Okay it may only be the ACC Coastal Division title but Duke Football is in position right now to do somethings that it has never done.
Since the ACC expanded to two division groupings the Blue Devils have never been the winner in the Coastal, and haven’t even come
Duke player’s surround wide receiver Jamison Crowder after scoring a touchdown on a 53-yard reception.
close, until this year. With Duke’s 28-21 victory over Wake Forest on Saturday the possibility of winning the division and getting to the ACC Championship game, a goal of the entire team became a very real thing.
Duke’s victory, a recording tying 9th on the season, matched the mark set by the 9-0 Iron Dukes of the 1941 season that went untied, unbeaten and unscored upon until the Rose Bowl. One more victory this season and the Blue Devils will set an all new mark for most wins by any Duke Football team in the history of the school.
It just so happens that for both marks to come to fruition, Duke is going to have to take on its biggest rival in perhaps the biggest game in the school’s modern history.
“Its huge first of all, its UNC that’s our biggest rival of the year. That is why they save that game for the last game of the season,” said Duke defensive lineman Kenny Anunike after the victory over Wake Forest.
The Tar Heels who have recovered from a horrendous 1-5 start have won five straight and are 6-5 and bowl eligible. On Saturday, North Carolina dismantled a terribly out matched Old Dominion squad and scored a school record 80 points. When asked about the Tar Heels’ flexing their offensive muscle, Anunike simply quipped that it wasn’t against Duke.
And Anunike has a point, a unit that has often been the weak link for the Blue Devils over the years has become one of the best parts of this team, especially in the second half. Duke has only allowed four fourth quarter touchdowns all year and in two other games they have allowed field goals meaning in 5 games the Blue Devils defense hasn’t allowed a single point in the final period of a game. That is impressive.
The Blue Devils defense has only averaged giving up 22.8 points good for 36th in the country. And while the offense has struggled at times, they have found a way to score enough points (34.3 points per game) to continue to win games. Duke’s current seven game win streak matches the seven that the team had to start the 1994 season which they finished 8-4.
Many in the media have already expressed that they feel that despite Duke’s 9-2 record and North Carolina’s 6-5 record that the Tar Heels are the better team. Not quite sure how they could say that definitely but the evidence seems to show that at worst these teams are fairly evenly matched. Vegas, however, has North Carolina favored to win by 5.5.
Last year the Tar Heels were the favorite to win in Durham, a game that Duke won 33-31 on a late Jamison Crowder touchdown pass from Sean Renfree. The victory catapulted the Blue Devils into a bowl for the first time since 1994. As big as that game and victory was a victory next week in Chapel Hill would be bigger and perhaps even more meaningful.
