DURHAM, N.C.- Thaddeus Lewis sat down with the media today and BDN was there to fire off several questions. The Blue Devils are going for their second consecutive victory this Saturday when Maryland visits Wallace Wade Stadium this Saturday at 1:30. Good tickets are still available at GoDuke.com. Turn out and support Duke Football.
Category Archives: Duke Football
Thaddeus Lewis is a finalist for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award
DURHAM, N.C. – Senior quarterback Thaddeus Lewis has been named one of 10 finalists for the 2009 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award. The prestigious Golden Arm Award is presented annually to the nation’s top senior college quarterback by the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation, Inc.
Lewis has led Duke to a 3-3 record on the season. He ranks second in the ACC and 17th nationally with 266.8 passing yards per game. He has completed 134-of-213 (.629) pass attempts for 1,601 yards. He has thrown 12 touchdown passes while throwing just two interceptions. He also has three rushing touchdowns to lead the team.
In two conference games, he is averaging a league-best 409.0 yards per game. He completed 40-of-50 pass attempts for 459 yards and five touchdowns in a 49-28 win at N.C. State. His performance earned him National Offensive Player of the Week honors from the Walter Camp Foundation as well as ACC Player of the Week and Davey O’Brien National Quarterback of the Week. He also threw for 359 yards and two touchdowns against No. 6 Virginia Tech.
The 2009 winner will be presented with the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award on Friday, December 11 at the Tremont Grand Meeting & Banquet Facility in downtown Baltimore. Joining the festivities that evening will be a number of former Baltimore Colts teammates of Johnny Unitas, along with NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr.
Duke Football: Four Questions for the Second Half of the Season
The 2009 college football season is at its halfway point, and Duke is sitting at 3-3 (1-1 ACC) with impressive wins over Army, NCCU, and N.C. State. In their most recent game, the Blue Devils traveled to Carter-Finley Stadium and defeated the Wolfpack by dominating the second half of the game. Thaddeus Lewis threw for a career high 459 yards and five touchdowns as Duke earned a huge victory to even their season record at 3-3. Coach David Cutcliffe stated, “I believe that is the finest game that I’ve had a quarterback have in college.” That is high praise coming from a coach who has previously coached Peyton and Eli Manning in college. Lewis was named the Walter Camp Foundation’s National Offensive Player of the Week and the ACC Offensive Back of the Week.
Looking forward to the second half of the season, here are four questions burning in the minds of Duke Fans around the World:
1. Can Duke build off the N.C. State victory and finish with a winning record in 2009?
With Duke’s bye week coming at the season’s midpoint, it is like having two six game seasons. Having achieved a .500 winning percentage over the first season, Duke Fans are looking to the team to improve during the second season. The competition will be tough as all six games will be against ACC opponents.
Based on the team’s performance against Virginia Tech, Duke has proven they can compete with every team in the ACC. The games against Miami and Georgia Tech should be the biggest challenges, but the Blue Devils are favored over Maryland, and should be favored to win the game against Virginia, with the Wake Forest and North Carolina games being toss ups. The odds are actually irrelevant as illustrated by Duke’s 21 point defeat of the heavily favored Wolfpack. If Duke plays inspired football, over the next six games, they are definitely capable of winning a majority of their remaining games.
How the team finishes this season is an important next step in the rebuilding of Duke Football. Last season, Duke was 4-3 after traveling to Nashville and defeating Vanderbilt, 10-7, in a thriller. However, the Blue Devils dropped five straight games to finish the season at 4-8. The coaching staff, players, and fans are all looking for a different ending this year. Achieving success over the next six games would pay dividends on the recruiting trail, which is paramount to the long range success of Duke Football.
2. Will Thaddeus Lewis break Ben Bennett’s record for most passing yards by a Duke Quarterback?
Bennett threw for 9,614 yards during his career (1980 – 83). At the halfway mark of his senior season, Lewis has thrown for 8,336 yards. He needs to average 213 yards per game down the stretch to break Bennett’s record.
Is breaking the record important in the big scheme of Duke Football? Yes, emphatically yes, it is. Duke is a passing team so the more yards they gain through the air the better the chances of winning games, and Duke Football needs to win games.
On the surface, Lewis breaking Bennett’s record would appear to be an individual accomplishment for the senior, but actually the achievement will represent Duke Football continuing to grow as a program. It will represent the maturation of the offensive line and validate Duke’s receiving corps as one of the best in the ACC. Thad Lewis breaking the career passing yards record should be an important team goal for the Blue Devils.
3. Duke’s receiving corps is deep. The question is who will lead the team in key categories: total catches, yards receiving per game, and touchdown receptions?
