Duke

They never disappoint, those darn Devils. Even in their best season in two decades, they play the perfect homecoming guests and let themselves be blown out of the building before the students even finishing climbing to their seats. Speaking of the students, thanks for coming - for the 10 minutes that you actually were in the park. There must have been some tremendous parties starting at 5 Saturday afternoon, or maybe they were inspired by the opponent and rushed home at the half to get a jump on that biomedical physics quiz on Monday. Maybe they can hang around for the Florida game until late in the third quarter...In any case, thank you Duke for another incredibly relaxing afternoon.

Seeing our two senior #4 leaders on crutches on the sideline was depressing. Who knows, maybe one or both are able to suit up for us next season, but if not that number might be like being on the cover of Madden for future Noles. If the three backs that we have can remain upright the rest of the way, we should be ok. I know that CT was tremendous at all the little things that coaches love like blitz pickups, chips and screens. It was only Duke, but both JWJ and Devonte did a nice job with all of those this week. I saw each of them wipe out a free LB on a blitz with the result of each play a long EJ completion (was there any other kind with 8 passes for almost 300?). Some of the fried Oreos, shrimp and peanut butter bars I threw back pregame almost came North when I saw our stud Brit RT go down in a heap, but thankfully big Menalik trotted back a play later. Honestly, the offense could do whatever they wanted this week. Think about the fact that we turned it over 4 times, got destroyed in time of possession and still scored half a century. This was the contest to line up Amp and Tank in the Wishbone in front of Wilder and see if they would just leave the field in fear.

I was actually pleasantly surprised by the defensive performance. This bunch from the Triangle bedeviled every defense they had faced this year, and with a bye coming up I kinda expected us to be flat. We more than punched them in the mouth. Mama said knock them out - and we did. Joyner's hit was 100% legal and if it happened on our sideline, there would not have been a hankie. I know that the QB left after Karlos nailed him, but that may have been the fifth hardest hit he had been subjected to that afternoon. Tank exchanged so much helmet paint and sweat that he was legally married to him in some States. One of the most meaningless stats this season for our defense is sacks. Every team throws the ball so dadgum fast that sacks are almost impossible to rack up, but hits are not. We basically eliminate the running game and then just load up on 3rd and forever and tee off. Our secondary also tackles. The era of TE's and big wideouts getting extra yards is gone. Our opponents are YAC-less, and unfortunately poor YAC is not coming home anytime soon. This new dime defense features hitters who flat form tackle. Even true freshman like Darby hit with authority. I remain concerned about our young DE's. Too many one on one opportunities this game for them that did not translate into plays, but at least they are getting reps.

So what exactly is Duke Coach Cutcliff thinking with the twitter bombs he tossed on Sunday? He attacked our strength & conditioning coach for jumping up and down all game? Is that why you refused to shake our coaches hands on the field post game? Well, news flash David, we coulda scored 90 on you this week. Thanks to our outstanding S&C program, the 18 Duke starters that were not at TMH at the end of the game and were sucking their thumbs with their binkie on the sideline would have gone back to Durham toe-tagged. So, make fun of our little energizer bunny Coach Vic if you want, but just be glad that we are off the schedule for a few more seasons so that you can be Bowl eligible again but never have to be publicly tarred and feathered by FSU so the country knows how far from a real team you really are...

Another big attaboy to the ACC home office who clearly sat these officials down and pleaded for them to create a statistical anomaly in Tallahassee. In the history of this tremendously competitive series, Duke has never had more indiscretions than our heroes. That is right, even with all those future NFL All Pros battling their future doctors and lawyers, they were able to compete without drawing hardly any attention from the officials. But not Saturday. Heck they got a penalty on a touchback. They got called for holding, pass interference and even had a long completion overturned in the booth (gasp!). It was almost as if the game was being called without bias...

Finally, our special teams almost played a complete game. Apparently, Christian Jones finally tracked down the boy who took his lunch money in kindergarten, and he was the kickoff returner for Duke. He thought he escaped when his parents enrolled him in the first grade Montessori across town, but there is no escape from this nightmare. Every Dustin bomb was another excuse for #7 to missile-lock this poor bastard before he got to the 20. Speaking of Dustin, he is inexorably closing in on the alltime NCAA scoring mark. Unfortunately, it should happen on the road, but let's hope the crack Nole marketing team finds a way to properly acknowledge this on Senior Day in Tally. Tyler Hunter was the reason that this is an almost. Wow, did he get out of the gate. That was Reid-esque in the first quarter, but the lack of concentration that caused a fumble late will make us all wary the rest of the way...

Well, I don't know about y'all, but I need open date state to recharge the batteries. So, enjoy your free weekend and then let's get back to business next Thursday night!