I'm sure most of you already saw this, but the Charlotte Observer is reporting that while Thad Lewis will be under center to start the game tomorrow, the Blue Devils will play Lewis and Sean Renfree during today's game against Kansas. That comes straight from Coach Cutcliffe, though it may just be to avoid either guy getting too beat up by a defense that has nine sacks in its first two games.
An interesting footnote to this game that I did not know: Duke was the only other school to offer a scholarship to small but mighty Kansas QB Todd Ressing.
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Let's get this LiveBlog started!
what's eating Mark Mangino?
Kelly Stouffer is the color guy today - i hope he's better at color than he is at quarterbacking an NFL team. And all the focus is on KU in the opening segment.
KU chooses to receive - a different tactic from Army - who chose to defer after winning the toss. KU gets the ball 1st and 10 at the 27. KU has been prolific offensively, and Stouffer makes the 2nd Riesling-Flutie comparison.
KU chooses to receive - a different tactic from Army - who chose to defer after winning the toss. KU gets the ball 1st and 10 at the 27. KU has been prolific offensively, and Stouffer makes the 2nd Riesling-Flutie comparison.
1st big 3d down for KU - and Riesling goes with the option for 7 and the 1st down; varied looks from the KU offense on the 1st 3 plays - a definite change from last week.
apparently, the KU QB's name is Reesing, not Riesling.
another 3rd down for KU, as Duke make stops on 2 runs. KU will line up for a 3d and 7. Reesing in the shotgun, and KU takes a TO before snapping on this big 3d down.
Reesing finds a soft spot over the middle for a big first down - a big conversion for KU. No pressure by Duke on Reesing made it easy.
3rd straight 3d down for KU on this drive, and Duke gets some help when KU false starts on the 3rd and 2.
3rd and 7, empty backfield, let's see if Duke can create pressure - it does, Reesing flushed, and Meyer fails to make the grab on the sidelines. Airborne makes the 1st stop! Here comes Thad with a 1st and 10 on his own 12, poor field position to start.
PBP guy says - there is no QB controversk. Quick slant to Kelly!! great block springs Kelly - all the way down to the KU 22!! That's how you get out of a hole!
Cutcliffe takes a TO after the long gain. Still a fantastic start by Lewis on an easy strike
Lewis on the QB keeper, big hole through the middle and Lewis trucks on through!!! great block by Boyette... 2 plays, 88 yards, and Duke's in for 6.
Duke 7, KU 0 and the fans at Memorial Stadium are stunned!!
Undude, Thad is still rad. Unfortunately, K Snyderwine had to make the stop on the kick returner, and KU ball at the 40.
Duke almost gets to Reesing, but he escapes and there's a huge hole as Reesing gets 15 on the scramble.
KU comes out with a no huddle look, a sideline strike gets KU down to the 10, and the refs take away 15 when Wilson applies the face mask
still shotgun no huddle, I guess Mangino decided that the run nonsense wasn't getting them anywhere.
3rd and 3 for KU at the 15 - Reesing over the middle for Briscoe, pressure gets there too late, and KU hits paydirt. In a game of adjustments, KU went shotgun no huddle on the 2nd drive, let's see how Cut responds.
ahh - versus hockey promos.. Bettman going away from ESPN is the worst decision he could have made on the TV front.
1st run of the game as Boyette goes left side for about 3.
Boyette with the slip screen gets Duke the 1st down - Duke sets the tone with some variety. Play 6 is a rollout, and Kelly on the sidelines for 9. KU's defense is looking pretty soft... Duke also now going with the hurry-up.
Another WR screen, Trezvant slips a bit and could get only 2 on the 1st down.
Lewis on the play-action, good coverage, so Lewis covers up and powers ahead for 5.
Lewis has time, but can't find anyone open, and chucks it away - interesting decision now on 4th and 3 from the 37. Cut will take a TO to think it over.
Lewis comes back on the field, and they will go for it on 4th and 3! Lewis in shotgun, the ball is tipped at the line and falls incomplete - KU ball at the 37 - I would have made the same decision,
Reesing gets pressure, Egboh almost gets there and causes Reesing to throw up a wobbler.
Reesing pressure again and the pass falls incomplete on the sidelines. We'll have to keep this up... Reesing has ALL DAY to throw, fires down field, and deflected away by Wright!! What a play.
