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Duke Football Notebook
10/12/2011 11:17:00 AM | Football
By AL FEATHERSTON
TAKING A BREAK
The last time Duke took a three-game winning streak into an open date was 1994, when Coach Fred Goldsmith's first Blue Devil team opened with five straight wins before taking a week off.
The point is that neither current coach David Cutcliffe nor his players can say for sure whether the layoff will diminish the momentum the team built up with consecutive wins over Boston College, Tulane and Florida International. But they do know that the layoff came at a good time for a team that was starting to accumulate a worrisome collection of injuries.
A much healthier Duke team will take the field Saturday when the Blue Devils face Florida State in Wade Stadium.
"The break couldn't have come at a better time," senior Matt Daniels said. "We got most of our people back and we're ready to go."
It wasn't just a matter of the players that were out of the lineup, but the far more numerous players who were playing at less than 100 percent.
"We had multiple people playing with injuries," Daniels said. "During the FIU game, I twisted my ankle in the second quarter and played throughout. We were really hurting from a defensive standpoint. Thank goodness that the bye week came at such a good time, so we could get our feet back beneath us and for us rehabilitate our bodies."
Cutcliffe suggested that the time out has helped crippled running backs Desmond Scott and Josh Snead. Scott, sidelined since the Richmond game with a sore knee, got one carry against FIU. Snead, who suffered a foot injury in preseason, has not seen action yet.
"The best [Scott has] looked was today," the Duke coach said after Tuesday's practice. "The best thing Desmond does is make you miss in the open field. He's a great cutback runner. I thought he had to strain at FIU to make his moves. He'll be better this week."
Cutcliffe wasn't ready to commit to Snead's status for the FSU game, but noted:
"He had a good day today," he said. "He was fast out there today. It was the first time I've seen him run in a long time."
Cutcliffe was most encouraged by placekicker Will Snyderwine, who has been battling an ankle problem. He kicked in practice Tuesday for the first time since the FIU game.
"Snyderwine made my day today," he said. "He was back to being Will for the first time today. My eight days off for him seemed to work."
Obviously, the bye week was good for the health of the team. But will the time off hurt a team that was playing well?
"It's not like we took the week off," cornerback Zach Greene said. "We prepare the same every week. The coaches demand the best of us every day. So I think we'll still have that edge Saturday."
400 STRAIGHT GAMES AND COUNTING
Bob Harris still has vivid memories of his first game as Duke's football play-by-play announcer - Sept. 11, 1976. He called the Blue Devils' 21-18 victory at Tennessee.
"That was my first college broadcast as well as my first Duke broadcast," Harris said.
Saturday, the 69-year-old Voice of the Blue Devils will call his 400th straight Duke football game. Over his 36-year career, Harris has not missed a single game.
"The number one thing is that the good Lord has given me good health," Harris said. "I've been very fortunate. I had one of my two stints put in and a knee operation - it happened during an open week, so it worked perfectly. I was back for the next game."
Harris actually worked the last three games of the 1975 season as a color man for former play-by-play announcer Add Penfield. But he counts that Tennessee game in '76, when he debuted as a play-by-play announcer, as the start of his streak.
"It was a really good game," Harris said. "With a couple of minutes to go, Tennessee's down 21-18, they're moving down the field and I remember saying 'Run clock, run!' And everybody listening thought that I wanted it to get over so that Duke would win. What I didn't say on the air was that in my excitement, I had not been to the bathroom since noon."
Harris has also done almost 1,200 Duke basketball games in the last 36 years. His dual responsibilities have forced him to make some tough choices when the seasons have overlapped. In every case, when there was a conflict, he's worked the football game and has missed the early season basketball game.
"The first time we had a conflict, I went to Coach [Mike Krzyzewski] and told him, 'Coach, I have a problem. I can't be at both places." And he said, 'We don't have a problem - you need to be with football.' He said, 'They've only got 11 games for a season and we'll have you for 30-plus. The overriding thing is, if you bail on them at the end of the season, then the fans are going to say, if Bob has given up on them, then we will too.'
"So he was thinking of football too."
