TCY - Let's Go Duke! Let's Go Duke! (Year 11)
 

Welcome to year 11 of my Duke Blue Devils TCY Dynasty. Feedback is always welcome.

Check out Year 10 as we made our 4th straight trip to the playoffs.

Primary Offense: Pro Form
Primary Defense: 3-4
Current Prestige: 85
Career Record: 67-52

Gameplan change: This year with a new d-coor we switch from a 4-3 to a 3-4. Check out the starting lineups post to see why.

2003 (2-10)
2004 (2-9)
2005 (3-8)
2006 (6-5)
2007 (5-6)
2008 (5-6)
2009 (9-3)
2010 (12-2)
2011 (12-1)
2012 (11-2)

Email Time
Walk-on tackle Marc Collins has left the team because of a lack of playing time.

DE Chuck Lewis has left your team because of a serious injury. (An ACL tear will do that to a guy.)

Defensive Coordinator Harris Cooley has retired from his position. (He was good...real good.)

Hirings
Defensive Coordinator - Harvey Cannon (64) He was our only option quite frankly. He's great at Injury Avoidance but can't call a game to save his life.

Southwest Scout - Alex Bowen (36) Young and the best out there.

Scheduling
Well damn...we went after all the big boys this year. Florida...Texas...Tennessee...Michigan. On the road...at home...home and home. No one would bite. So we had to settle for a home and home with Indiana and a home game vs Marshall. They're just scared of us...yeah...that's it. At least we increased out ticket sales by 2,800.

Recruiting Summary
Rankings-wise this was our best recruiting class as we're ranked at #4 according to Rivals.com. I think I'll have to agree. We got a great shutdown corner in Williamson and Rice lived up to the hype of being the 4th best player in the country. Buchanan will need to develop a bit but has a chance to be a great QB for us. And we got two great DT's in Andersen and Shepherd.

Team History

Here's a 10 year look at the Top 25 teams of the first 10 years. We're sitting at #42.

Starting Lineups

Offense
Johansen - Surprised everyone by not only throwing 28 TD's passes but leading this team to the playoffs.
DiPietro - Had 2369 yards rushing/receiving and 26 TD's as a RS Freshman. ACC Player of the Year.
Zatechka - Played well as a true Freshman. Caught 28 passes for 3 TD's.
Rice - A no-brainer to start at TE as a freshman.
Taylor - 3rd on the team in receptions last year with 47 catches to go with 5 TD's.
Landeta - Was 3rd WR last year and had 26 catches for 5 TD's.
Bullock - Has 64 key run blocks in his career.
Hartman - Was 2nd team all-ACC freshman and sophmore year. Has 84 career key run blocks.
Zahursky - Only first year starter on the line.
Devine - Has been 1st team all-ACC the last two years. Holds career mark for KRB's with 104.
McIntyre - Earned 2nd team all-ACC honors as a RS freshman.

Defense
Anderson - Had 8 sacks as a first year starter last season. Hold his own at only 233lbs.
Van Pelt - First year starter. Had 2.5 sakcs last year
Walker - RS freshman that will be asked to carry the load inside.
Sedor - Was 2nd on team in tackles with 78...1st in TFL's with 26 and 1st in sacks with 10.
Johnstone - Switched from a 4-3 to a 3-4 this year largely in part to this guy.
Glover - RS freshaman...good strong side LB.
Richmond - First year starter...decent run-stopper.
Bernier - Has 8 Ints in his first two years. 1st team all-ACC last year.
Ellison - First year starter...great man to man defender and return man.
Battle - Was the first Blue Devil to be named all-ACC Defensive POY. Led the team in tackles with 81.
Nixon - Possibly has the best hands on the team.

Special Teams
Shepard - Averaged 39.9 yards per punt as a freshman.
Ulmer - Made 14 of 17 FG's as a freshman and 1st team all-ACC honors.

ACC Predictions
Hopefully next year they finally give us top billing in the pre-season. FSU had first off year last season. Was that the beginning of the end?

Pre-season Top 25
No argument with UT being #1. Course I'm a bit biased.

