than that the football gods won’t let us beat Pitt. And it isn’t like the Blue Devils didn’t have opportunities on Saturday. Multiple Duke mistakes and miscues gave Pitt chances to stay in a game it had no business winning. And boy did the Panthers take advantage of those opportunities. Porter Wilson shanked punt which led to a field goal. Jalon Calhoun mishandled a punt which led to an easy Pitt touchdown. Jordan Waters’ fumble led to a scoop-and-score. Jontavis Robertson dropped a touchdown pass. It wasn’t pretty. Well, it wasn’t pretty for the Blue Devils. If you’re a Panthers fan, it was pretty.

But a lot of what I just described happens in games (and frequently). It happens in cold weather games to Southern teams. It happens in games where flocks of pigeons descend on the field for some strange reason. (Which would have been on brand had the game been broadcast on Bally Sports.) These kids are youngsters, not professionals and, like all of us, make mistakes. What shouldn’t happen, however, is a coaching staff compounding those errors with a string of their own mistakes and questionable decisions. And we sure a lot of that on Saturday.

While Coach Elko has generally pushed all the right buttons this season, there have been some things he’s done that don’t make a lot of sense. On Saturday, not having Hagans return punts is the first one. Had Coach Elko and the staff made the switch after the Georgia Tech game, we probably don’t see the mistake that gave Pitt a touchdown. That may have altered enough of the game such that we don’t see the Waters fumble or the Robertson drop. The shanked punt can happen, so there’s no point getting upset about that. But, again, what we’ve gone over can be put in the basket of things that happen. As a team you have to overcome them.

And it sure seemed like Duke was about to do it on Saturday. Despite being down 28-14, Riley Leonard and Jordan Moore took the Blue Devils down the field and got it within eight. Then Coach Elko decided to go for two (going for two is hereafter referred to as “conversion”), the offense couldn’t convert and it got worse from there. Down 28-20, the defense, which played great all day, held and got the offense the ball back. A slow, perhaps too slow, and methodical drive resulted in a Duke touchdown and another conversion attempt. The following Philly Special looked, well, special, and the Blue Devils left Pittsburgh with a two-point loss.

Here’s my problem with the two conversion attempts. I’ll qualify my criticism by acknowledging that I’m not a mathematician, but if the team hadn’t gotten greedy and taken the PAT attempts that would be … Hold on … One plus one is … Let me double-check my math … Two! It’s two! Those two points force overtime and Duke gets a chance to keep winning after regulation. I’m sure a lot of you, and I heard you on Twitter, think the analytics say to go for the conversion on the first attempt down 28-20. Here is why that is wrong. You are certainly entitled to your own opinion on this, but just understand that you’re wrong. Absolutely wrong. Let me explain why.

Conversion attempts aren’t easy. It’s a harder play to score on and it’s higher risk than a PAT. If you don’t get it on the first attempt down eight, you have to go for it again. That’s two high-risk, albeit high-reward, plays. The chances of getting a total of 14 points from two TDs and two conversions are lower than just taking the PATs. This is why my general rule is that you don’t go for the conversion until you absolutely have to. The risk is just too high (as is the downside. Plus the success rate isn’t 100% as is more fully discussed below).

But let’s say you don’t agree with that and you still cite to some ESPN article about NFL teams going for two in the same situation. Fine, but here’s what you’re not getting – WE DON’T HAVE A ROSTER OF NFL PLAYERS. There are also percentage chances of converting which aren’t 100% because teams like the Blue Devils are the ones who, historically, don’t seem to convert in those situations. What you have to remember is that, for whatever reason, teams like Duke aren’t the ones who win the analytics in key situations like the ones on Saturday (sort of like what happened against the Yellow Jackets last year when we went with the wrong defense at the end, gave up the touchdown and lost the game). Sometimes you just need to take the points. We’re not Alabama, folks. We can’t always get the conversion we need. Which is why I say … Just. Take. The Points.

Now, one counter to my otherwise flawless argument is that if Coach Elko had gone for two at 28-27 (assuming he initially went for the PAT at 28-20 to get it within seven), we wouldn’t really complain about him being aggressive and going for the win and the end by calling for a conversion. Let me explain why that is a complete non sequitur.

First, that’s not what happened on Saturday because Duke was down 28-26 at the time and needed the conversion to tie, not win. Second, if Coach Elko wanted to avoid overtime, I get it. The overtime system, with its short field and mandatory conversion rules as the game goes on is pretty stupid. Overtime isn’t a real replica of college football and I get why a coach would want to win in regulation. That said, this discussion isn’t relevant or material at all what to we saw unfold on Saturday because that isn’t what fracking happened. The conversion attempt at the end of the game would have forced the team into overtime and not won the game. So, we can save the debate about what may have happened had the score been different for another time.

So, you can shut it with your analytical garbage. None of you, with the exception of Charlie Gelman, understand the math well enough to counter any of my argument. Further, games aren’t determined by P values, they are determined by the number of pigeons on the field. Coach Elko just got it wrong Saturday.

