Cutcliffe Takes Some Blame

[CameronBornAndBred]

Then came an admission from the coach.

"But Sean is accurate, big, he's just .....I did a poor job with him early not really taking some pressure off him and cutting him loose. Curt Roper (offensive coordinator) did a great job of getting him back just by aggressive play call, and we're gonna continue that path. He's a weapon. And we can't win playing conservative."

http://www.wralsportsfan.com/voices/blogpost/10194572/

Nice to see him own up to the conservative calling. Lets hope the next time we get a lead, we keep piling it on like we did against Tulane.

[DevilWearsPrada2.0]

Who do you blame for the Wake game???????????????

[The Football Fan]

Here are somethings that just baffle me....

1. We don't throw the ball down the field until we're down 2 scores
2. We don't throw for 1st downs or touchdowns....ie we throw short passes and expect players to get the 1st down or into the endzone on their own. We threw to the endzone more in the miami game, but again we were down 3 scores by the time that happened.
3. When we had a realistic chance of running the ball and running clock out to close a game (Wake)...we throw...
4. Coach Cutcliffe says Renfree can make all the throws, but I've never seem Duke throw a fade to the corner of the endzone, backshoulder throw.
5. We only have one formation for Anthony Boone...95% of the time it's run straight ahead. What?
6. In the redzone...have you ever seen Duke run a sweep? We ran a bootleg pass play for Renfree awhile back that he scored a rushing TD on....
7. I don't get to watch each game in live action, yet...I think I can predict the play call 50% of the time and 75% of the time in crunch situations. That can't bode well for our team.

I know these are all offense issues, but I pick on these because I think we have the talent to have done better...it seems strictly down to the play calling. Someone familiar with defense could probably do the same there as well...Very frustrating any way about it. Is that blame soley on Cutcliffe or does Roper share in it?

Oh and one more, I'm still waiting on the punt return/kick return for TD....

[captmojo]

I guess it's as well he should.

Interesting that this thread continues over the period from late September till now. This fact doesn't speak well.

[Bob Green]

With yesterday's loss, Coach Cutcliffe is now 1-13 in November. The lone win is last year's 55-48 victory over Virginia. Can Cutcliffe coach Duke to another victory this year? Virginia and Carolina are straight-up winnable games and the coach needs to figure out how to win them. As much fun as it is to laugh at Carolina for losing five straight times to State, we have not beat Carolina since 2003. The little boys in the putrid shade of blue have beat us seven straight games.

Of course, the really stink it up streak is our 16 year (soon to be 17) absence from participating in a post season bowl game. More to follow on this subject but right now I have to log off my computer.

[The Football Fan]

I'm a big fan of Coach Cutcliffe, but I feel like 2-3 of our losses this year are squarely on the coaches. It's like they're good at practice, building the team, developing players, making solid game plans and making halftime adjustments (umm...okay most of the time); but they struggle with the in game play calling...particularly in the redzone. To me that falls on Roper more than anyone else, but in the long haul the head coach gets some fault too.

Oh...and I forgot one from the list above.

8. Penalties

[Bob Green]

Of course, the really stink it up streak is our 16 year (soon to be 17) absence from participating in a post season bowl game. More to follow on this subject but right now I have to log off my computer.

Okay, following up on the bowl eligibility discussion point (my wife kicked me off the computer earlier). We have to win out to be eligible, which is unlikely but not impossible as Washington proved last season by winning their last three games to finish 6-6. What irritates me is Virginia (6-3) is already bowl eligible and Wake Forest (5-4) needs just one more win with very winnable home games against Maryland and Vanderbilt left on the schedule. NC State (5-4) needs to get to seven wins due to having two victories over FCS teams (Liberty and Central Michigan). The Woofies have winnable games at Boston College and home against Maryland. State winning two more games certainly isn't guaranteed but it is a possibility.

The bottom line is either eight or nine ACC schools are going to qualify to participate in the post season and, once again, Duke will not be one of them. We will be spectators along with Boston College and Maryland and most likely NCSU. This is frustrating.