Eight consecutive losses to ACC schools and being dragged on the road in Charlottesville 48-0 might have been enough for Nina King, new Duke athletic’s director, to consider making a hard decision this upcoming offseason regarding the future of the Blue Devils’ football program.
David Cutcliffe, who has completely changed the Duke program, hasn’t been able to get his team to respond lately, and the results have spoken for themselves. Two of their last three games have ended in Duke being blown off the field.
Versus Virginia, the score doesn’t even tell the tale of what transpired in Charlottesville. Duke was never in the ball game. The Blue Devils’ defense, which ranks 106th in the country, couldn’t stop the number one passing leader in the country, Brennan Armstrong, who put on a complete clinic – throwing for 364 yards and two touchdowns. Virginia scored on its first six drives of the game, putting the Blue Devils out of their misery at the half 34-0. Duke gave up 528 total yards to the Cavaliers. The last time a Duke defense allowed 400-plus yards from scrimmage came against NC A&T, a non-power five foe.
The remaining schedule features traveling to 16th ranked Wake Forest (who is the best team in the conference), a home matchup againt 23rd ranked Pittsburgh, a trip down to Blacksburg to take on Virginia Tech, and then returning home to face two high-octane offenses in Louisville and Miami. We know any given day anything can happen, but if we’re being rational here, Duke is a team who’s on the verge of possibly losing out their remaining games – putting them at 3-9 and 13 straight conference losses. After that, will Nina King have a serious discussion with David Cutcliffe about not returning as Duke’s head coach? The seat is hotter than ever in Durham.
David Cutcliffe spoke with the media after the Charlottesville debacle, stating the importance of sticking together during the rough times and not allowing the outside noise to hinder the overall goal of winning ball games.
Records are made to be broken
Mataeo Durant is 363 yards away from breaking the Duke Football single season rushing yards record of 1,236 yards set by Steve Jones back in 1972. With 5 games left on the schedule, Durant looks to become the single season rushing leader.
Next up: Duke at 16 Wake Forest October 30, 2021.