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Although we are still seven months away from the beginning of the 2015 season, there is still much excitement around this Duke football program heading into the upcoming Spring Camp. One of the most exciting days of the college football offseason is the schedule release day. The 12 opponents and how they fall in the schedule is a huge factor in the success of the team. We have had two very favorable schedules in 2013 and 2014, which have helped the team to two great seasons. The official date for the ACC full schedule release is not announced, but it has been announced that it will be sometime during the last week of January. We are just a few days away from knowing when all 12 games for the 2015 season will be played.

Even though we do not know all of the dates, we do know whom the 12 opponents for Duke will be this year. We also know the official dates for all four of our non-conference games this season. This is the unofficial template for what we know about the schedule so far.

9/3 (Thursday) at Tulane
9/12 N.C. Central
9/19 Northwestern
9/26 ???
10/3 ???
10/10 at Army
10/17 ???
10/24 ???
10/31 ???
11/7 ???
11/14 ???
11/21 ???
11/28 ???

We start the season with a primetime, Thursday night game on the road against Tulane. Although our Thursday night appearance in 2014 was dreadful, being able to play on the first night of the season and on ESPN is another good step for the program. Tulane will be a good team, but we should be better. If healthy, there is really no excuse for us to lose this game. The home opener against NCCU the following week will be what it usually is, a blowout. One of the games I am very excited for is the home matchup with Northwestern. Under head coach Pat Fitzgerald, NW has had a few really good years in recent history, and they are always a competitive team. But after making five straight bowl appearances, they have failed to make a bowl game the previous two years. It will be interesting to see how they look come September. Our final non-conference game is a trip to New York to play Army, whom we last played (and beat) in 2011.

We do not know the dates for our eight conference games. But we do know who those eight opponents are. They will go as following:

Home:
Georgia Tech
Miami
Pittsburgh
Boston College

Away:
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest
Chapel Hill

Boston College is our crossover opponent this year after having played Syracuse in 2014. A home game with Boston College is a gift from the ACC office. Although BC played well in 2014, they lose their all-star QB Tyler Murphy, and should be less formidable in 2015. We luckily escape the doom of playing FSU, Clemson, or Louisville in that game for another season.

I really like the home/away layout for the 2015 season. Miami and GT are most likely the best two teams on our conference schedule. For us to have both of those games at home is a great advantage.

Another big thing to keep your eye on this year is the elimination of one of the two bye weeks. For three out of the past four seasons we have had two bye weeks in the schedule. But if you look at the template above, there are only 13 weeks in the season before ACC Championship Saturday. Since we play 12 games, this means there will be only one bye week. That is vitally important for the health of the team. In our best-case scenario, our bye will be after either our 5th, 6th, or 7th game. Having a bye week too early or too late can do a lot of harm to your team. Seeing where that bye falls is a big deal for the 2015 season.

I will also be very interested to see if we play another Thursday night game during the season. I would not be surprised if the ACC has us play another primetime ESPN game. Maybe I am wrong, but the success of our program gives us a good chance to play games on national TV. I would rather all of our games be on Saturday, but this is another thing to look for when the schedule comes out.

Overall, our 2015 schedule will be the last schedule for a long time that looks “easy” for this Duke team. In following years, we make trips to Louisville, Baylor, Notre Dame, Florida State, Northwestern, etc. This 2015 schedule will give the Duke team another chance to compete for a division championship and win 9, 10, or 11 games. Our toughest games will be at home, and our conference road games are all local and winnable. I am very excited to see how the schedule looks, and we will be able to talk about it more in the upcoming weeks.

GO DUKE!

Great post! I'm looking forward to the full schedule being revealed. One correction, we last played Army in 2010 and we lost 35-21 in a game Sean Renfree threw three interceptions and we lost two fumbles. But that is ancient history...

By looking at the other team's non-conference games, it is possible to narrow down the last September game:

Sept 26: GT, Miami, Pitt or Bye

That means we will have three home games in a row Sept 12, 19 & 26 (unless it is our bye week). I agree the schedule toughens up starting in 2016 when we have games at Notre Dame and at Louisville.

Bob Green wrote:Great post! I'm looking forward to the full schedule being revealed. One correction, we last played Army in 2010 and we lost 35-21 in a game Sean Renfree threw three interceptions and we lost two fumbles. But that is ancient history...

By looking at the other team's non-conference games, it is possible to narrow down the last September game:

Sept 26: GT, Miami, Pitt or Bye

That means we will have three home games in a row Sept 12, 19 & 26 (unless it is our bye week). I agree the schedule toughens up starting in 2016 when we have games at Notre Dame and at Louisville.

Good research, I was thinking of the game two years prior when Leon Wright had those two INT return TD's late in the game.