Week 1

Bye week

Key Injuries - None

Next up - Duke at Indiana

ERGH. This dynasty made me want to fire up TCY again, but I lost my receipt thingy during my last two moves :(

Go Duke anyway!

Wow...yeah that flat out sucks. You might as well give CraigSca a little credit as well...because it was his dynasty that made me get mine going.

Week 2

#29 Duke (0-0) (-3) at Indiana (0-0) No TV

Last season: First Meeting
Career Record against opponent: 0-0

Key Injuries - None


Preview - This year's version of the Blue Devils is a very young yet very talented team. We only have 5 seniors in the starting lineup and we return 7 all conference players...including the ACC offensive and defensive player of the year. Last season's success all relied on the legs of Rodney DiPietro as he broke school records in many categories...and he was just a RS Freshman. Defensively we made a change from the 4-3 to the 3-4 this year just due to numbers. We had more quality ILB's than DT's this year so we thought the change would make sense. Our opponent today is from the Big 10...the Indiana Hoosiers. Not sure what they're gonna bring to the table other than the Wishbone Offense...so we'll see how they fare.

Rodney DiPietro picked up exactly where he left off last year by rushing for 160 yards and 4 TD's in the season opener. Overall the entire team played as well as last year's version did. We were able to score early and then our defense hunkered down and pitched a shutout. The 6 points the Hoosiers scored were on a 97 yard Int return by Lorenzo Bush. Wally Johansen didn't have his best game as he threw 2 Ints...but overall he play was steady.

Next up - Marshall at Duke

Week 3

#39 Marshall (1-0) at #7 Duke (1-0) (-8) TV3

Last season: First Meeting
Career Record against opponent: 0-0

Key Injuries
WR Oscar Taylor - Sprained Knee - Doubtful 5 weeks

Preview - Haven't heard a lot from Marshall in the first 10 years of my dynasty. They've basically played .500 football and have made one trip to the playoffs where they lost to Stanford 49-17 in 2004. They run out of the Trips Formation as their main offense. QB Dennis Byrne leads the offense as a 2nd year starter. Last year he threw for 2551 yards...14 TD's and 17 Ints. So far Marshall is 1-0 on the young season with a week 2 win over Sitka 31-3. We picked up where we left off last year. Rodney DiPietro started the year off right with 160 rushing yards and 4 TD's. Wally Johansen was a little shaky with 2 Ints...but our defense did their job and those turnovers didn't affect us at all. We picked up our first injury last week as starting WR Oscar Taylor tweaked his knee a bit. He'll watch this game from the sideline as Lonnie McKnight will get the start opposite Ricky Landeta.

This game was definitely closer than the final score indicates. Marshall was actually in this game going into the 4th quarter down by only 10 points. Apparently the lack of rain in NC bothered us a bit as we didn't score our first offensive TD until Johansen hit Taylor for a 6 yd TD pass under a minute into the 4th. Taylor wasn't going to play but apparently convinced the coaches that he could still contribute and even though he didn't start he still ended up with 3 catches for 35 yards and the TD. DiPietro was his old self...171 yards on 28 carries but no TD's. Very workman-like. Johansen was a bit shaky before waking up in the final quarter...as he added 2 more Ints to his collection. I'm most proud of our defense...holding a 2nd straight offense without a TD. And we recoreded 5 sacks and returned 2 Ints for TD's.

Next up - Duke at Northwestern

Week 4

#8 Duke (2-0) (-2) at #46 Northwestern (1-0) TV4

Last season: Duke 37 Northwestern 6
Career Record against opponent: 8-2

Key Injuries
WR Oscar Taylor - Sprained Knee - Doubtful 4 weeks

Preview - This series used to be somewhat competitive with us and the Cats trading wins in the first couple years...but we've definitely owned Northwestern in the last 6 years. But despite our dominance we only come into this early season contest a 2 pt favorite. Interesting indeed. Well we just happened to schedule two teams who's first game of the year was against the lowly Sitka University. Northwestern also claimed a victory over them in their first game of the year 26-6. The Cats still run their I-Form based offense and this year their starting RB is Bernie Wisniewski. Bern's a first year starter and in his first game out he was a workhorse. They fed him the ball 36 times for 153 yards and 2 TD's. We've gotten off to a pretty good start this year with two relatively easy wins. I really wanted to schedule a powerhouse this season but no one would bite...so unfortunately we won't be tested until we play Virginia next week. Looks like Taylor will play again this week and this time he'll be back in the starting lineup.

