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Notebook: Duke Looks to Become Bowl Eligible
10/21/2015 6:00:00 AM | Football
DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke marked the halfway point of the 2015 regular season with an off week after beating Army West Point, 44-3, to improve to 5-1. The Blue Devils will resume their quest for an ACC Championship this Saturday when David Cutcliffe takes the team to Blacksburg, Va., for a 3:30 p.m. game with Coastal Division foe Virginia Tech.
“It's exciting to be now in ACC football – thinking about nothing else but playing teams that you are familiar with,” Cutcliffe said Tuesday. “I think the open date was good not only for the physical bodies, but for the emotions.”
In each of the last two seasons, the Duke-Virginia Tech matchup has been pivotal in determining the ACC's Coastal Division championship. Two years ago, Duke won a 13-10 thriller in Blacksburg en route to the division title and a spot in the league title game. A year ago in Durham, the Blue Devils lost a 17-16 heartbreaker to the Hokies and that narrow defeat kept Duke from winning a second straight division crown.
Cutcliffe said that it's too early to describe this game as a “playoff” game, but he didn't try to minimize its importance.
“We're not quite there,” he said when asked about the playoff aspects of the game. “I think November starts getting like that. I think there are a lot of battles to be fought before any battles are settled.”
The Duke coach is aware that a 6-2 conference record has been good enough to win the division in the last two seasons. And before that, three teams tied atop the Coastal standings at 5-3. The Coastal Division has not produced an 8-0 champion since Virginia Tech in 2010.
But while a loss is not necessarily elimination from the division race, every conference game has considerable impact on that race.
“College football has playoff intensity in week three,” Cutcliffe said. “That's one of the great things about our regular season. These are all critical games, but they are not the final game. You lose one and you're not out.”
His players understand the importance of the upcoming conference games – especially the next four games against teams that also believe they are in the Coastal Division title hunt (Virginia Tech, Miami, North Carolina and Pitt).
“We treat every ACC game like it's a playoff,” redshirt junior safety DeVon Edwards said. “We have to go out and capitalize on it. There are a bunch of tiebreakers that come in at the end, but if you just win, there is no reason that you have to tie with anybody and worry about somebody else losing. As long as we go out and take care of business, we can control our own destiny.”
The Virginia Tech game does offer Duke its first opportunity to clinch bowl eligibility for the fourth straight year. Cutcliffe said that threshold is still an important accomplishment.
“[The media] hasn't mentioned it, but I think about it every day,” he said. “I tell young coaches all the time – don't ever forget how to count to six. That's extremely important to me and always will be.”
Cracking the Top 25
Duke cracked the nation's top 25 for the first time this season after beating Army and moved up to No. 21 in the coaches poll and No. 23 in the AP poll after the open date.
It's the third straight season that Duke has been ranked – after a 19-year drought without an appearance in either poll.
“I think you look at your players and tell them, 'It's something you've earned,'” Cutcliffe said. “It's meaningless at this point. The value in it is you've put yourself in this position. If they want to pat themselves on the back for about three seconds, then do that.”
Cutcliffe's players are trying to keep everything in perspective.
“Obviously I look at it,” redshirt senior defensive end Britton Grier said. “It feels good to be in the top 25. Going back to my freshman year, it was a struggle that year – we went 3-9. Since then we've been growing. That's a theme of what we're trying to do.”
Edwards suggested that the rankings reflect the growing status of Cutcliffe's program.
“That is the way Coach Cut has built the program,” he said. “Once he got everybody into his system, you start to notice that we're going up the ladder and see the respect we've gotten.”
The Duke coach said cracking the polls for the past two weeks is a small step.
“You've got to keep battling to stay in it, then you've got to battle even harder to be in it at the end when the dust settles,” he said. “That's when it does matter. It matters that we've been in there once at the end. To do it again is a huge challenge, but it's also a huge opportunity.”
Duke was ranked in all three major polls at the end of the 2013 season – No. 21 in the coaches poll, No. 22 in the AP poll and No. 24 in the BCS poll.
That was the only time since 1962 that Duke was ranked in a major poll at the end of the season.
Testing the Pass Defense
Duke is currently ranked No. 2 nationally in pass defense – both in yardage allowed and in efficiency. Opponents are averaging just 131.2 yards a game through the air and are completing just 43.4 percent of their passes. Duke has allowed an ACC-low three touchdown passes.
Of course, to some degree that's a function of Duke's early opponents – both Georgia Tech and Army are option teams, while both Northwestern and Boston College are heavily run oriented.
“Our schedule has been such that we haven't seen a wide-open Baylor passing attack,” Cutcliffe said. “But we also know that our secondary is as good as we've had.
