captmojo wrote:<snip>
This team isn't far off. It's a fine line.
Well-spoken sir! You are correct in your assessment.
I know a lot of folks are very, very disappointed about today's outcome. I know I'm heartbroken. However, as the saying goes: "The Devil is in the details." (See what I did there w/"Devil? No? Never mind.)
Not to go all "grumpy old man" on y'all but here are the "stages" I've been through as a Duke Football fan:
Carl Franks years:
In these days, you had to go into WW as we didn't have teh teevee technologies yet. Serious roadblock on quality tailgating. However, got to see some good teams just "go off" on us. (I felt bad for the Duke players a lot of time. Ask me about the Louisville game.) Franks' final season ushers in the first teevee (broadcast only) tailgate when I unveiled teh 13" color teevee.
Franks final game also ushered in one hell of a bender for yours truly. Teh teevee technologies, a 42 point half-time deficit, and a cooler full of fine German beer combined to produce perhaps, one of my last really, really horrible hangovers.
Ted Roof (second half of "Franks'" season):
Nobody wanted Ted. If fact, dislike of Ted was so strong that it created a "Give it to Ted. That way when it goes teh shit, we don't have to hire him full-time" faction. Then they got "Roofied" when Ted won 2 of the last three games. This included Ted's victory at UNC (at which yours truly was present, in full Duke regalia and showed UNC friends how to tailgate.) So now Duke had to hire Ted and I had a new mantra- "At least we're competitive!"
And so it continued. We didn't win all that many more games but,
we did become competitive. Recruiting picked up. We "won" some >1 star players. It was actually fun to go in to WW and watch the first half.
Sadly, we just didn't have "four quarter" athletes (and we still don't but, we're getting there), so you know how the second half would play-out. Ahh but, the good times... surprising Clemson and winning on a 54 yd FG (back when Duke kickers couldn't kick it in the ocean while standing in a canoe)... beating his Alma Mater- GT and going on the field with son, who walked up to Coach Roof and asked to shake his hand, and Roof, who was just kinda' standing there with a shit-eating grin on his face, seemed very honored to shake Ethan's hand.
But Roof started what Cut inherited. Ted got the Yoh Center built, got us a couple of recruits and, began to build a "program" but, big problem, Ted didn't know how to "build a program". He's a damn fine coach but, big difference between a "Position coach" or "coordinator" and "Head coach". Alas, Ted was not long for Duke. However, he did give the fans a reason to show up, we didn't win but, we
were competitive for a bit.
So now... Cut's third season... and we've already become so accustomed to a) winning a game and; b) actually defeating other ACC opponents, that we've totally over-looked how far we've progressed. Remember in the examples above we, at our best, we were surrendering half the game to our opponent. Now, you can "chart" our losses, in certain games, to a small number of plays. Think about it... (These are my opinion):
Wake- 3 plays
MD- 2 plays
BC- 2 plays
GT- 3 plays
Seven plays and we're in a BFE bowl. 10 plays and we're dang close to playing in teh CLT for an ACC Championship. Regardless of what happens next Saturday. (My prediction to come...)
We're a good team. A
pretty good team but, the next step is the toughest. And, right now, we're not deep enough, experienced enough, mature enough, to whip that "next" step's ass.
We're getting there. Not as fast as some, including me, would like but, we
are progressing. The coaches have given these kids what they need to be successful. Duke is beginning to understand the benefits of a successful football program and, the fans... umm... well... there's room for improvement.
But, winning on the field comes down to the players making plays. This season, so far, we haven't made ten plays. Ten plays. For perspective- Under Franks, we were
lucky to
make ten plays. Under Roof we would make thirty to forty. Now, finally, Cut has got the team down to a specific number of plays and the number is <5 (per game).
When your number of blown plays is say..>20 it's difficult, while in "film-study", to identify breakdowns. In fact @ >20 effed up plays (See also: VT game), it could be called a "systemic failure". Now we've got it down to a quantifiable number of plays per "winnable" games. That's progress.
I get the feeling that Cut isn't a guy who is gonna' tolerate not doing your job. Our DBs have improved so much (unfortunately, you can't coach size) but w/out a decent pass rush, no secondary can cover more than five seconds.. Guys other than Renfree, Vernon, Varner, Kelly, Hefelt have to start making plays
That's a GD big-time step for our "program". This won't be "our year" but, we can sit back and, once relaxed, realize that "our year(s)" are coming...