I really hope Sept 26 is not our bye week. That would give us 9 straight game weeks to finish the season.

wolfpackdevil wrote:Although we are still seven months away from the beginning of the 2015 season, there is still much excitement around this Duke football program heading into the upcoming Spring Camp. One of the most exciting days of the college football offseason is the schedule release day. The 12 opponents and how they fall in the schedule is a huge factor in the success of the team. We have had two very favorable schedules in 2013 and 2014, which have helped the team to two great seasons. The official date for the ACC full schedule release is not announced, but it has been announced that it will be sometime during the last week of January. We are just a few days away from knowing when all 12 games for the 2015 season will be played.

Even though we do not know all of the dates, we do know whom the 12 opponents for Duke will be this year. We also know the official dates for all four of our non-conference games this season. This is the unofficial template for what we know about the schedule so far.

9/3 (Thursday) at Tulane
9/12 N.C. Central
9/19 Northwestern
9/26 ???
10/3 ???
10/10 at Army
10/17 ???
10/24 ???
10/31 ???
11/7 ???
11/14 ???
11/21 ???
11/28 ???

We start the season with a primetime, Thursday night game on the road against Tulane. Although our Thursday night appearance in 2014 was dreadful, being able to play on the first night of the season and on ESPN is another good step for the program. Tulane will be a good team, but we should be better. If healthy, there is really no excuse for us to lose this game. The home opener against NCCU the following week will be what it usually is, a blowout. One of the games I am very excited for is the home matchup with Northwestern. Under head coach Pat Fitzgerald, NW has had a few really good years in recent history, and they are always a competitive team. But after making five straight bowl appearances, they have failed to make a bowl game the previous two years. It will be interesting to see how they look come September. Our final non-conference game is a trip to New York to play Army, whom we last played (and beat) in 2011.

We do not know the dates for our eight conference games. But we do know who those eight opponents are. They will go as following:

Home:
Georgia Tech
Miami
Pittsburgh
Boston College

Away:
Virginia
Virginia Tech
Wake Forest
Chapel Hill

Boston College is our crossover opponent this year after having played Syracuse in 2014. A home game with Boston College is a gift from the ACC office. Although BC played well in 2014, they lose their all-star QB Tyler Murphy, and should be less formidable in 2015. We luckily escape the doom of playing FSU, Clemson, or Louisville in that game for another season.

I really like the home/away layout for the 2015 season. Miami and GT are most likely the best two teams on our conference schedule. For us to have both of those games at home is a great advantage.

Another big thing to keep your eye on this year is the elimination of one of the two bye weeks. For three out of the past four seasons we have had two bye weeks in the schedule. But if you look at the template above, there are only 13 weeks in the season before ACC Championship Saturday. Since we play 12 games, this means there will be only one bye week. That is vitally important for the health of the team. In our best-case scenario, our bye will be after either our 5th, 6th, or 7th game. Having a bye week too early or too late can do a lot of harm to your team. Seeing where that bye falls is a big deal for the 2015 season.

I will also be very interested to see if we play another Thursday night game during the season. I would not be surprised if the ACC has us play another primetime ESPN game. Maybe I am wrong, but the success of our program gives us a good chance to play games on national TV. I would rather all of our games be on Saturday, but this is another thing to look for when the schedule comes out.

Overall, our 2015 schedule will be the last schedule for a long time that looks “easy” for this Duke team. In following years, we make trips to Louisville, Baylor, Notre Dame, Florida State, Northwestern, etc. This 2015 schedule will give the Duke team another chance to compete for a division championship and win 9, 10, or 11 games. Our toughest games will be at home, and our conference road games are all local and winnable. I am very excited to see how the schedule looks, and we will be able to talk about it more in the upcoming weeks.

GO DUKE!

Very well done. Thanks.

wolfpackdevil wrote:

Bob Green wrote:Great post! I'm looking forward to the full schedule being revealed. One correction, we last played Army in 2010 and we lost 35-21 in a game Sean Renfree threw three interceptions and we lost two fumbles. But that is ancient history...

By looking at the other team's non-conference games, it is possible to narrow down the last September game:

Sept 26: GT, Miami, Pitt or Bye

That means we will have three home games in a row Sept 12, 19 & 26 (unless it is our bye week). I agree the schedule toughens up starting in 2016 when we have games at Notre Dame and at Louisville.

Good research, I was thinking of the game two years prior when Leon Wright had those two INT return TD's late in the game.

I really hope Sept 26 is not our bye week. That would give us 9 straight game weeks to finish the season.

From a tailgating standpoing, I do hope we have a bye on the 26th. Three straight is exhausting.

The schedules for all 14 ACC football teams will be released tomorrow morning at 10:00am.

wolfpackdevil wrote:The schedules for all 14 ACC football teams will be released tomorrow morning at 10:00am.

Sweet. They'll be announcing ticket sales not long after I would assume.

2015 Schedule:

Sept. 3 at Tulane (Thurs.)
Sept. 12 NC CENTRAL
Sept. 19 NORTHWESTERN
Sept. 26 GEORGIA TECH
Oct. 3 BOSTON COLLEGE
Oct. 10 at Army
Oct. 17 OPEN
Oct. 24 at Virginia Tech
Oct. 31 MIAMI
Nov. 7 at North Carolina
Nov. 14 PITT
Nov. 21 at Virginia
Nov. 28 at Wake Forest

The official schedule looks good in my opinion. Sorry Tim and Chris, you will have four straight weeks of tailgaites in the hottest month of fall....