(On a side note...FSU continues their downslide as they have lost their first two games this season to LSU and Army?? They always seem to fade in all the dynasties that I have played. I just don't get it. I mean they're still located in the state of Florida. Oh well.)

Well the first question early in this game was what happened to Rodney DiPietro? After he carried the ball for 11 times his name suddenly disappeared from the play by play. Apparently he had suffered one of those "unannounced" injuries as Antoine Herndon finished out the game. Luckily for us...when checking the post-game injury report...he's suffered a hyperextended knee...but he's only going to be out for 3 weeks. (Ok...breathing can commence once again.) :D Anyway...we didn't miss him too much in this game as we just had too much for Northwestern. Once DiPietro went down...Johansen put the load on his shoulders. Having a sub-par season so far...he had his best game of the year completing 17 of 20 passes for 234 yards and 3 TD's with no Ints. What was even better was back-up QB Kenny Curtis going 14-15 for another 191 yards and 1 TD. On the defensive side of the ball Jake Nixon is making the most of his first year of a starter. He picked off 3 passes in this game and leads the team with 4 on the season.

Next up - Virginia at Duke

Week 5

Virginia (0-1) at #10 Duke (3-0) (-28) TV5

Last season: Duke 34 Virginia 31
Career Record against opponent: 4-6

Key Injuries
RB Rodney DiPietro - Hyperextended Knee - Out 3 weeks
WR Oscar Taylor - Sprained Knee - Questionable 3 weeks
T Steven Devine - Bad Cold - Probable 2 weeks

Preview - Virginia was the only team in the ACC last year that gave us a run for our money. At that point in the season we were still trying to figure out of we could even run the ball before we went on run of our greatest runs in any season. But in that game Virginia scored 21 straight points to close out the 3rd quarter with a 31-17 lead. Then we came storming back in the 4th with 17 unanswered points to win 34-31. That game basically woke us up. DiPietro found out that he was actually a great back. And we just stormed through the rest of the regular season. This season Virginia has gotten off to a peculiar start as they didn't play their first game until last week and they got beat by Mississippi State...23-18 and that was their first win of the year. So were not sure what to expect from the Cavs. I definitely don't think that we're 28 point favorites...especially with DiPietro watching this one from the sidelines. But I do have enough confidence in our defense to win this one.

I guess I didn't know our offense...without DiPietro...was that bad. The offense basically decided that they were going to do everything in their power...NOT to win this game. The defense repeatedly turned back the Cavs offense and at one point even picked off a pass that put us on the Virginia 38 yard line and we still couldn't score. So after that...Jake Nixon decided that he was just going to have to take matters in his own hands and take an interception back 32 yards for a TD to actually take the lead 7-6. That still couldn't light a spark under the offenses ass as they continued to cough up the ball and basically not go anywhere. And here I thought the rain was our friend. Is DiPietro healthy yet?

Next up - Maryland at Duke

Recruiting Commitments

Week 6

Maryland (2-2) at #23 Duke (3-1) (-20) No TV

Last season: Duke 56 Maryland 14
Career Record against opponent: 6-4

Key Injuries
RB Rodney DiPietro - Hyperextended Knee - Questionable 2 weeks
WR Oscar Taylor - Sprained Knee - Probable 2 weeks
T Steven Devine - Bad Cold - Probable 1 weeks

Preview - Last year we tore the Terps up to the tune of 56-14. This year however...they're looking a little bit better than their team that went 4-7. Maryland still runs the Power-I formation and so far their two RB's are doing a decent job. Albert Horn is averaging 4.2 ypc and Gino Beam...5.9 ypc...and both have scored 2 TD's so far. With those two guys in the backfield...Maryland as a team is 10th in the country in rushing yards. We're graciously welcoming DiPietro back in the starting lineup this week. We were absolutely awful last week with him on the sideline. I'd have to go back into the records...but I think the last time our offense was shutout like that was back in the playoffs against OU. This week we're back home and hopefully we'll get back on the right track with a win.

