UNC Football early opponent preview: Duke Blue Devils
Keeping It Heel takes a look at each of the North Carolina Tar Heels football opponents in reverse order. This week we take a look at Duke.
NC State | Western Carolina | Pittsburgh | Miami | Virginia Tech | Virginia
It was a Thursday night game.
North Carolina was tied a top the Coastal with Virginia Tech and Duke hadn’t won a conference game all season. It appeared to be a third-straight victory bell win for UNC.
Instead, it ended up being a one point loss for the Tar Heels that saw them fall into a tail spin. It was the also the last game Duke won that season.
Can the Tar Heels regain control of the Victory Bell in Chapel Hill?
Head Coach: David Cutcliffe. Career Record 96-90 (52-61 at Duke). This will be his tenth season at Duke which is his second head coaching stop.
Cutcliffe has the honor of coaching both Manning Brothers. He coached Peyton at Tennessee as the assistant head coach/offensive coordinator/QB coach. He later coached Eli at Ole Miss as the head coach.
Last season was his worse season at Duke since 2011, the last time Duke failed to make a bowl game.
In other words, Cutcliffe has done an amazing job with the Blue Devils.
Best Former Player: QB Sonny Jurgenson, five-time Pro Bowler, three-time All-Pro, and NFL Champion (this was before the Super Bowl Era).
The quarterback had 2,433 completions for 32,244 yards and 255 touchdowns (18th all-time) during his NFL career. Jurgenson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983.
Second Best Former Player: LB Bob Matheson, two-time Super Bowl champion, played for the 1972 undefeated Miami Dolphins. In his career he had 12 interceptions and 10 fumble recoveries.
He also had the “53” defense named after him due to his versatility and because he wore the number 53.
Last Season: Went 4-8 (1-7 in ACC play). Finished tied for sixth in the Coastal Division. Duke’s season started off badly with the injury to presumed starter Thomas Sirk which led to freshman Daniel Jones getting the job.
The Blue Devils highlights last season included beating Notre Dame, which became less impressive as the season went on, and regaining the Victory Bell from the rival Tar Heels.
The rest of the season was filled with blow out losses. Duke lost six games last season by 10 points or more, including the last two by a combined 61.
This Season: Duke is one of only two teams returning a starting quarterback in the Coastal Division this season. This should help the Blue Devils be more competitive and attempt to return to prominence in the Coastal Division and start a new bowl streak.
However, Duke plays 11 teams who had winning records last season as well as 10 teams that made bowl games.
Last season, I picked Duke to have a down season at 5-7. I was pretty close. With the return of Jones, it would make sense for Duke to improve and they might, it just might not be in the record. Due to the toughness of their schedule, I see another tough season for the Blue Devils at 2-10.
Best Current Player: QB Daniel Jones. As a true freshman last season, Jones was thrown into a situation Duke wasn’t prepared for. Jones rose to the challenge though throwing for 2836 yards and 16 touchdowns. He also rushed the ball 141 times for 486 yards and another seven scores.
Jones finished as the second leading rusher on the team and gave the Blue Devils a passing attack they hadn’t seen in a while. Jones had one of his best games last season against the Tar Heels finishing with 334 total yards and three touchdowns.
Match-up: Saturday, September 23rd in Chapel Hill
Prediction: It has been mentioned before, but worth repeating, Fedora has not fared well against the Blue Devils, going just 2-3 in his five seasons with the club. However, it is worth noting he is 2-1 in his last three meetings.
Additionally, the game is being played the earliest it has ever been played. The previous record was back in 2012 when the game was played late in October, a Tar Heels loss.
It will be interesting to see how much this has an effect on the rivalry aspect of the contest.
Final score: UNC 48, Duke 21.
UNC should be running strong by this game. The sting of last year should still sit with many of the players especially on the defense.
There are several seniors who will want to go 3-1 against the Blue Devils. Combine that with the game being at the Hill and UNC should come out victorious in a big win, which is the only kind Fedora knows against Duke.