Nice punt by KU, and Airborne takes over again at the 16. Wondering if/when Renfree will get his 1st look.
Boyette straight ahead, for 2, and a delayed handoff for 0. A third down for Duke.
Lewis gets pressured with minimal rush, ball is knocked away from THad, and Duke is forced to punt, and KU ball in Duke territory.
KU moves the chains on a pass to Wilson - run up the middle for about 4, 2nd and 6. The announcers continue to wonder where Sharp (KU RB) is - there's no doubt about that, he's on the sidelines.
Okrum on the dump off, great open field tackle by Wright prevents the 1st down. 4th and 4 for KU at the Duke 25.
decent 1st quarter for Airborne - I think Renfree will come in for the next series - that's just me guessing though.
KU is going for it on 4th and 4! Reesing in shotgun, back, wrapped up in the backfield - Egboh with the big sack!
Lewis under center, play action, Lewis goes deep down the middle for Varner - slight overthrow - but Varner didn't get much separation
Lewis with another QB draw, ahead for 7 yards...and another great block by Boyette.
KU gets pressure on a delayed blitz and gets Lewis - the offense cannot convert off the turnover on downs.
great put by Jones! backs KU back at the 18.
I woke up just in time to see that 56-yard blast. Nice!
Bill Self in the booth - KU RB darts for the sidelines but finds nothing - 2nd and 9.
I'll live with 4 yard passes to Kerry Meier all day...
And KU will be punting!
Reesing to Meyer on a short in, 3rd and 3, Reesing, pressured!! and throw falls short!! KU will punt again... Airborne defense looking sharp again!
Duke gets it, 1st and 10 from their own 30. THings have settled down a bit since the frenetic start..
Renfree in at QB. Looking like Johhny Unitas in white and blue wearing No. 19!
Renfree in for his 1st series, hands off on 1st down, and Duke gets backed off with a holding call - tough start for Renfree
Nice catch and run by Boyette there.
Renfree on a swing pass to Boyette - uh oh, Boyette signals for the trainers right after the play - no indication of the injury, he walks off under his power. Duke will miss him if he misses significant time.
Renfree finds Kelly on the sidelines for the 1st down. Renfree is just extraordinarily accurate, but he's getting pretty simple reads.
Very simple. He's dinking and dunking right now...
Renfree to Williams on a 3 yd out - sets up a 2nd and 7. A screen goes no where, and now a test for young mr. renfree.
Crap, no time for Renfree on 3rd and 9, and down he goes.
Renfree gets sacked again on a 4 man rush - the O-Line play today has been less than inspiring. But Renfree moved the ball a little bit, a poor punt and sets up KU with the ball at midfield - a poor turn of events for Duke.
Yeah, we did not need that return. I have a bad feeling about this next series...
The sideline reporter just said Boyette felt something pop. That's not good.
Dodged a bullet on that dropped pass down the middle...
Reesing going deep and the pass is dropped by Wilson - huge break for Duke.
That last play would have been 6.
Tipped pass by Duke at the line, and another huge turn of events as KU goes from being up 14-7 to punting the ball back to Duke.
Duke gets the ball at the 4 following the punt - we're losing the battle of field position, and this will be tough for Renfree if he stays in and Boyette doesn't.
This rock-style "Rock Chalk Jayhawk" commercial to promote KU is really annoying!
I bet we're seeing That back in since we're backed up so far.
Nope Renfree is still in there and throwing complete on 1st down!
Way short of the first down marker on that third down throw.
Not a bad punt but Kansas will still have excellent field position to start this drive.
Renfree sails a pass wide on 2nd down, brings up a 3d and 4 at the 10, completes a quick pass over the middle but short of the 1st down. Jones punts it back to the KU 37 as the teams continue to trade punts.
Reesing slides away from pressure and hits Briscoe inside the 10. That was a nice throw, unfortunately.
Reesing goes deep on a roll out, finds Briscoe all the way down to the Duke 10 - great coverage, but Reesing put it in a perfect spot.
Reesing had all day to decide what to do on 2nd and goal, and he hits Sharp out of the backfield for 6.
2nd and goal at the 7, Reesing finds Sharp underneath and he gets in for 6, alright, now let's see what you got Airborne!