Is it possible for us to trade in 6 of our points from this win to our game last week? I have no idea why we came out like gangbusters this week. Granted we didn't have our starting RB in last week's game and we were playing against a better defense...but c'mon. No offensive points to 41? Well it was good to be back in the win column this week. DiPietro had a decent game after the week off. Not a lot of yards but the coaches took him out of the game after the 3rd quarter. No one can figure out Johansen yet this year. Terrible last week...334 yards and 4 TD's this week. Ok. In other news...Maryland committed 16 penalties for 130 yards...ouch...and our defense gave up their first TD's of the year.

Next up - Duke at Florida State

Recruiting Commitments
Getting a commitment from Harmon was great. This was our first overall #1 player that we were able to land.

Week 7

#21 Duke (4-1) (-6) at #33 Florida State (2-2) TV5

Last season: Duke 41 Florida St 7
Career Record against opponent: 5-5

Key Injuries
LB Howie Glover - Torn Triceps Muscle - Out season
WR Oscar Taylor - Stretched Knee Ligament - Questionable 4 weeks
RB Rodney DiPietro - Hyperextended Knee - Probable 1 weeks

Preview - After a slow start the Noles are comin around. Now granted their last two games have been against UNC and Wake...they are wins none the less. FSU came out of the gate slowly this year with losses at home to LSU and Army of all schools but they may have righted the ship. Last year when we played this team we took them apart by 34 points but they were w/o their QB Brian Stolowitz who was injured. Stoly...as we like to call him...has blossomed into a pretty good QB and actually made 2nd team all-ACC QB 2 years ago. This season he's thrown 12 TD passes and only 3 Ints. WR Carlton Schreiner is also back after missing last year's game. Schreiner's one of the top WR's in the conference. We're off to a pretty good start so far this year but the Virginia game casts a little doubt in the back of our minds. I mean our offensive output goes...31...41...48...7 and then back to 41. We would like to be back in the 40's this week. Last week we lost one of our starting OLB's Howie Glover. Our OLB's aren't our strength this year...so losing him hampers us a bit more.

I don't think that this is our year. Again our defense basically handed this game on a silver platter in the 2nd quarter and our all of a sudden inept QB could not do anything with the opportunities. Just like the Virginia game...our defense intercepted 2 passes that put us in FSU territory and both times we went without scoring any points. And 6 for 31 with 4 Ints? Unacceptable. And if our passing is so bad...then why didn't we give the ball more to DiPietro? At least he was doing something with it. Ugghhh.

Next up - Duke at Wake Forest

Recruiting Commitments
There's something about landing a guy who caught 77 passes for 2014 yards and 14 TD's that makes a coach feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Mid-Season Report

Week 8

#25 Duke (4-2) (-6) at Wake Forest (2-4) No TV

Last season: Duke 55 Wake 10
Career Record against opponent: 6-4

Key Injuries
LB Howie Glover - Torn Triceps Muscle - Out season
WR Oscar Taylor - Stretched Knee Ligament - Questionable 3 weeks
CB Vincent Bernier - Pulled Groin - Questionable 2 weeks

Preview - Wake's off to another rough start this year as they've only managed two wins and both of those were of the non-conference variety...(E Carolina & Ohio State). Wow...never thought about checking up on how Ohio State has been doing. So you're able to recruit at will in the state of Ohio and you're in the Big 10 and your record this year is 0-6? Wow. Anyway...it's a classic Wake team...great passing team...2nd in the nation...and bad all-around defense. Despite the bad defense...their best player is DE Mario Duran...through 6 games so far he has 12.5 sacks and 15 TFL's. As far as we go...the loss last week to the Noles was sucky. Can I use the word sucky? Our offense hasn't been this inconsisent in years. But we're healthy...and so this season is not over by any means.

