Saturday, October 6th
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Ah, Duke, the ACC's cellar dweller for hundreds of years, who had recently managed a little winning streak against the Wahoos, enters this season coming off a 1-7 mark in the ACC in 2011. Every year, it seems folks talk of Cutcliffe's rebuilding efforts and the continued improvement to expect year after year. Every year recently, we hear: "This may be the year Duke turns the corner and makes a bowl game" and "this year, Duke surprises its conference rivals by finishing with a winning record" and other ridiculous garbage. But every year, these optimistic predictions never come true. Why? Because every year, Duke still sucks. Truly few things were as embarrassing as our losing streak to this awful team, but thankfully we got back on track last year with a 31-21 victory. How does Duke look coming into 2012? Looks like yet another rebuilding year, but they could surprise some people, David Cutcliffe is a great coach, veteran quarterback, blah blah blah.On offense, Duke returns 14-year starters, Sean Renfree and Conner Vernon at QB and WR respectively. The duo should be a familiar one for UVa fans, as they've combined for seemingly every big play the Blue Devils have needed against us for years. They're not the most athletic pair in the ACC, but you can't argue with their production. Every year, the ACC boasts a couple white receivers that, for whatever reason, are always wide open. And every year, one of those is Conner Vernon. However, two guys do not an effective offense make and most teams should be able to keep Duke in check barring many surprise contributors.
For the Duke defense, any hope of success rests on the shoulders of star DE Kenny Anunike. Anunike is a star on the line, though injuries held him back last season and as the Blue Devils begin their second year running a ridiculously stupid 4-2-5 defense, Anunike will look to make an impact creating pressure on the QB and running game. Really though, the Devils' defense was terrible last year, particularly against the run. This may be due to the inferior talent, or the coaching scheme that will have defensive backs trying to get by blocking tackles and tight ends, but regardless I'm not predicting much in the way of improvement. Especially with UVa's power running game style, I think the Hoos will control most of the game. Rocco/Sims should spend plenty of time handing the ball off and the team should leave Durham with a more comfortable win than last year's.
Early Prediction: Hoos 27 Blue Devils 13
This game scares me a little bit because of that Dook passing game. But you're right --- we should be able to pound them to bits with our ground game. That's what we usually do in Durham, anyway. We grind out wins.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think Duke takes a step back this year - they could lose to friggin FIU in week 1. That being said, we need to bring our A game against Duke every time for the rest of time.
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