Duke’s air attack offense isn’t all Lewis. Duke’s receiving corps is a talented group that provides Lewis multiple options each time he drops back to pass. Currently leading the team, Austin Kelly has 30 receptions, Conner Vernon is averaging 71.4 yards receiving per game, and Donovan Varner has four touchdown receptions.
In addition to Kelly, Duke has three more receivers with more than 20 receptions on the year: Donovan Varner (27), Conner Vernon (26), and Johnny Williams (22). Those four guys are all primary targets for Thad Lewis and they will all catch many more passes this season.
Donovan Varner is averaging 71.2 yards receiving per game so he is right on Conner Vernon’s heels in the yards receiving per game category. Varner and Vernon are both receivers who can make defenders miss in order to rack up the unofficial “yards after catch” statistic.
Tight End Brett Huffman and wide receiver Austin Kelly each have three touchdown receptions.
The offensive line has earned a shout-out by providing Thad Lewis enough time to deliver the ball to his receivers. Lewis has been sacked 12 times, which is tied for third fewest in the ACC. Continued improvement along the front line will be required so Duke’s receivers can participate in some healthy competition between themselves to see who can lead the team in the various receiving categories with the real goal being to increase Duke’s opportunity to win games.
4. Is improvement being made on Duke’s defense?
With so much focus on Thad Lewis and Duke’s potent passing attack, it is easy for fans to forget about the defense. We all can rest assure that Coach Cutcliffe and staff have not forgotten about the defense as defensive improvement is a vital aspect of building a winning program.
Duke has been prone to giving up the big play. It happened against Virginia Tech when Tyrod Taylor completed a 62 yard pass to Jarrett Boykin on third and 34 with the line of scrimmage at the VT 16 yard line. Instead of forcing the Hokies to punt from deep in their own territory, giving up the big play ultimately resulted in a Field Goal and a 20-13 lead for Virginia Tech.
A similar big play cost the Blue Devils a potential win over Northwestern last year.
If Duke is to win games down the stretch in 2009, the defense is going to have to pressure opponents’ quarterbacks and force mistakes. Duke is currently 8th in the ACC in total defense, 12th in sacks and 9th in interceptions. Tracking these defensive categories should provide insight into how competitive Duke is over the next six ball games.
On the individual performance front, Vincent Rey is 5th in tackles averaging 8.2 per game. Catron Gainey is tied for 11th with 6.5 per game, while Abraham Kromah is 14th with 6.2 per game. Matt Daniels (5.8) and Leon Wright (5.0) are also in the Top 50. Moreover, Matt Daniels leads the ACC in fumbles forced and Leon Wright is 3rd in interceptions.
In the sacks and tackles for loss categories, Duke has no one in the Top 20. Increasing pressure in our opponent’s backfield has to be a focus area for improvement.
The next six weeks are a potential boon in the revitalization of Duke Football. The team is improving their on field performance week by week, the fan base is excited, and opponents are taking the Blue Devils seriously. The time has arrived for Duke to put together a conference winning streak.
The second six week season kicks-off Saturday October 24th at Wallace Wade Stadium with a 1:30 pm game against Maryland. The Blue Devils are currently favored by eight points over the Terps. Tickets are still available so the Blue Devil Nation encourages everyone to come out and participate in the festivities.
Duke Football is showing clear signs of improvement at the half way mark
When one reflects on the first half of Duke's Football season most feel that at 3-3 overall, they are right where they are supposed to be. Some might feel that the Richmond loss was balanced off with the NCSU win where they were 15.5 point underdogs. But a further look shows that Cutcliffe's second team is definitely starting to turn the corner to respectability. Some would say they've already earned that with a solid win over N.C. State this past weekend, but there are still some in the media which take regular shots at Duke no matter what they do.
Thankfully for Duke fans, Cutcliffe and his staff refuse to let this get them down and they are in no way accepting of anything less than a complete change in culture surrounding the program. Saturday's win went a long ways towards accomplishing said goal, but Cutliffe is well aware of the pitfalls, meaning he knows Duke has to play their best game to win until the talent level improves through recruiting.
When Cutcliffe arrived in Durham, the lack of team speed was down right disturbing, so he immediately hit the road with his staff and turned up more speed and saved the great majority of players Roof already had in the fold. It's no secret that the talent level in recruiting has increased significantly and one needs to look no further than the field this season where kids like Conner Vernon are shining.
No longer is Duke completely outmatched in the speed department but there is still a ways to go and Cutcliffe has been forthcoming in saying his team still has some growing pains in store. What he means there, is that Duke needs to be two deep at almost every position and that means red-shirting more kids.