Well I'm not sure what's going on with Wally Johansen this year but he has definitely lost it. Our "former" all-acc QB threw 3 more Ints...all 3 returned for TD's to allow Wake Forest to hang around and eventually win this game. It was business as usual for us in the first half...DiPietro putting the ball in the end zone 3 times to give us a 21-7 lead. Then Clay Murray picks one off and takes it back 47 yards to make it 21-14. Then on the first play of the next drive John Compton hits Cory Bradford on a 50 yard TD pass to tie it up. We were able to respond with two FG's to give us a little breathing room...but then Compton and the Deacons put together a classic 4th quarter 13 play 97 yard drive that ended with a 1 yd TD pass to Horace Nowlin to take a 28-27 lead. Then on our last drive...Johansen throws his 3rd Int of the day and Gabe Banks took it back for a TD as time expired. Our season has officially come to an end. So depressing.

Next up - Thank god we got a week off.

Recruiting Commitments
Funny how we land a great QB right when our current QB has become public enemy #1.

Week 9

Bye week

Key Injuries
LB Howie Glover - Torn Triceps Muscle - Out season
CB Vincent Bernier - Pulled Groin - Doubtful 3 weeks
WR Oscar Taylor - Stretched Knee Ligament - Probable 2 weeks

Next up - Duke at Georgia Tech

Recruiting Commitments

Week 10

#35 Duke (4-3) at #49 Georgia Tech (4-3) (-12) No TV

Last season: Duke 44 Georgia Tech 14
Career Record against opponent: 3-7

Key Injuries
LB Howie Glover - Torn Triceps Muscle - Out season
CB Vincent Bernier - Pulled Groin - Questionable 2 weeks
WR Oscar Taylor - Stretched Knee Ligament - Probable 2 weeks

Preview - Tech's been the biggest thorn in our side for the last 10 years and it was only last year when we really blew them out. They just caught us during one of our most dominant times and we rolled over them by 30 points. This year...things will more than likely be a bit closer. I'm so frustrated with Johansen that I gave thought to taking the red-shirt off of our freshman wonderkind Jonathan Buchanan...but this season is over so why wast a year of his eligibility on just 4 games. So we carry-on. By the looks of it...Tech has had about as many problems as we've had this year. They started off so beautifully at 4-0 and since then they have dropped 3 straight. I've given up thinking about whether I can win or not.

Well...not bad. We dominated yardage-wise...but the Jackets still had a chance to win this one down 6 with the ball and 2 minutes left. But our defense stepped up and forced them to turn the ball over on a failed 4th down conversion. Johansen still insists on giving the ball to the opponent on occasion...but at least he threw for over 50% tonight and threw a couple that we caught in the end zone by our own players. And I know that if we can hand the ball off 33 times and throw it 5 more times to our RB that only good things can happen. I won't consider this season a complete loss if we can win out.

Next up - North Carolina State at Duke

Recruiting Commitments
Good haul this week. Walton and Cooley were our back-up choices...and they signed after one visit. And we'll take a guy named Cash on our team every year.

Week 11

North Carolina State (1-7) at #32 Duke (5-3) (-26) No TV

Last season: Duke 45 NC State 23
Career Record against opponent: 4-6

Key Injuries
LB Howie Glover - Torn Triceps Muscle - Out season
T Steven Devine - Hip Pointer - Doubtful 7 Weeks
WR Oscar Taylor - Stretched Knee Ligament - Questionable 8 weeks
CB Vincent Bernier - Pulled Groin - Questionable 1 weeks

Preview - Talk about a team that's fallen on hard times. NC State...once a powerhouse in this conference has really become somewhat mediocre in the last few years and this year...they're sitting at a lowly 1-7. So far this year they have won one game by one point. And in the last two weeks they've scored a grand total of 10 points. When they switched coaches about 4 years ago...I don't know if bringing the T-Formation to NC State was the best move this university's ever made. Last week we got back in the win column with our win over the Jackets and have restored a little confidence back in Dukie land. On the injury front...we've lost our best o-lineman LT Steven Devine to a Hip Pointer...he's listed as doubtful. There's no telling if he'll be able to play in our last three games. And Taylor re-injured his knee ligament so it looks like he'll be out of the starting lineup this week as well.