“At least we're not giving up a bunch of yards rushing. Sometimes people don't throw for much because they are running the ball up and down the field on you. That's not been the case.”
Indeed, Duke is giving up just 121.7 yards a game on the ground – and just 2.9 yards a rush attempt (the second best figure in the ACC) – despite the preponderance of rushing teams the Devils have played.
Overall, Duke ranks fourth nationally in total defense (252.8 yards a game) and – more importantly – second in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 9.3 points per game.
Senior Dwayne Norman, a first-year starter at linebacker, is not surprised by the success of this defense.
“Not at all,” he said. “We were together all summer and all spring, working out, throwing up, sweating and bleeding. I think everybody on our team was ready for what's happened this season. We put in the work for the money to come, as they say. That's something that we're proud of.”
But this is just the halfway point in the season and the Blue Devils know they have a lot of tough tests ahead. In fact, on paper, Virginia Tech possesses the best passing game Duke will have faced this year.
“I think if you look at their weapons – [wide receiver Isaiah] Ford and [tight end Bucky] Hodges – and not just them alone,” Cutcliffe said. “Both quarterbacks can throw it. They are very much capable of explosive plays. We know how difficult it is to match up.”
The numbers might not reveal the true extent of Virginia Tech's passing prowess. The Hokies started the season with senior Michael Brewer under center, but he was hurt in the opener against Ohio State and didn't return until late in last week's game against Miami. In between, redshirt junior Brenden Motley – formerly a rushing QB – filled in at quarterback.
“They just have a good quarterback system,” Edwards said. “They just have one who can throw more and one who can run more.”
Brewer, who started his career at Texas Tech, has already been named the starter for the Duke game.
“I notice that they throw a lot more with him,” Edwards said. “We've played against both of them. Both of them came in against us last season. [Motley] came in and was more of a wildcat guy last year, but I see they've started using him as more than just a running back.”
A year ago, in the narrow Virginia Tech win in Durham, Brewer did all the passing – throwing for 138 yards, while Motley ran three times for 36 yards. Both Hokie touchdowns came on Brewer passes – for 10 yards to Ford and for 15 yards to Hodges.
Edwards is looking forward to playing against a team that wants to do more than just line up and run the ball.
“It'll be fun,” the veteran safety said. “It's a chance to go out and make more plays. We know what we can do. Yeah, I am kind of happy we get to go against teams that run the spread now. But they run the ball a lot too, so we have to be focused and disciplined.”
An Addition at Wide Receiver
Last spring, redshirt sophomore wide receiver Terrence Alls shared the award as the team's most improved offensive player. But the Miami native has been suspended from game action for the first six weeks this season.
Cutcliffe announced Tuesday that Alls' suspension is over.
“Terrence Alls is back eligible and will be making the trip,” the Duke coach said. “I'm proud that he has done the things we have asked to put himself in position to return to play. I know he's excited about that.”
Alls caught two passes for 14 yards last season, but was expected to be more of a factor this season – especially after his strong spring performance. The Duke coach said that Alls has gotten plenty of work in practice in the last few weeks.
“He's ready. He knows what to do, And he's in the best shape he's been in,” Cutcliffe said. “He's got a great work ethic and he likes the contact … he likes the physical part of it. He may be our fastest guy at receiver – I don't know, they all want to argue that, but he can run.”
The Duke coach said that several receivers who have been banged up – including freshman T.J. Rahming, who was leading the team in receiving before he missed the Army game with an injury, have returned to practice and thanks to the off week, could be ready to go.
Short Takes
-- Duke has won 11 of 12 road games since the start of the 2013 season. Among ACC teams, only Florida State (12-0 in road games over that span) has more road wins or a better road winning percentage than the Blue Devils.
-- Senior placekicker Ross Martin continues to climb the ACC career scoring chart. With 14 points at Army (three field goals & five extra points), he raised his career total to 365 points – the fifth-highest in ACC history. He needs 11 more points to pass former FSU kicker Xavier Beitia for fourth place. Martin is 12-for-12 on field goal tries this season – the most field goals in the nation without a miss.
His 53-yard kick (into the wind) against Boston College is sixth longest field goal in college football this season.
-- Duke's defensive improvement this year is startling, but it's merely the continuation of a trend that started in 2012, when the Blue Devils allowed opponents an average of 469.2 yards and 36.0 points a game. In 2013, Duke allowed 418.0 yards and 26.6 points a game. Last year, the Devils allowed 399.7 yards and 21.8 points a game – to 252.8 yards and 9.3 points so far this season.