Having the bye week half-way through the season is really nice.

I'll post more thoughts on it later, school awaits!!!

Well, at least Thanksgiving will be relaxing.

I see the potential for us to go 4-4 in November. I like that prospect.
Also...we only have 6 home games this year instead of 7.

CameronBornAndBred wrote:I see the potential for us to go 4-4 in November. I like that prospect.
Also...we only have 6 home games this year instead of 7.

I like having 7 home games, going on the road twice in non-conference play scares me.

But I am in no position to complain about the schedule. If you think Duke has it rough, look at Virginia's non-conference schedule. They play... At UCLA, Notre Dame, and Boise State

wolfpackdevil wrote:

CameronBornAndBred wrote:I see the potential for us to go 4-4 in November. I like that prospect.
Also...we only have 6 home games this year instead of 7.

I like having 7 home games, going on the road twice in non-conference play scares me.

But I am in no position to complain about the schedule. If you think Duke has it rough, look at Virginia's non-conference schedule. They play... At UCLA, Notre Dame, and Boise State

All ready looking at the schedule and plotting a return trip!

windsor wrote:

wolfpackdevil wrote:

CameronBornAndBred wrote:I see the potential for us to go 4-4 in November. I like that prospect.
Also...we only have 6 home games this year instead of 7.

I like having 7 home games, going on the road twice in non-conference play scares me.

But I am in no position to complain about the schedule. If you think Duke has it rough, look at Virginia's non-conference schedule. They play... At UCLA, Notre Dame, and Boise State

All ready looking at the schedule and plotting a return trip!

I'm hoping to be able to make a trip this year. Would love to coordinate with any other out of towners coming.

Sulaimon news killed the football schedule discussion all over the place. Several observations (on the football schedule not Sulaimon):

1. Lots of winnable games in November means we have an opportunity to finish strong.
2. Bye week is almost perfect. Six games before and six games after with an extra week to prepare for the trip to Virginia Tech.
3. Front loaded home games gives us an opportunity to start fast.
4. Georgia Tech, Miami and UNC games are the toughest ones on paper. VT probably next in line followed by Virginia and Pitt.
5. Tulane, NCCU, Army, BC and Wake Forest are must win games because we must win the ones we are suppose to win.
6. Northwestern is a border game as it sits on the border between a game we should win and a toss up game.

There are too many questions needing to be answered in spring practice such as who plays quarterback, who steps up at wide receiver, is the defensive line improved, etc...so it is difficult to offer up a realistic won/loss prediction. However, if we can achieve adequate qb play and some semblance of a competitive defensive line, specifically a pass rush, I see the spectrum as 9-3 to 7-5.

Breaking the games into categories:

Wins: Tulane, NCCU, Boston College, Army, Wake Forest
Toss-ups: Northwestern, Virginia Tech, Pitt, Virginia
Tough games: Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina



A trip to Charlotte and the ACCCG will require excellent qb play along with good DL performance.

Season tickets are now on sale online or by calling the ticket office at 919-681-BLUE.

Coach Cutcliffe addressed the media today. Jim Sumner posted an excellent summary at DBR that I highly encourage folks to read. Johnathon Lloyd is impressing at cornerback, which is significant news. Lloyd has good size and skills so he should compete to earn a starting position. Even if he doesn't start, I expect he will see a lot of action opposite Borders. Offensive guard Jake Sanders is another player to keep an eye on. Cut stated Sirk has a big arm and can throw the ball.

Lots more info in Jim's post...

Article on Johnell Barnes. He's got big shoes to fill. (Jamison Crowder's)

http://espn.go.com/blog/acc/post/_/id/8 ... ke-offense

Shaun Wilson is practicing in the slot and out wide in addition to his running back duties:

“I’m very excited because the whole point of me doing that is to help me get into open space. With that comes a bigger role, and I have to learn a little bit more of the offense because a little more is on my shoulders.”

This is exciting to read. As Coach Cut has said in the past, the plan is to maximize the playmakers on the field. Wilson needs the ball in his hands more in 2015. The prospect of seeing him running the Jet Sweep or Wide Receiver screens fuels my optimism.

Terrence Alls and T.J. Douglas have been suspended from game competition by Head Coach David Cutcliffe. Alls is a wide receiver with good size (6'1" 185) and great speed. He just had a great spring and big things are expected out of him in 2015. He played a lot of special teams in 2014. Both these guys need to do what they need to do to get reinstated! Hopefully this is minor stuff.

Bob Green wrote:Terrence Alls and T.J. Douglas have been suspended from game competition by Head Coach David Cutcliffe. Alls is a wide receiver with good size (6'1" 185) and great speed. He just had a great spring and big things are expected out of him in 2015. He played a lot of special teams in 2014. Both these guys need to do what they need to do to get reinstated! Hopefully this is minor stuff.

Maybe the Chronicle has some anonymous info .