By Will Vandervort
CLEMSON — In the six games Duke has won to this point in the season, the Blue Devils have played well in all three phases of the game – offense, defense and special teams. In losses to No. 15 Stanford, Virginia Tech and No. 7 Florida State, they have not.
The worse performance came in last week’s 48-7 defeat at the hands of the Seminoles. Florida State dominated every part of the game. The Blue Devils yielded 560 total yards, while being slowed to 232 themselves. Florida State’s Tyler Hunter also returned a punt 75 yards.
“The biggest thing is we’re a team that has to represent ourselves in all three phases of the game, which is what we’ve done,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. “We’ve worked hard at developing a program like that where our offense, defense, and the kicking game complement each other.
“When we played pretty darn good in all three of them, we’re a good football team. We went to Tallahassee and played poorly in all three phases… we need all three phases to hold our heads up and play well.”
The Blue Devils (6-3, 3-2 ACC) will have to play well in all three phases this week as well if they hope to knock off No. 9 Clemson this Saturday night in Durham, N.C. The Tigers have improved in each of the last three games on defense, and of course quarterback Tajh Boyd, running back Andre Ellington and wide receivers Sammy Watkins and DeAndre Hopkins have the offense rolling.
The Tigers (7-1, 4-1) have won four straight games and have won all four by at least 14 points – the first time that has happened since 1978. Clemson ranks 10th in the nation in scoring offense (41.0), 12th in passing offense (317.6), and 14th (498.0) in total offense.
“We don’t have to play great, but pretty well,” Cutcliffe said. “I think that is the biggest difference. If we don’t play well in all three aspects, we’ll have a difficult time with great teams like Florida State or Clemson.”
Thursday night special. Is there any team in college football that loves playing more on Thursday nights than Virginia Tech? Miami perhaps?
Virginia Tech and Miami are the two most successful ACC teams on Thursday nights, and wouldn’t you know it they will face each other tonight at 7:30 on ESPN. The Hokies are 19-5 all-time on ESPN’s Thursday night package, while Miami has a 15-3 mark.
The Hokies (4-4, 2-2) will host Florida State next Thursday as well.
Big games. There is no doubt the Clemson at Duke game will have an impact on the ACC race, but the Hokies visit to Miami will have a major impact on who could represent the Coastal Division in next month’s ACC Championship Game in Charlotte, N.C.
The winner of the Virginia Tech-Miami game will control their own destiny in the divisional race. If Virginia Tech wins, the Hokies will have beaten both Duke and the Hurricanes and will just need to win out to advance to the ACC Title game for a third straight season.
A Miami win will allow the Hurricanes to have control of the division and it will need a win over Duke on Nov. 24 to clinch the division title.
Bowl eligible. NC State (5-3, 2-2) host Virginia this Saturday at 12:30 p.m. The Wolfpack will be looking to become the fourth team in the ACC to become bowl eligible this season. So far Florida State, Clemson and Duke are the only bowl eligible teams for the conference. Like Duke, North Carolina has also won six games, but the Tar Heels are ineligible for postseason play this season due to NCAA sancations.