Duke is going to be a solid squad this year. They weren’t terrible last year and bring a decent amount back. What shocks me is hearing about how different it is under Elko than it was under Cutcliffe. It sounds like Cut just didn’t run a very tight ship, at least not his last couple of years. The team didn’t have specific diets and workouts weren’t nearly as tough as they are now. But yes, in general, Duke usually sucks.
Duke should’ve won the division last year, but had 2 choke jobs to Georgia Tech and UNC. IMO Duke was the best team in the Coastal, which admittedly is like being the worlds tallest midget, but Elko has Duke looking like a real football team. Sadly, Cut really became predictable and let the program slip the previous few years.
A friend of mine’s son plays for Duke and it was really surprising to hear how different things are under Elko because of what Cut wasn’t doing. But I agree they should’ve won it last year. All of Duke’s losses were close games. Had they beaten UNC they would’ve been playing Clemson. Maybe this year.
I don’t understand how or why he let them go downhill as much as he did. The funny thing is that I talked to a member of the staff a few weeks ago, he is carryover from Cut’s staff and he insinuated what you’re saying. He would never speak a bad word about Cut, but used the words “different” and “good” a lot when describing Elko. It’s unfortunate that the ACC moved away from divisions this season, I couldve seen Duke winning the Coastal .
I think it’s probably exhausting and frustrating being the Duke football coach . You’re always playing a distant second to the basketball team, no matter what Cut and the football office tried to do they could not get people to come to the games. They were basically giving tickets away for people to come to the games. The Durham Bulls on a Friday or Saturday night mostly have a better atmosphere than Duke football. It has to be immensely frustrating, especially given all that he accomplished while he was at Duke .
In theory, the B1G could go after Miami and GT . This would give them a foot print in the 4 biggest tv markets (arguably) on the East Coast. NY (Rutgers) D.C. (Maryland), South Florida (Miami) and Atlanta (GT). I don’t think Atlanta would be that big of a grab, it’s an SEC town, always will be. I’m not sure how many people actually care about Miami, and most never think of NYC as a great college football market. However, this does give the B1G LA, Detroit, Chicago, The Midwest in General, NYC, Philly , DC, Atlanta and Miami. If you added UNC you get the Triangle and Charlotte. That would be pretty impressive.
This would work for me as long as the SEC doesn't take Miami.
We do need to have a full court press for UNC.
I have a chuckle when I imagine the B1G explaining to networks how Rutgers football insures the domination of the NYC TV market. GT owns ATL
I would hope that if they are split up into 2 different conferences that they would maintain an OOC h/h in football and find a way to play twice annually in basketball . That game is easily in the same sentence as the Iron Bowl, Ohio State vs. Michigan, Yankees vs Red Sox, Celtics vs Lakers . Like you said, it’s iconic, both are better because of the other.