PAT blocked and it looked for a second like we were going to take it back for 2. Nice hustle by Kerry Meier to chase our guy down.
The PAT is blocked, and Ayakumba is caught by the WR holding for the kicker as he was attempting to take it back for a free 2 pts. KU now leads 13-7.
A nice drive before the half could do wonders for Duke's confidence heading into the 2nd half.
And we welcome the Franchise to the LiveBlog - Lewis back and looking inaccurate on the 2nd down roll out.
That was exactly what we did not want to do giving the ball right back to the KU offense.
3 and out as Lewis misfires again for Kelly and a big defensive stand upcoming for KU as Duke squanders an opportunity for a drive to close out the half.
The announcers are giving our d-backs props for good coverage thus far.
We need to try to put more pressure on Reesing, he doesn't play well under pressure.
Ah, but obviously we're having a hard time covering Briscoe downfield...
Wow - another big play by Briscoe as he hauls in a bomb down the middle and KU is marching again.
Ah, Mangino is enormous! I don't like looking any time they cut to the KU sideline...
3d and 1 at the Duke 5, Duke needs to make a stand here.
Reesing just getting way too much time, and he finds Kerry Meier over the middle for a TD.
Nice diving grab over the middle by Kerry Meier and KU has all the momentum in the world. I don't have a good feeling about this Franchise.
If we don't find a way to get more pressure on Reesing, we're going to see Meier and Briscoe, arguably the best WR tandem in the whole country, a whole lot more before this is over...
Reesing really threaded the needle there, as he had to contend with the LB dropping off as well.
Wow, Mark Mangino really fills out the screen.... Looking extra wide on my HDTV
This is a pretty impotent attempt at a two-minute drill...
No, don't show Mangino! I can't take it...
Looks like Duke will just now stall as the clock winds down under a minute
20-7 after the 1st half - failed to take advantage of the 2 big opening plays.
When asked what KU should do in the 2nd half, Mangino drops in this nugget - we have to get the ball in the end zone.
I'm afraid I missed the only good stuff from our side. But at least we get the ball first in the second half.
I would like to thank Versus for showing this game and giving me a legitimate excuse not to participate in the yard sale outside. The Franchise hates haggling...
haha - Are any baseball cards being sold at the yard sale?
Here we go with the second half - important opening drive for Duke. Cut stresses the oline play - not surprising considering the pressure put on Lewis and Renfree with the 4 man rushes.
Aru (no idea on his full name) is just trucking people since the 2nd half started. Things are looking up for future seasons.
The RB's name is Kuruwine, what happened to Hollingsworth?
Crap, I can't see us coming back from three TDs down...
Uh oh. Thad gets picked, did not see the underneath guy and this game is getting away from Duke - and the throw was in to double-coverage.
Now it's not going to matter if Boyette is in there or not 'cause we're going to have to abandon the running game... except for Thad tucking it and running himself.
We're loving that bubble screen to Varner!
Another QB draw from Lewis for 15 yds - that's consistently been Duke's best play. Followed by a quick screen for 18 yds, and Airborne is finally moving again.
Crap, Thad just overthrew Varner for 6 on 3rd and 11.
Wow and we kicked a field goal!
3d and 10 at the 20, let's see what Thad does here. Wow, the DB slips, and Thad with the slight overthrow, and Varner can't make the grab - that one hurts!
I think there's going to be more ACC-bashing by college football fans after Florida State goes to BYU on Versus tonight...
Never a good sign when your DB leads your team in tackles.
In my mind, the ACC is college football's best conference.
Now the announcers are talking some mess about Duke's D-line. Not a whole lot of pressure on Reesing. Butler on the corner blitz, tackle no. 9 on the afternoon.
Reesing with a wild scramble to the 5; almost tackled 10 yds behind the line. That one hurt - Oporum takes it in for 6 on the next play - and the bell tolls for Duke.
And to top it off, we had a personal foul on the PAT!
Nice run there to take some pressure off Renfree.
Underthrown by Renfree looking deep for Austin Kelly...
I failed to comment on this earlier, but the Versus guys said that Cutcliffe named the two biggest challenges at Duke as:
1) Changing the perception that Duke was going to lose every game.
2) Getting people to come to home games.
Does that clinch this as the biggest rebuilding job in all of college football or what?