On the surface, Duke seems to have burned more red shirts than they would have liked, but when one looks at the play of Desmond Scott, Conner Vernon and others, it is easy to see why. Still, Duke has several lineman which will get that extra year of preparation.
Okay, I got a little off track there, so let's turn our attention to upcoming games and what Duke can accomplish in the here and now. Cutcliffe's legitimate worry is finding a way to keep his team to compete consistently play off new found confidence. However, confidence is a funny thing and it can sometimes become a hindrance if players stop working or rest on their laurels.
Duke will have to go into the Maryland, Virginia and UNC games respecting their opponent as if each were Virginia Tech, the fourth rated team in the country they played toe to toe with just two weeks ago. Many will say that all three of these games are winnable and they are, but a realist attitude should be in play here as well.
Duke handled Virginia handily last season, but that in no way means this will happen again on the road this season. As Cutcliffe has often told the media, it's a game of match ups, but he puts just as much emphasis in telling those who listen that the ball can bounce many different ways on a given day.
Already the same media which regularly beats down the program on talk radio shows are playing the split personality game. They're doing their best to set Duke up by now saying, could they now be the best team in the state. Don't get me wrong, it's possible, but the Devils can ill afford to listen to such rhetoric which is designed to incite responses and draw the ire of other local teams and fan bases.
Duke must now deal with sudden expectations and the fact is that Duke will likely be favored in their next game against Maryland. This is uncharted territory for the Duke program of late . The same holds true for the players, who have now won more games in two years than Duke has in a cluster of years before Cutcliffe's arrival.
Expectations are a welcomed thing around Durham, but they must be tempered and fans need to know that Duke is taking some big steps, but that the small ones that often go unseen are just as important. Cutcliffe simply wants his team to compete at the highest level they can in each game and win or lose and with that kind of effort, that is progress.
Duke is also trying to find a way to get their fan base back into the stands. It's no secret in years past Duke fans have come out of the woodwork after a couple of wins over teams they were not expected to beat. With Duke's victory over cross town rival one would hope this happens again against Maryland, a game that would give the Devils their first two game ACC win streak in a long time.
But the one thing which Devils fans can take joy in is that this is a young football team, but a spattering of key seniors gives this team a chance to win now. In order to do so they'll need some support and I guarantee you if some of you who are on the fence and make excuses on Saturday's turn out, you'll be a part of the process for the team will respond.
The time is ripe for Duke fans to do their part, for Cutcliffe and his team are certainly moving along towards the goals they have set . And don't look now, but Duke suddenly looks as if they will indeed compete with in state rivals UNC and Wake Forest and Maryland and Virginia as well. If the ball bounces right they can come away with some much needed wins thanks to their persistence and something that has been missing, that being great coaching.
This past Saturday was a win for the coaches, players and fans. Those who had remained faitful and true were rewarded and smiles are contageous. Duke fans are ready for some more smiles and the 2009 Blue Devils have an opportunity to bring them out.
BDN Audio – Coach Cutcliffe talks about the NCSU game and more during his Sunday Q & A
Here is a seven minute excerpt from today's media call in with Coach David Cutcliffe. He discusses the NCSU game and what the vicotry means to his team and more -
Just press play! The complete 22 minute interview is available for Blue Devil Nation members.
Thaddeus Lewis named National Offensive Player of the Week
DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis has been named the Walter Camp Foundation's National Offensive Player of the Week after leading the Blue Devils to a 49-28 win over N.C. State. Lewis completed a school single-game record 40-of-50 passes for 459 yards and five touchdowns in the victory over the Wolfpack.
A senior from Opa-Locka, Fla., Lewis accounted for six total touchdowns while engineering the Duke offense to 502 total yards against an N.C. State defense that entered the week ranking first in the ACC in total defense by allowing 239.2 yards per game. His 459 passing yards mark the fourth-highest single-game total in school history and, with the five scoring tosses, he became Duke's all-time leader in touchdown passes with 59, breaking the previous record of 55 held by Ben Bennett (1980-83).
Nebraska's Ndamukong Suh earned defensive player of the week honors from the organization.
Walter Camp, "The Father of American football," first selected an All-America team in 1889. Camp – a former Yale University athlete and football coach – is also credited with developing play from scrimmage, set plays, the numerical assessment of goals and tries and the restriction of play to eleven men per side. The Walter Camp Football Foundation – a New Haven-based all-volunteer group – was founded in 1967 to perpetuate the ideals of Camp and to continue the tradition of selecting annually an All-America team.
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