Duke football ready to finish regular season with a win

A lot to play for.

Is winning the state championship in football a thing?

I’m talking college football, North Carolina version.

With all dues respect to East Carolina, Appalachian State, et. al, any Big Four team that sweeps the other three is going to own that unofficial title.

Mack Brown is credited with making this something to shoot for. But I remember it being discussed when I was a student and that was long before Brown was head coach anywhere.

Back to the orginal question.

Here’s what Manny Diaz told me.

“It is in this program, especially with us playing the [other] three Big Four schools every year. You can’t win the ACC without winning your state. It’s an important step for our program.”

Guard Justin Pickett agrees.

“It feels great in our locker room to have a chance to accomplish goals like this. The guys are excited for it.”

There are other things at stake. A win Saturday at Wake and a bowl win would put Duke at 10-3.

Now ten wins is a moveable threshold. Wallace Wade had five one-loss seasons, Jimmy DeHart had one, Eddie Cameron had one.

None of these teams won ten games but no rational person would argue that 2013 Duke or 2024 Duke teams are as good as a Wade-coached team that went 8-1 or 9-1. Apples and oranges.

Then again, if we define the modern era as beginning with the elimination of substitution limits in the middle 1960s, then the comparisons change. Duke won 10 games in 2013 but lost four. This team has a chance to go 10-3. Steve Spurrier’s second Duke team in 1988 went 7-3-1 and somehow missed a bowl invite. Three loses is the lowest in the modern era. The 2024 team could match that, with more wins.

For those of you with a short memory, Duke won exactly 10 games over an eight-year span from 2000 through 2007.

There are some individual marks at stake. Maalik Murphy has already established a school record with 25 touchdown passes in a season. Anthony Dilweg’s 3,824 passing yards in 1988 (11 games) is unreachable but with 2,698 yards, Murphy could hit 3,000 yards Saturday--more on that later.

Likewise Eli Pancol has little chance of matching Clarkston Hines 17 TD catches in 1989. But with nine scoring catches, he has a chance to hit double figures in that stat, which is pretty neat.

Jordan Moore is 77 yards away from passing Core Thomas for 10^th place on Duke’s career receiving yards list. He’s already ninth in career receptions and could move up a couple of spots.

Remember he started as a quarterback

Star Thomas has 805 rushing yards. You can do the math.

I asked Justin Pickett about the possibility of Thomas reaching that 1,000-yard milestone.

“I think it’s a great accomplishment for us [offensive line]. He’s a guy the offensive line really respects, the team really really respects, the locker room really suspects. For him to get that would be tremendous.”

Back to Wake Forest. The Deacons are 4-7, with no chance to go bowling. Noon kickoff on Thanksgiving Saturday likely will lead to a small crowd.

But it is Senior Day and the teams have a rivalry, generated by decades of being the ACC’s only two private schools.

A win over the Deacs would give Duke a 5-3 ACC mark, the fourth winning ACC mark of the century.

The first thing many think of when you think of Wake football is that funky slow mesh offense. Many of Duke’s key defenders-Alex Howard, Ozzie Nicholas and Kendy Charles, among others--have never played against Wake.

Diaz says the key to controlling it is “discipline. You’ve got to stay gap sound. The timing of it makes defensive players impatient and people start to look around and try to see where the ball is and they end up vacating their gap and their back doe a great job of finding that.”

That back is Demond Claiborne, who has 982 rushing yards and is averaging 4.7 yards per carry.

Duke has to stop him on first down.

Still, Wake is averaging 34 pass attempts per game, most by Hank Bachmeirer. He ranks 10^th in the ACC in efficiency.

“You’ve got to put them in long-yard situations, put them in situations where they have to throw,” Diaz says.

Defensive end Ryan Smith says “the key is with them doing a lot of RPO action, a lot of their plays look the same. They really excel on their inside footwork pass blocking. So, it’s really about being physical at the point of attack and being able to shed off blocks. Our defensive scheme matches up perfectly with what they do on offense.”

Does Duke’s offense match up with Wake’s defense?

Pickett says Duke needs to be able to sustain long drives.

“Sustain long drives and score as much as many opportunities as we can and when we get down in the red zone score. That’s one of our focuses.”

Still, expect Duke to throw the ball. Early and often. Wake’s pass defense ranks last in the ACC and they allow 282 passing yards per game. They only have 19 sacks on the season, 15^th in the ACC.

On the other hand, Wake allows 3.4 sacks per game, while Duke sacks at about the same rate.

The Deacs can put points on the board. They beat NC State 34-30. This is a game Duke should win. But it’s no sure thing.