While Harris will reach his 400th game milestone Saturday, that's not the end. He plans on working as long as his health and his enthusiasm hold out - and as long as Duke wants him.
There are no indications that any of those three areas will present a problem in the near future.
A NEW DUKE FOOTBALL ANTHEM
Duke has long had two official fight songs - "Fight, Fight Blue Devils" and "The Blue and White."
Now, Chip Shearin has given the Blue Devil football team its own fight song, "We are Duke!"
"We want to make them fight," Shearin said. "We want to jack up our guys to where they're excited about coming out of the tunnel."
Shearin is a native of Durham, a 1979 Hillside High graduate who studied Jazz with Donald Byrd at North Carolina Central University, then studied music at Duke and the Manhattan School of Music.
Shearin now lives mostly in Los Angeles, but he moves around a lot in the music business. He's worked with Janet Jackson and is the music director for Justin Timberlake. He's composed music for the movies, most recently working on the score for Iron Man II.
Shearin said that despite his travels, he still has a soft spot for his home town.
"He and I first met at a golf tournament," Cutcliffe said. "The reason I bothered to meet him is that his swing was so good. We just hit it off. We shared an interest in the Durham community and in young people. He came at me with the idea for a song unique to Duke football. A few weeks ago, I got to hear that for the first time."
Cutcliffe said they played the song for the Duke team.
"That got us to winning some football games," he said, adding in a more serious vein: "It's from a man who understands our mission. He understands what we're trying to do with this football team."
COMING TOGETHER UP FRONT
Duke's offensive line allowed seven sacks in the first two games - six against Sanford.
The Blue Devils have only allowed one sack in the last three games ,and that one came in a late-game situation against Boston College, when QB Sean Renfree took the sack to keep the clock running, rather than throw the ball away.
Duke's eight sacks in 207 pass attempts works out to one sack every 26 passes. It's even better in the last three games - one sack in the team's last 134 passes.
Sophomore offensive tackle Perry Simmons attributes the unit's early season problems to the disruption caused by the preseason loss of center Brian Moore.
"At the beginning of the year, we had a big-time injury to Brian Moore," he said. "That kind of shuffled up the line a little bit. I had to play some left guard. We had to bring in a redshirt freshman to start. As the season has worn on, everyone's gotten used to working together. I think that's paid dividends. We're starting to get the hang of protections. We've been playing pretty well the last two weeks."
Cutcliffe agreed that experience may be starting to pay off.
"You've got to remember, we're playing two redshirt sophomores, two redshirt freshmen and one senior," Cutcliffe said. "So they're just getting better."
He admitted that Stanford caused his team's protection problems in that game. But he wasn't happy with his line's efforts in the Richmond game. Even though Renfree was sacked just once officially, he was pressured on numerous occasions.
"But we're definitely better than we were," he said. "We're getting ready to play against some big boys who have high, high capabilities. So we've got a big test in front of us."
Florida State has 14 sacks in five games, the fourth best total in the ACC. Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, which rank No. 1 and No. 2 in the ACC in sacks, are also ahead on the schedule.
CASHING IN IN THE RED ZONE
Duke still ranks last in the ACC in red zone offense, but those numbers are misleading.
The Blue Devils converted just three of their first nine red zone opportunities this season, but starting with the game-winning drive at Boston College, Duke has now converted 11 red zone opportunities in a row.
Cutcliffe pointed out that part of Duke's early season red zone woes were caused by the inability to convert short field goals. A year ago, Duke finished third in the ACC in red zone offense at 88.4 percent, but that was largely because Snyderwine was automatic as a field goal kicker. Just 24 of 38 red zone scores were touchdowns ... the other 14 were field goals.
But Duke's recent red zone surge is something else - the Devils have converted 11 straight opportunities inside the opponent's 20-yard-line into points ... and nine of those successful conversions have been touchdowns.
"We're running the ball better now," the Duke coach said. "We have some rushing touchdowns - more rushing touchdowns than a lot of people get these days. If we maintain that trend, it will help us."
Tailback Desmond Scott, whose return to better health should help the running game, said Duke's red zone production should only get better.
"Every offense needs to get in a groove," Scott said. "Once you get that rhythm, it's hard to stop."
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