Duke Blue Devils
ACC
Under Head Coach David Cutcliffe, Duke has had newfound success, and it culminated this season as the Blue Devils won the ACC Coastal Division and played Florida State in the ACC Championship game. In the three seasons before Cutcliffe took over in 2007, Duke was a combined 2-33. After starting out the season 2-2 with two conference losses, Duke won eight straight games before falling to the Seminoles in the ACC title game. This will be Duke’s second straight bowl game. Prior to last season, they hadn’t been to a bowl game or had a winning record since 1994.
2013 Record: 10-3, 6-2
Coach: David Cutcliffe
Coach Bowl Record: 4-2
Big Wins: 11/16 Miami (FL) (48-30), 11/30 at North Carolina (27-25)
Bad Losses: 9/14 Georgia Tech (14-38), 9/21 Pittsburgh (55-58)
Strengths:
Duke didn’t excel in just one category, but they were solid in a lot of them. The Blue Devils did what they needed to do to win, depending upon the game. They won high scoring affairs such as the Miami game where they put up 48 points, and won low scoring games like Virginia Tech where they won 13-10. Discipline was one of the best things Duke did this season. They averaged just under five penalties per game for just over 40 yards, both in the top third nationally. The Blue Devils also blocked well, allowing just over a sack per game, and did not allow a blocked kick or punt all season. Blocking well helped their balanced offense get time to run their plays. A pair of juniors, Anthony Boone and Brandon Connette, split time at quarterback and both had good seasons. Both threw for over 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns. They combined to complete 61 percent of their passes, which was third best in the conference. Connette added more of a dual threat to the offense, rushing for 333 yards and a team high 13 touchdowns. He was a part of a balanced rushing attack, where four players rushed for over 300 yards, led by Jela Duncan and Josh Snead with 562 and 547 yards respectively. Junior receiver Jamison Crowder was the big play man on the offense. He led the Blue Devils with 96 catches for 1,197 yards and seven touchdowns. In addition, he returned two punts for touchdowns and was Duke’s leader in all-purpose yards with 1,669. Crowder wasn’t the only dynamic special teams player though, as DeVon Edwards also returned two kicks for scores. A trio of tackling machines led the defense. Juniors David Helton and Kelby Brown, as well as sophomore Jeremy Cash, all had over 100 tackles on the season. Cash added a team high four interceptions. Senior Kenny Anunike was a force at defensive end, recording 13.5 tackles for a loss, and senior corner Ross Cockrell led the team with 12 pass breakups and 15 pass deflections. As a group, the defense did very well in forcing turnovers, picking off 18 passes and recovering eight fumbles.
Weaknesses:
The biggest weakness for the Blue Devils this season was holding on to the ball. Turnovers were a big problem. Although they only lost six fumbles, they threw 17 interceptions, which put them at 108th in the country. Turnovers weren’t the only thing that kept the offense off the field. Duke converted only 37.8 percent of their third downs this season. This led to their poor time of possession stats, where they only had the ball for an average of 28:36 per game, which was 96th in the country. Duke did do better in the red zone and on 4th down, where they converted 84.9 percent and 68.4 percent of the time, but the turnovers and lack of time of possession put a lot of stress on the defense. That, along with the fact that teams averaged 11.33 yards per completion against Duke’s defense, are big reasons why Duke gave up 281 first downs this season, which was 14 out of 15 in the ACC.
Statistical Leaders:
Rushing: Jela Duncan, RB, 562 yards
Passing: Anthony Boone, QB, 1,833 yards
Receiving: Jamison Crowder, WR, 1,197 yards
Tackles: David Helton, LB, 122
Sacks: Kenny Anunike, DE, 6.0
Interceptions: Jeremy Cash, S, 4; Breon Borders, CB, 4
2013 Team Stats:
Rushing Offense: 179.9 (55th in nation, 5th in conference)
Passing Offense: 242.3 (53, 6)
Total Offense: 422.2 (58, 6)
Scoring Offense: 33.7 (40, 5)
Rushing Defense: 170.0 (71, 10)
Pass Defense: 225.2 (56, 9)
Total Defense: 395.2 (57, 9)
Scoring Defense: 23.0 (37, 5)
Turnover Margin: 0.3 (44, 5)
Sacks: 1.83 (75, 12)
Sacks Allowed: 1.17 (17, 3)
Recent Bowl Appearances:
2012 Belk Bowl Cincinnati (34-48)
1994 Hall of Fame Bowl Wisconsin (20-34)
1989 All-American Bowl Texas Tech (21-49)
1960 Cotton Bowl Arkansas (7-6)
1957 Orange Bowl Oklahoma (21-48)
1954 Orange Bowl Nebraska (34-7)
*all team stats through 11/30