Another overthrow downfield as Renfree had plenty of time to look deep for the TE...
Renfree back in at QB - and he gets 2 quick 1st downs - I'm intrigued by how Renfree will handle the rest of the game today (presumably, he will stay in for most of the way).
Nice completion by Renfree rolling to his right and finding Kelly for a 1st down. We've converted just two third downs all game.
On these deep plays, Duke's targets are just not getting any separation whatsoever.
Big 3d dow conversion by Renfree as he finds Kelly on the sideline. Renfree is looking more and more comfortable.
Down by 24 and we throw well short of the marker on third down. Let's go for it here Blue Devils!
Too much pressure in Renfree's face and it's incomplete on 4th down. Dude, I think your HD signal is lagging behind the regular signal...
another 3d down for Duke at the KU 33, Renfree can move his team a bit closer here - Renfree finds a target for about 4 yards. It will be 4th and 5, and presumably, no sense in going for a FG here.
And again, Renfree is swarmed by pressure - the o-line is not up to Big 12 standards,
Hmm... Cal engaged in a life and death battle with Minnesota?
haha -what had happened was that i rewound to watch the KU TD pass earlier, and forgot to go back to live.
Announcers made some valid points that we played well early but the difference in athleticism on both sides of the ball is showing up more and more as the game goes on.
Meier and Briscoe are going to end up with about 30 catches between the two of them if they stay in the whole game...
It doesn't help when KU's backs are making one-handed grabs either!
4th and 2 for KU and the Duke 35 - Reesing was off target with his throw, but his RB makes a phenomenal grab and gets 15.
Duke finally gets some pressure on Reesing and draws a holding penalty. So a 2nd and 21 for KU, Briscoe is WIDE open, but Reesing overthrows him under pressure, 2nd blown opportunity for KU.
Geez, Briscoe was wide open there but we actually pressured Reesing into a bad throw.
Duke will force KU into a FG attempt here as the 3d quarter draws to a close.
Duke now down by 4 TDs - but nevertheless, the DudeSpin Blog will roll on!
Renfree stays in on Duke's 4th possession of the second half; I wonder if Cut will give serious consideration to starting Sean for next week's game against NC Central - presumably a pushover win for Duke.
I think we could start Thad and still get Renfree a lot of time in that one. At least I would hope so!
Oh yeah, the UFL on Versus! Catch the excitement!
Nice pickup there by Renfree over the middle on the free play.
Ouch, they just showed our average yards per rush over the last six seasons. That's almost as ugly as Mangino!
Renfree now faces a 4th and 2 at the KU 38, oops, false start by Duke makes it a 4th and 7. Renfree still on the field, and he finds Danny Parker over the middle in the zone seam.
Fourth down conversion keeps the drive alive for Renfree!
Renfree takes another shot downfield, well thrown to the outside shoulder, and Williams can't haul it in, but Renfree has the team moving.
Good hustle by Renfree to pick that first down up with his legs.
People in Vegas are cheering heartily for Renfree now give Duke was a 22 pt dog heading into the game.
No updated reports on Boyette - I really hope he's okay.
Touchdown Duke! Renfree under all kinds of pressure!
Renfree can't find time - and Cutcliffe eschews the FG and goes for it on 4th down, and Renfree throws it up to Varner in a one-on-one, and Varner brings it in for 6!! Are we seeing the future?
And the gamblers erupt in the MGM Grand sports book as Duke is now covering!
When will Renfree or Die show up to our blog?
Thad Lewis in for the 2 pt conversion, and he can't find a target. Renfree looks a little hurt on the sidelines.
I was trying to get my friends to go to the blog and vote for Renfree or Die. That is an awesome name...
Thad is back as Renfree is perhaps hurt. Hollingsworth is in - and he is looking good.
Nice interlude where the Duke center Morgan shows off his piano chops. Nice going.
ugh... Thad's not looking comfortable out there.
KU gets on the board again as their 3d string QB just slices up the Duke defense
Injuries are piling up for DUke as Duke attempts a last ditch drive to beat the spread.
Lewis is sacked again as the clock winds down under 20 seconds.
Thad pelts the ref with a pass on 3rd down; 4th and 12 as Duke lines up for potentially the final play.
Lewis is picked in the end zone- good night folks!
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