Duke has also allowed just 47 plays of 10-plus yards this season – the lowest total in the country. The Blue Devils have allowed opponents just seven trips to the red zone this season – which is also the lowest total in the nation.
“It's exciting to be now in ACC football – thinking about nothing else but playing teams that you are familiar with,” Cutcliffe said Tuesday. “I think the open date was good not only for the physical bodies, but for the emotions.”
In each of the last two seasons, the Duke-Virginia Tech matchup has been pivotal in determining the ACC's Coastal Division championship. Two years ago, Duke won a 13-10 thriller in Blacksburg en route to the division title and a spot in the league title game. A year ago in Durham, the Blue Devils lost a 17-16 heartbreaker to the Hokies and that narrow defeat kept Duke from winning a second straight division crown.
Cutcliffe said that it's too early to describe this game as a “playoff” game, but he didn't try to minimize its importance.
“We're not quite there,” he said when asked about the playoff aspects of the game. “I think November starts getting like that. I think there are a lot of battles to be fought before any battles are settled.”
The Duke coach is aware that a 6-2 conference record has been good enough to win the division in the last two seasons. And before that, three teams tied atop the Coastal standings at 5-3. The Coastal Division has not produced an 8-0 champion since Virginia Tech in 2010.
But while a loss is not necessarily elimination from the division race, every conference game has considerable impact on that race.
“College football has playoff intensity in week three,” Cutcliffe said. “That's one of the great things about our regular season. These are all critical games, but they are not the final game. You lose one and you're not out.”
His players understand the importance of the upcoming conference games – especially the next four games against teams that also believe they are in the Coastal Division title hunt (Virginia Tech, Miami, North Carolina and Pitt).
“We treat every ACC game like it's a playoff,” redshirt junior safety DeVon Edwards said. “We have to go out and capitalize on it. There are a bunch of tiebreakers that come in at the end, but if you just win, there is no reason that you have to tie with anybody and worry about somebody else losing. As long as we go out and take care of business, we can control our own destiny.”
The Virginia Tech game does offer Duke its first opportunity to clinch bowl eligibility for the fourth straight year. Cutcliffe said that threshold is still an important accomplishment.
“[The media] hasn't mentioned it, but I think about it every day,” he said. “I tell young coaches all the time – don't ever forget how to count to six. That's extremely important to me and always will be.”
Cracking the Top 25
Duke cracked the nation's top 25 for the first time this season after beating Army and moved up to No. 21 in the coaches poll and No. 23 in the AP poll after the open date.
It's the third straight season that Duke has been ranked – after a 19-year drought without an appearance in either poll.
“I think you look at your players and tell them, 'It's something you've earned,'” Cutcliffe said. “It's meaningless at this point. The value in it is you've put yourself in this position. If they want to pat themselves on the back for about three seconds, then do that.”
Cutcliffe's players are trying to keep everything in perspective.
“Obviously I look at it,” redshirt senior defensive end Britton Grier said. “It feels good to be in the top 25. Going back to my freshman year, it was a struggle that year – we went 3-9. Since then we've been growing. That's a theme of what we're trying to do.”
Edwards suggested that the rankings reflect the growing status of Cutcliffe's program.
“That is the way Coach Cut has built the program,” he said. “Once he got everybody into his system, you start to notice that we're going up the ladder and see the respect we've gotten.”
The Duke coach said cracking the polls for the past two weeks is a small step.
“You've got to keep battling to stay in it, then you've got to battle even harder to be in it at the end when the dust settles,” he said. “That's when it does matter. It matters that we've been in there once at the end. To do it again is a huge challenge, but it's also a huge opportunity.”
Duke was ranked in all three major polls at the end of the 2013 season – No. 21 in the coaches poll, No. 22 in the AP poll and No. 24 in the BCS poll.
That was the only time since 1962 that Duke was ranked in a major poll at the end of the season.
Testing the Pass Defense
Duke is currently ranked No. 2 nationally in pass defense – both in yardage allowed and in efficiency. Opponents are averaging just 131.2 yards a game through the air and are completing just 43.4 percent of their passes. Duke has allowed an ACC-low three touchdown passes.
Of course, to some degree that's a function of Duke's early opponents – both Georgia Tech and Army are option teams, while both Northwestern and Boston College are heavily run oriented.
“Our schedule has been such that we haven't seen a wide-open Baylor passing attack,” Cutcliffe said. “But we also know that our secondary is as good as we've had.
“At least we're not giving up a bunch of yards rushing. Sometimes people don't throw for much because they are running the ball up and down the field on you. That's not been the case.”
