Posted: 11/4/2009 by David Walker
You're sick of hearing about Duke, aren't you? You're tired of all the jawing and praise for this high scoring, dominating offense and opportunistic defense. You could go the rest of the year without hearing about this record setting senior leader the Blue Devils have, their "quarterback" if you will. Except this time around people really are talking about an actual quarterback, on a football field. Playing at Duke. Playing
for Duke.
You're already tired of it aren't you Tar Heels?
It's not often the Duke faithful get a chance to chirp this much in late October and early November. As recently as two weeks ago, the only thing generating buzz out of the Gothic campus on the hallowed grounds in Durham was the basketball team's...ah-hem, take...on some
cinematic classics.
But this Duke football team is for real, apparently. That's what they say at least.
NC State. State folks say Duke is definitely for real. Well, at least the
fans who stayed for the entire game can profess to this. Duke racked up insanely ridiculous offensive numbers on the Wolfpack. Duke's senior quarterback, the (dare I say it) All-ACC candidate Thaddeus Lewis went all Drew
Brees on the gang from Raleigh blistering the Pack secondary to the tune of 459 yards in the air and 49 points.
After that game a State fan told me Lewis might be the best quarterback in the ACC. At first I brushed it off as typical fan gone crazy and despite Lewis' ACC staying power, guffawed him. But that State fan might be right.
Maryland says the same thing. Lewis only managed 371 passing yards that day but Duke left the field with a 17-13 win.
That's also what Virginia said. Duke traveled up to Charlottesville and actually won last weekend. See Carolina, it's not against the rules. Virginia does lose in Charlottesville to teams wearing blue from the Old North State. And this time it was Duke's defense pouncing on a late fumble and returning it for a score on the way to a 28-17 win. And Lewis chipped in a pedestrian 343 yards.
Three wins in the ACC this season. That's three wins in a row. But you know all of this because you've heard it for the last week. And you should have because Duke has every right to feel good right now.
Duke has also gotten victories (and not moral ones!) over Army, and North Carolina Central. Not quite as much to yap about but you probably haven't heard much about that pesky season opening loss to Richmond either. And why should you? That was a long time ago and contrary to apparent NCAA and BCS beliefs, teams can and do get better over the course of a season.
North Carolina, don't get lulled to sleep by the fact that all of these victories David Cutcliffe and the Blue Devils have amassed have come over teams with losing records. In fact, none of the teams Duke has gotten the better of have won more than three games. Don't get distracted by that Tar Heels. If you do you'll likely be on the receiving end of some 400-yard passing game by Lewis and his band of receivers.
And wouldn't this be the perfect year to have this game as the last one? Of course it's not, and maybe that's a good thing too.
Right now, anything is possible. And when I say "anything" I mean "anything" as in "Duke-could-win-the-ACC-Coastal-anything." Uh-huh, that's right. By winning out (which of course includes winning this Saturday) Duke will stamp its ticket to the ACC Championship game. If that happens...clear the roads to Tampa!!
We're getting way ahead of ourselves here but the point is, this game isn't just the last game of the season any more. It isn't "Duke's Super Bowl" any more. This game as real world implications, for the Tar Heels too. And that's why there are so many more dimensions to this game than your normal Duke-Carolina football game. Will this recent Duke hype actually help Carolina? Help them be more focused, more serious, and not overlook Duke.
Not to say Carolina overlooked, or was in any position to overlook, teams (Duke included) in the past two years. But there should be absolutely no threat of that this time around regardless.
The winner will be in a much better position for a post-season bowl. While the loser, will still be able to play its way in to a holiday game. (Yes, there are still too many bowls.)
But really, this game comes down to what all Duke-Carolina contests come down to whether it's basketball, baseball, field hockey, wrestling or which school has the more
popular person on
American Idol and that's two schools, eight miles apart playing for pride, bragging rights, and respect. The victor will get all those things and an added bonus this time around: an honest-to-goodness meaningful win. And maybe that's worth all the pregame chatter and posturing. Maybe.