What do Duke and Texas State have in common?
Bit of a head-scratcher. I’ll give you a hint. It involves football.
Still, a head-scratcher?
I’ll save you some time.
Three games into the college-football season Duke and Texas State lead the NCAA in rushing touchdowns, with 12.
That’s not all. Duke ranks seventh in rushing yards with 728 and sixth in yards per carry at 6.33.
Duke a rushing team? Leaping lizards, what’s going on here?
First, let me disabuse you of any notion that Mike Elko is going all Mike McGee on us. Duke has a balanced attack, running and passing, the success of one benefiting the other.
But running the football at this level hasn’t been in Duke’s DNA, at least not since substitution limits were eliminated in the 1960s. Only Steve Jones, Randy Cuthbert (twice), Robert Baldwin, Chris Douglas and Mataeo Durant have cracked the 1,000-yard-season barrier in Duke blue.
That’s six seasons. By contrast, our light blue cousins eight miles down the road have had 31 1,000-yard rushing seasons.
When you think of Duke’s offense over the years you likely think of pitchers and catchers, Leo Hart and Wes Chesson, Ben Bennett and Chris Castor, Anthony Dilweg and Clarkston Hines, Thad Lewis and Connor Vernon and Jamison Crowder and Daniel Jones. The Lonesome End, Steve Spurrier’s “Air Ball.” You get the drift.
But all those great passing offenses didn’t necessarily lead to great seasons. Dilweg in 1988 was an exception. So was Jones in 2018. But Hart, Bennett, Steve Slayden, Lewis and Sean Renfree all had career losing records despite compiling gaudy passing stats. None ever won more than six games in a season.
Spurrier had success because he blended air ball with runners like Roger Boone and Cuthbert. David Cutcliffe’s best Duke teams ran the ball. Fred Goldsmith’s only good Duke team was keyed by 1994 ACC Player of the Year Robert Baldwin, who rushed for 1,187 yards.
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