All you have to do is look at our QB's interception total and you can tell what this game was all about. It's so funny to watch him play when we're behind. So hopeless.

Next up - Duke at North Carolina

Recruiting Commitments

Week 12

#40 Duke (5-4) (-7) at North Carolina (3-7) No TV

Last season: Duke 45 North Carolina 10
Career Record against opponent: 5-5

Key Injuries
LB Howie Glover - Torn Triceps Muscle - Out season
LB Scott Richmond - Hyperextended Knee - Out season
T Steven Devine - Hip Pointer - Doubtful 6 Weeks
WR Oscar Taylor - Stretched Knee Ligament - Questionable 7 weeks
CB Vincent Bernier - Pulled Groin - Questionable 2 weeks
TE Tyrell Rice - Bruised Ribcage - Probable 4 weeks

Preview - Well I'm not sure what to do at this point in the season about my QB. I mean when you have a 83 Avoid Interceptions rating and you've thrown 19 in 9 games on a good team...it really baffles the mind. We lost another starting OLB last week and it looks like Devine and Taylor are iffy as to whether they are going to play or not. Man these previews have become really depressing...ha. I feel like it's year 5 & 6 all over again.

Just like in our last win...as long as we have our RB touch the ball a lot...like 33 times for a combined 248 yards and 4 TD's...then we gotta good shot. We finally get the close the season out next week. Niiiice.

Next up - Clemson at Duke

Week 13

Clemson (5-4) at #39 Duke (6-4) (-6) No TV

Last season: Duke 38 Clemson 7
Career Record against opponent: 7-3

Key Injuries
LB Howie Glover - Torn Triceps Muscle - Out season
LB Scott Richmond - Hyperextended Knee - Doubtful 4 weeks
WR Oscar Taylor - Stretched Knee Ligament - Questionable 6 weeks
T Steven Devine - Hip Pointer - Questionable 5 Weeks
TE Tyrell Rice - Bruised Ribcage - Probable 3 weeks
CB Vincent Bernier - Pulled Groin - Probable 1 weeks

Preview - Well this season will be dubbed "The Lost Season." Lost is the fact that Rodney DiPietro scored 14 TD's combined. Lost is the fact that Tim Sedor had over 80 tackles for the 2nd straight year. Lost is the fact that Jake Nixon set a school season record with 7 Ints. Lost is the fact that Lenny Anderson has 8.5 sacks to lead the team and he only weighs 233lbs as a DE. And finally...lost is the fact that we're LOSING our terrible QB as it is his senior year. Gametime!

Well hey...my team gave me something to write about to close out the season. Rodney DiPietro saved his best for last as he broke his own single game school rushing record rushing for 239 yards. After Clemson took a 14-3 lead on yet another Johansen pick that went back for a TD. Johansen then actually woke up a bit. First by finding Mcknight in the end zone for a 15 yd TD pass. Then on our next possession DiPietro took it in from 9 yards out and then that was followed up by a quick drive right before the half and Johansen ran it in from 5 yards out with :48 left and then we just cruised the rest of the way.

Next up - The offseason.

Week 14

Recruiting Commitments

Even though the powerhouses prevailed...I like the new faces that made it deep into the playoffs. Like Iowa St...who beat Texas in the Big XII championship game...Miami of Ohio and San Diego St.

Final ACC Standings

Final Top 25
Florida was the champ but only gets the call at #3.

Post Season Awards
Sedor definitely deserved some credit for his season and DiPietro was hampered by a lost QB.

The National Player of the Year is San Diego State QB Fred Guenther

Passing: 250-409 for 3832 yards...44 TD's and 12 Ints.

Duke Season Records

Duke Career Records