All that said, I have to admit it was rather fitting to watch the Blue Devils lose a game that they should have won on Saturday. It made me feel like I was back home and reminded me of all the time I used to spend with Dad back when I was a kid. And I’m not being sarcastic here – I mean what I say. I really felt like I was in junior high and high school again spending time with the old man. It was nice, albeit in a sad way. So, outcome notwithstanding, I really enjoyed watching another game with Dad. I just hate that the defense, with its two interceptions and gutsy play, had its efforts wasted. Had the offense and kicking teams not dug a big hole, this could have been a different game. The defense played real, real well. The coaching staff just didn’t rise to the moment.

But that’s okay. No one is perfect. We all make mistakes. Let’s just hope Coach Elko, et al., learn from this and get the team ready for Wake Forest.

That’s it for the game recap. Let me know what you think about what I think in the comments, on Twitter, or on Reddit. And drop a line for Dad. He’d love to hear from you guys!

As always, Go Duke!

2022 Game Recaps – Duke beat Virginia Tech

Women ages 40 to 50 went crazy when they saw this handsome man on TV.

During the height of the Second Punic War, the Romans were desperate for a leader who could overcome a string of defeats and bring the North African power that was Carthage to heel. Eventually, the man who would become known to history as Scipio Africanus took control of the Roman forces, defeated Carthage and put an end to the Second Punic War. Scipio’s success in Africa was so complete that it gave rise to a myth that only a Scipio could win in Africa. The Romans, a naturally superstitious bunch, believed so strongly in this that Julius Caesar had a descendant of Scipio on his staff during the African campaign of what his Roman civil war.

Just as only a Scipio could win in Africa, perhaps only an Elko can get a win in Durham against Virginia Tech. On Saturday, the Blue Devils defeated the Hokies at home for the first time since 1981. For context, I was just one day short of being seven weeks old the last time the Bull City Boys beat VPI in Durham. Man, that really makes me realize just how old I’m getting. Going to take a break to yell at the kids skateboarding on the sidewalk, check a weather app and did I hurt my neck again? All right, I’m back.

This game started like a lot of games have for Duke this season in that the Blue Devils let a really not good Virginia Tech team hang around. The first quarter ended with the Hokies up 7-3. The first half ended with Duke up by a narrow margin of 10-3. And, compounding that close score, it sure looked like Jalon Calhoun had a catch on a deep ball that could have kept a late drive going and, at worst, likely have set up chip shot field goal attempt. Despite having three timeouts, Coach Elko didn’t call one to give the refs a chance to have the play reviewed. It may not have been overturned given that there didn’t appear to be indisputable evidence of a catch, but you were facing 3rd-and-11, so why not use one of your three timeouts to decide on how best to use both downs to convert? By this I mean try to come up with a plan to use two downs to get the conversion instead of betting it all on 3rd down. You know, try a short pass on 3rd down to get to a more manageable distance and then … What’s that you say? We’re just throwing another incomplete pass on a deep route that leads to a missed 45 yard field goal? Not what I would have done, but okay.

But, that horrible instance of game management aside, the Blue Devils came out in the second half and put together a repeat of the UVA game – they just overwhelmed Virginia Tech physically. The OL started opening up some running lanes, the backs started chewing up yards and Riley Leonard started finding Hagans, Moore and Robertson. Two second half scoring drives later, Duke celebrated a 24-7 victory over a Coastal opponent. While there were a lot of cool moments from this game, like the Hokie quarterback just falling down and giving Duke a sack, I think we can all agree that the best moment of the game was me on TV. Let’s take another look at it

Sorry, ladies, I’m married.

So, what were the big takeaways from Saturday? I’d have to say that the defense continued to hold its own. There were two sacks, two tackles-for-loss and what seemed like a lot of pressure on the opposing quarterback. While the defense struggled at times to contain Virginia Tech when it went tempo, Grant Wells only managed to throw for 177 yards, an early TD and a Three Stooges style interception that landed right in Shaka’s hands. If that weren’t enough, the Blue Devils held the Hokies to just 104 rushing yards. Not a bad day for our defense.

Offensively, we saw several receivers step up in Eli Pancol’s absence. Jontavis Robertson had 5 catches for 81 yards and a touchdown. Sahmir Hagans had 2 for 20, with both coming at crucial times. The same was true of Nicky Dalmolin’s touchdown and Jordan Moore’s 3 for 37 outing (which included an unreal one-handed catch). Throw in 165 rushing yards on 41 attempts and you have a Blue Devil win. It may not have been perfect, but good teams are able to overcome slow and inconsistent outings by being more methodical, more physical and more determined than the competition. That’s what we saw from Duke on Saturday and that’s why the Blue Devils got the win. It may not have been perfect, but it sure made the drive home a lot more fun.

Before I finish up, I’d like to note that this team is 7-3 with two more games to go. This season is going a heck of a lot better than most of us expected. While there may not be a signature win (other than the one that got stolen), this is turning into what can only be characterized as a truly historic season. I know that I’m not the only that wants to see this team close out the 2022 campaign with three more wins, bowl game included.

And that’s it for the game recap which means we have another old-time tune! This one is called “Walking Up Georgia Row”.

Tim and I need to play this song more.

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

As always, Go Duke!