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PAGE 68
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2014
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPPOSING SIDELINE
Kansan football beat writer speaks with Duke Chronicle sports editor Nick Martin to get a closer look at Saturday's opponent
DAN HARMSEN
@udk_dan
Duke Coach David Cutcliffe talks with quarterback Anthony Boone in the second half of an NCAA college football game at Veterans Memorial Stadium last Saturday in Troy, Ala.
DAN: Duke is coming off a win against Troy in which they started out slow, trailing 14-3. Talk a bit about what you've seen from the 2014 team.
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NICK: I would say playing against Elon and Troy, Troy is stiffer competition, but the biggest thing I'd say so far: Duke hasn't had a turnover this season. That's going to be huge for them to continue that — it won't hold up, but if they can keep their turnovers to a minimum they'll be great.
Anthony Boone is looking a lot more comfortable in the pocket, and not to mention he's got Issac Blakeney, who is 6-foot-6 and around 230 pounds. He ran on the 4x100-meter Duke track team this spring. He's really taking things seriously this year and has been saying that the NFL is a goal for him, studying NFL receivers. He's got three touchdowns through two games. Competition is going to get stiffer. They've got Kansas, Tulane and a trip to Miami.
Through these first two games, Duke has looked exactly how it has wanted to look. They wanted a blowout in front of a packed house — that's what it did.
DAN: Wide receiver Jamison Crowder gets much of the attention at the position, and deservedly so, but could a case be made that Issac Blakeney is every bit as good, or is he benefiting from Crowder being matched up against the defenses' best?
NICK: Crowder was spectacular last season. A lot of people question whether he could replace Connor Vernon and he did that and more as a receiver and as a punt returner. I think you are looking at two guys, Jamison is smaller but faster. One of the biggest things that separated the two was work ethic set them apart prior to this season. If you talk to the offensive coordinator Scottie Montgomery, Jamison is one of the hardest-working receivers he has ever worked with and one of the most talented. You can tell from the intensity he brings on the field and off the field. Isaac is a much more mature player this year. Senior year, the light-bulb went off. Football is something he wants to do past this year — he has potential to be a dominant player. The Coastal division is
not a strong division when it comes to receiver talent; compare him to Kelvin Benjamin from FSU — same body-type and same speed. It's premature to say he is as good as Jamison, but it's not a stretch to say that he could be one of the top receivers in the conference.
DAN: Right or wrong, quarterback Anthony Boone is known as a facilitator of the Duke of defense who doesn't turn the ball over. Does his mobility and the rushing attack as a whole get overlooked? Both Josh Snead and Shaquille Powell average more than 4.5 yards per carry. Is this a strength of the team?
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NICK: Losing Jela Duncan, who is now a Denver Bronco, was tough for the rushing attack, and Brandon Connette as well, if it was third-4 or less, you could nearly guarantee that he was going to bully his way past everyone because he was a massive guy. Boone is not as big, but if you watched the Troy game this past week, he scrambled for a 30-yard touchdown, so the mobility is there, in this system he should be able to get 5 yards because they spread the field so well.
Powell and Snead, they are both talented guys, and at times they may get overlooked, but it's a strength that they have and it's something they are going to continue to play to, especially with a veteran offensive line. We'll see how that plays out when the Blue Devils go up against bigger, more athletic defensive lines. Even last year, it was pretty even-keel, about 50-50 in play-calling for run to pass.
DAN: Duke is allowing 148 yards per game on the ground, and 214 yards per game through the air. Is Duke a better team defending the pass or the rush?
NICK: I'm a little more confident in protecting the pass, just because the secondary has an insane amount of potential and depth. They are all sophomores, minus a few. All of them played last season in big games. Not to take anything away from the front-six, but some of the younger back-
ars are feeling out new positions. They are working their way into new positions, and new reads, and the front-four are fine. They're going to be strong. If I had to choose one or the other, I'd take the pass defense.
DAN: How have the season-ending injuries to middle linebacker Kelby Brown and Braxton Deaver affected the outlook of the season? Who has filled in in their absence, and how well, so far?
NICK: Obviously losing Kelby Brown and Braxton Deaver in the pre-season is a huge blow for any team, but more so Duke, because the defensive unit so much relied on Brown in the middle to make the calls, and David Helton never really played the inside linebacker position before, so he is kind of stepping in and feeling it out.
DAN: David Cutcliffe is in his seventh year as the coach at Duke. While he has brought the program back to respectability, his first four seasons, he went just 15-33 and won just six conference games. Charlie Weis has only won four games in two years and has a big rebuild ahead of him. What are the feelings around Durham on Cutcliffe now, and how were they a few years ago?
NICK: I'd say in the past three years, Cutcliffe has [gone] from being the coach attached to the Manning brothers, now he is one of the more popular coaches. He won the coach of the year last year, really turned the program around from being one of the worst in the power five conferences several years ago. He's loved on the field and in the community. When they had the 'Meet the Blue Devils' days, when they lined up for autographs in the shopping mall, Cutcliffe's line was 90 yards long. A couple years ago, it wasn't close to that. People are excited about him and he is definitely in the conversation when people talk about the top coaches.
DAN: Charlie Weis said playing second-fiddle to the basketball team is not necessarily a bad thing, and can help motivate the football team on the field and in recruiting. Can the same thing be said for Duke? With the recent success, how receptive has the Duke fan-base been to the football program. What kind of attendance can we expect Saturday?
NICK: Cutcliffe talked about it on Tuesday. A couple years ago before the back-to-back bowl games, it was a way to get your foot in the door on the recruiting trail in California because when you knocked, people knew "Duke" for basketball. I think basketball gives them name-recognition. Now, it's not needed as much. Last year they played two Heisman trophy winners and a bowl game on New Year's Eve. Football interest has grown exponentially.
We've only had one game to take a look at it, but for the Elon game, there were 31,000
people. I didn't cover the game, but I walked to the stadium, close to my dorm, and usually you can go to the stadium late and grab a seat up close right before the game, but that was not the case. It hasn't been like that since the Carolina game or Miami game; I had to stand in the very back row of the student section. People are coming out, and I would expect a pretty similar atmosphere. It should be pretty packed.
DAN: Prediction?
NICK: I think the tough question is that Kansas has only played one game. Kansas is going to get its points, but Duke is going to win. If I had to put a score on it, I'd go, maybe, 35-17 would be my guess. I think it would be similar to the Troy game.
- Edited by Lyndsey Havens
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