Duke’s offense set for showdown with UVa

Scattershooting a round the ACC, while noting that the ACC is the only conference in the nation to have three QBs ranked among the top 10 in pass efficiency, but perhaps the ACC’s most dangerous isn’t one of them ...
Duke’s Thaddeus Lewis is on the minds of Virginia’s defense for this Saturday’s game at Scott Stadium. Lewis, who has thrown for nearly 9,000 yards in his career, isn’t one of the three ACC quarterbacks ranked among the elite in the nation right now. Those honors go to Virginia Tech’s Tyrod Taylor, Miami’s Jacory Harris, and Florida State’s Christian Ponder.
Heck, even Wake’s Riley Skinner is ranked in the top 20 nationally and Georgia Tech’s run-happy Josh Nesbitt would be No. 21 if he had enough attempts to qualify.
But where’s Lewis?
I’m guessing the two passing quarterbacks in this league teams would least like to face are Lewis and FSU’s Ponder. Both can light it up.
“Those 14 touchdowns are pretty impressive,” UVa coach Al Groh said Wednesday about the Duke quarterback’s numbers. “Not to mention just three interceptions.”
Groh’s pass defense, ranked fifth nationally, will be taking on Duke’s passing offense, ranked sixth nationally in a classic showdown.
What a strange contrast for Virginia, going from one Saturday where it faced the nation’s No. 2 rushing offense in Georgia Tech, to this Saturday against the country’s sixth-ranked passing offense.
Complimentary Cutcliffe
Duke coach David Cutcliffe had plenty of nice things to say about Virginia’s football team on Wednesday.
“This is going to be a very difficult match-up for us,” the Blue Devils coach said. “With Virginia, the more they play, the better they seem to get. They’re the most physical team we’ve played by far.
“Virginia is one of the better looking teams you’ll see in uniform, and they’re playing well on the field, too,” Cutcliffe said. “Last week’s game in the rain against a wishbone team, the odds were stacked against them. That game was better than the score (34-9) indicated. I don’t think last week was anything to set them back at all.”
Frankly, my dear ...
Frank Beamer said he called Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson to clarify his statements about some Yellow Jackets’ blocking tactics that the Virginia Tech coach wasn’t real happy with in the loss in Atlanta two Saturday’s ago.
Beamer said he had that Georgia Tech’s low block, which infuriated the Hokies’ coach, didn’t come on the last touchdown as he had stated previously, but rather earlier in the game.
“I apologized for that,” Beamer said. “I don’t like giving out wrong information. It shouldn’t have happened. It’s not about Georgia Tech. It’s about some things that happened within that game that I think are just wrong in general and I think they’re dangerous.”
Beamer said he didn’t have a problem with a cut block as long as a player can see it coming in front of him and not from the side or behind, which apparently happened in the game.
Which leads us to ...
Quote of the week
Virginia Tech’s Frank Beamer on his complaining to the league office about some of Georgia Tech’s cut blocks, which the Hokies’ coach didn’t think were executed properly and left some of his players vulnerable to injury:
“That’s the only reason this is coming around, is I want to do what I think is right for the game,” Beamer said. “And this is what’s right for the game. It’s not sour grapes. It’s not that Georgia Tech beat us. It’s not that. It’s just some situations came up that I think put guys in dangerous situations. So that’s all of that.”
Stat of the week
It’s never happened in the history of Duke football: four wide receivers with 25 or more pass receptions in a single season.
That’s what Virginia must deal with on Saturday when Austin Kelly (39), Donovan Varner (35), Conner Vernon (31), and Johnny Williams (26) come to Scott Stadium. We would have thought that this might have happened
during the Steve Spurrier days at Duke, but nope, there was only three with 25 or more catches.
Duke coach David Cutcliffe said what has been impressive to him is his receivers’ “yards after catch” numbers, something the Cavaliers must pay special attention toward.
Carolina Blues
Boos were heard in Kenan Stadium last week when the Tar Heels blew a 24-6 lead and lost to Florida State.
Most of those boos were directed toward UNC coach Butch Davis, especially after he decided to punt on fourth down at the FSU 44 with less than five minutes to play and trailing 30-27.
“A lot of these lessons that you learn are bitter,” said Davis, who called the loss one of the most disappointing of his career. “They’re painful and they’re not fun to go through, but sometimes you have to go through them.”
Carolina must now win three of its final five games to qualify for bowl eligibility, starting tonight against Virginia Tech. Then there’s games against Duke, Boston College and N.C. State.
Not in the club
Boston College tri-captain Rich Gunnell won’t be applying for membership in the Jimmy Clausen fan club.
TV cameras caught the BC player ignoring Clausen, Notre Dame’s quarterback, trying to shake hands after the Irish broke a six-game losing streak against the Eagles last Saturday. Gunnell said he wasn’t being a bad sport, that it wasn’t about sour grapes, but rather Clausen’s antics before the game that caused the snub.
“At the beginning of the game, we were warming up and running out on the field and [Clausen] was out there chirping, talking trash,” Gunnell said. “And then he went up and pushed (BC receiver) Justin Jarvis for no reason. I just looked at him and said, ‘What are you doing? Who do you think you are?’ And he’s still sitting there talking.
“Afterwards, he’s trying to be all friendly and I didn’t want to hear that,” Gunnell said of Clausen’s advances. “It just rubbed me the wrong way. I didn’t like what he did and it just seemed like he was a little fake toward the end of the game, just because they won. I know if it was the other end of the stick, he’s probably be saying the same thing as me.”
The picks
Last week: 3-3. To date: 37-19. Tonight: Virginia Tech 27, North Carolina 14. Saturday: Boston College 33, Central Michigan 17; Clemson 42, Coastal Carolina 13; Florida State 40, N.C. State 19; Georgia Tech 44, Vanderbilt 13; Miami 30, Wake Forest 20; Virginia 24, Duke 21.