I’ve written before about how Duke Football needs a signature win. Few teams have been as low as the Blue Devils have been, yet suddenly find themselves in a position to shock the college football world with just one victory.
Duke has had had their opportunities to land a marquee victory before, several times in fact but have to date not pulled off such a win. For whatever reason, it just wasn’t the right time, the team just wasn’t good enough, or the opponent was just too good.
Jamison Crowder celebrates a Duke touchdown against Navy.
And with all due respect to their victory over North Carolina last season; a win that came in the final seconds of the final drive in a game that would make them bowl eligible, the Blue Devils really have not had that signature win.
The UNC win was a big win, a huge win but a signature win needs to be more than a rivalry game victory, which often is a coin toss in most years regardless of how good or bad a team is. Even in its worst years, Duke could still give the Tar Heels fits, though they often didn’t come out on top.
The type of signature win needs to come against a ranked opponent in a game most don’t feel Duke is capable of or should win. The Blue Devils game this Saturday at Virginia Tech would constitute such a game. A victory over the No. 14 Hokies, especially in Blacksburg would be a monumental victory for a program that has risen from the dead. It would also be long overdue.
Duke hasn’t won a game against a ranked team since 1994 when they beat Virginia who was ranked No. 12 in the polls. That was also the last year, prior to last season, that the Blue Devils had qualified for a bowl.
Since then, Duke’s demise as a program has been well documented as well as its rebuilding under David Cutcliffe who is in his sixth year as the Blue Devil’s head coach and has won more games in his five and a half years as coach as Duke had won in the previous 13 years combined.
However, a marquee victory has alluded Cutcliffe. And though he doesn’t much dwell on milestones, he admitted that a victory over Virginia Tech would be huge for his program. Duke has been close to beating the Hokies but has come up short ever single time. The Blue Devils jumped out to a 20 to 0 lead last season only to see Virginia Tech real off 41 unanswered points.
Close isn’t good enough for a program that is looking to make its mark and no longer wishes to be seen as the doormat of the ACC. There is no more room for moral victories, the Blue Devils want wins and they want to start getting some against the upper echelon of the conference.
Alas, nothing for Duke Football ever comes easy and you can rest assured that the Blue Devils who are coming into Blacksburg against a rested Virginia Tech squad will be given no sympathy and no mercy from the Hokies. If Duke is going to win and capture that monumental victory, they are going to have to take it from Virginia Tech. And in case you haven’t been following the Hokies defense this year they aren’t much for giving up anything.
There is no such thing as a perfect game but Duke is going to have to play as close to perfect as it gets to have a chance to win. Few outside the program and its fan base have much faith that the Blue Devils could pull of such a feat but it is possible, Frank Beamer knows its possible and you can rest assured he has conveyed that to his team for the last two weeks.
Odds are that Duke will come out of Blacksburg with a 5-3 record, however, if they somehow do manage to pull out a victory on Saturday, it will be perhaps the most important win for any program in college football this year.
