Duke vs NC State college football

Duke vs. NC State

How DARE you make me watch Duke play football!

Oh well, football is football….might as well take a look at this one.

Being in the middle of ACC country, this game will be on I think ESPNU, because it certainly isn’t a top level game. But even in games like this, there is a lot at stake. Without a whole lot of fanfare, let’s take a quick look at this game and see who had the advantage:

Both teams sit next to last in the standings of their division, but that could be misleading since conference games are really just getting started. NC State actually has a winning record at 3-2 after having a very rough 6-7 season last year. This year they start off paying tribute to baseball by losing to South Carolina 7-3 in a low scoring evening.

Cheap home wins over Murray State and Gardner-Webb bumped them to 2-1 and made it look like they are a rocket in scoring, having outscored their opponents 110-21. And to beat Pittsburgh the next week, at home, was a strong indicator of how good this team could be, but winning 38-31 might have shown some weakness….is there any defense?

But the first road game of the Wolfpack proved to be fatal, losing to Wake Forest in a road game that actually was more like an hour drive or so. Outside of Raleigh, the Wolfpack seem to be powerless…so far. And today they stay home as the Blue Devils come to visit.

For Duke, their 2-3 record has been mentioned by a few people to be pretty good, that this team is a quality team….

Ok…wait a minute…Duke…Football…GOOD? Hulk not understand.

This was a team that lost to Richmond at the beginning of the year 24-16...this is a GOOD team? They did manage to rebound by beating Army 35-19, then got drilled by #22 Kansas 44-16 in a game more people would have watched if it was basketball than football.

And then there’s that “Gridiron Classic” that they shoved down our throats, when they played NC Central…come on folks, there was nothing classic in that game! But Duke wins, beating a historic black college football team 49-14.

But they did come close to beating #6 Virginia Tech, 34-26, so maybe there is hope. But I can’t buy into a 4-8 team from last year being “good” this year. You have to prove it with wins, not promises.

Duke had two valid wins last year, at home vs. Navy and on the road vs. Vanderbilt. Now neither of those two were top 15 caliber, but it is far better than beating some Division IAA school.

So who has the advantage? It is incredibly important for NC State to win their home games, because they have Boston College, Florida State and Virginia Tech on the road…could easily be 3 losses, especially since 4 of their 7 losses last year was on the road. Beating Duke would propel them in their standings for a minute.

Duke needs this win like I need a cold glass of Coca-Cola and a bag of hot chips while I watch today’s football games (yeah I know Pepsi is more of a southern drink, but screw that, I like Coca-Cola!)

But all the talk about winning means nothing if you can’t do it. Is Duke as good as they say? My only evidence to it is that they beat Army and NC Central…hardly a recommendation for a good team. But because State isn’t scaring anybody, this could possibly be a decent game. I might watch, depending on the other 4pm games, but I expect the home town to win…even though Durham and Raleigh are like 3 feet from one another.

NC State wins by 12.