Indeed, Duke is giving up just 121.7 yards a game on the ground – and just 2.9 yards a rush attempt (the second best figure in the ACC) – despite the preponderance of rushing teams the Devils have played.
Overall, Duke ranks fourth nationally in total defense (252.8 yards a game) and – more importantly – second in the nation in scoring defense, allowing just 9.3 points per game.
Senior Dwayne Norman, a first-year starter at linebacker, is not surprised by the success of this defense.
“Not at all,” he said. “We were together all summer and all spring, working out, throwing up, sweating and bleeding. I think everybody on our team was ready for what's happened this season. We put in the work for the money to come, as they say. That's something that we're proud of.”
But this is just the halfway point in the season and the Blue Devils know they have a lot of tough tests ahead. In fact, on paper, Virginia Tech possesses the best passing game Duke will have faced this year.
“I think if you look at their weapons – [wide receiver Isaiah] Ford and [tight end Bucky] Hodges – and not just them alone,” Cutcliffe said. “Both quarterbacks can throw it. They are very much capable of explosive plays. We know how difficult it is to match up.”
The numbers might not reveal the true extent of Virginia Tech's passing prowess. The Hokies started the season with senior Michael Brewer under center, but he was hurt in the opener against Ohio State and didn't return until late in last week's game against Miami. In between, redshirt junior Brenden Motley – formerly a rushing QB – filled in at quarterback.
“They just have a good quarterback system,” Edwards said. “They just have one who can throw more and one who can run more.”
Brewer, who started his career at Texas Tech, has already been named the starter for the Duke game.
“I notice that they throw a lot more with him,” Edwards said. “We've played against both of them. Both of them came in against us last season. [Motley] came in and was more of a wildcat guy last year, but I see they've started using him as more than just a running back.”
A year ago, in the narrow Virginia Tech win in Durham, Brewer did all the passing – throwing for 138 yards, while Motley ran three times for 36 yards. Both Hokie touchdowns came on Brewer passes – for 10 yards to Ford and for 15 yards to Hodges.
Edwards is looking forward to playing against a team that wants to do more than just line up and run the ball.
“It'll be fun,” the veteran safety said. “It's a chance to go out and make more plays. We know what we can do. Yeah, I am kind of happy we get to go against teams that run the spread now. But they run the ball a lot too, so we have to be focused and disciplined.”
An Addition at Wide Receiver
Last spring, redshirt sophomore wide receiver Terrence Alls shared the award as the team's most improved offensive player. But the Miami native has been suspended from game action for the first six weeks this season.
Cutcliffe announced Tuesday that Alls' suspension is over.
“Terrence Alls is back eligible and will be making the trip,” the Duke coach said. “I'm proud that he has done the things we have asked to put himself in position to return to play. I know he's excited about that.”
Alls caught two passes for 14 yards last season, but was expected to be more of a factor this season – especially after his strong spring performance. The Duke coach said that Alls has gotten plenty of work in practice in the last few weeks.
“He's ready. He knows what to do, And he's in the best shape he's been in,” Cutcliffe said. “He's got a great work ethic and he likes the contact … he likes the physical part of it. He may be our fastest guy at receiver – I don't know, they all want to argue that, but he can run.”
The Duke coach said that several receivers who have been banged up – including freshman T.J. Rahming, who was leading the team in receiving before he missed the Army game with an injury, have returned to practice and thanks to the off week, could be ready to go.
Short Takes
-- Duke has won 11 of 12 road games since the start of the 2013 season. Among ACC teams, only Florida State (12-0 in road games over that span) has more road wins or a better road winning percentage than the Blue Devils.
-- Senior placekicker Ross Martin continues to climb the ACC career scoring chart. With 14 points at Army (three field goals & five extra points), he raised his career total to 365 points – the fifth-highest in ACC history. He needs 11 more points to pass former FSU kicker Xavier Beitia for fourth place. Martin is 12-for-12 on field goal tries this season – the most field goals in the nation without a miss.
His 53-yard kick (into the wind) against Boston College is sixth longest field goal in college football this season.
-- Duke's defensive improvement this year is startling, but it's merely the continuation of a trend that started in 2012, when the Blue Devils allowed opponents an average of 469.2 yards and 36.0 points a game. In 2013, Duke allowed 418.0 yards and 26.6 points a game. Last year, the Devils allowed 399.7 yards and 21.8 points a game – to 252.8 yards and 9.3 points so far this season.
Duke has also allowed just 47 plays of 10-plus yards this season – the lowest total in the country. The Blue Devils have allowed opponents just seven trips to the red zone this season – which is also the lowest total in the nation.
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