DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke (3-0) has cruised best of this season, and they fabricated their aboriginal Power 5 adversary -- Kansas -- attending as inferior as their aboriginal two opponents in a 41-3 assertive victory. The Blue Devils are now 3-0 for the aboriginal time aback 1994. Oh, and it was Duke's aboriginal win adjoin a Big 12 adversary in affairs history, too. As ACC pundits chase for a Coastal Division favorite, maybe they should be looking, oh, about the aforementioned abode aftermost year's appellation resides -- Durham.
1. Apprentice tailback Shaun Wilson, your new Duke single-game hasty record-holder.
Shy smile, abbreviate answers and bendable voice, Wilson -- all 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds of him -- was every bit the affected apprentice in advanced of the media. "I wasn't assured it," Wilson said of his 245-yard game. "Going into the game, I was aloof aggravating to do the best I can do. Give acclaim to the line. They were tremendous."
He's still new to this, so it's understandable. But he's still appealing new at academy football, and that hasn't seemed to be too abundant of a problem.
In his aboriginal two academy games, Wilson had a absolute of nine carries for 89 yards, and he hadn't had a first-half backpack yet adjoin anyone.
His aboriginal backpack adjoin Kansas came with aloof over bristles and a bisected account to go in the aboriginal quarter, and he access through for a 69-yard touchdown. His abutting six carries went for 22 yards, but again he had a 68-yard touchdown run backward in the third, a one-yard carry, a 32-yarder and a 45-yard touchdown to put Duke up 41-3 with 3:57 to go.
Duke active backs drillmaster (and above Duke active aback himself) Re'Quan Boyette about ran over arch drillmaster David Cutcliffe to let him apperceive that the apprentice was one backyard abroad from the Duke single-game record.
Cutcliffe said that he'd put Wilson in for one added comedy -- but alone if Duke got the brawl back. Once the aegis got the stop, he'd get his chance.
"We told all those kids, everybody activity in knew, 'Block. Let's get this thing.' I absolutely didn't appetite him to breach a run in that circumstance," Cutcliffe said. "I absolutely told (Wilson), I said, if you acquisition yourself broke, aloof go down. But blessed that he could get the yardage. You don't anytime appetite to be one backyard short."
He able with 12 rushes for 245 yards, seven added than the antecedent single-game almanac of 237 yards. That's 20.4 per carry, if you charge him.
Cutcliffe, the abhorrent agents and his teammates accept been aerial on him aback he got to campus in July. This bold was affidavit as to why.
"I anticipate everybody knew, some of the plays and some of the cuts that he fabricated aback he aboriginal came in in abatement camp, and he aloof connected to abound from that point on, accepting adequate and accepting acquainted with the system," Duke advanced receiver Jamison Crowder said. "We knew that he has that abeyant and that playmaking adeptness and today, he aloof went out there and displayed that."
Duke chief quarterback Anthony Boone knew, too. Duke's abhorrent line, a veteran-laden group, would pave the way for him. He aloof had to acquisition the seam, which is easier said than done for abounding adolescent backs. Not Wilson.
"I knew aback he aboriginal got here," Boone said. "He's little, and he's apparently our fastest back. Maybe. I don't know, amid him and (Josh) Snead. But he's absolutely our quickest and best versatile. Aback he hits seams, it's adamantine -- it's affectionate of Oregon-esque. Aback those little backs hit seams, they're affectionate of gone. That's affectionate of how he is."
With tailback Jela Duncan out for the division with bookish issues, Cutcliffe knew he would access this division with aloof four backs on his roster. So it was about agreed that Wilson was activity to play. But he's formed hard, and he's abstruse the playbook able-bodied abundant to be able to contribute. Which is apparently an understatement.
In the end, football isn't absolutely that adamantine sometimes. At least, aback you ask this apprentice who's managed to accomplish it attending easy.
"Get the ball, and again you see blooming and you aloof go," Wilson said. "I aloof ran as fast as I could."
2. Turns out, Duke has weapons that aren't alleged Jamison Crowder.
Crowder has been amazing throughout his Duke career, but the chief advanced receiver was captivated to aloof two catches for 14 yards, his atomic yards aback Georgia Tech captivated him to 10 yards on aloof two catches aback in November of 2012 (in a Duke loss).
In the past, Duke wouldn't accept been able to win a bold like that.
This time, anybody abroad stepped up. Junior Max McCaffrey hauled in seven catches for 79 yards and a career-high two touchdowns. Chief wideout Issac Blakeney, who seems destined for a blemish season, had four catches for 38 yards. And, of course, there's Wilson.
"We aloof activated all our weapons. If you're not accepting the ball, some players get bottomward and get beat and not be a leader, as I am. But I pride myself in actuality an altruistic guy, so it's acceptable and I feel blessed aback i see added players authoritative plays," Crowder said. "As a drillmaster and aloof as a assistant it aloof lets you apperceive that your aggregation is accepting bigger and you accept a lot of players that can accomplish plays. That's asperous on the defense. We went out there and had fun today and I was animated we got the win."
It wasn't abolishment Kansas did, necessarily, according to Cutcliffe. It's aloof affectionate of the way it formed out. Boone absent Crowder on a achromatize in the end area at one point, but added than that, it wasn't a amount of Kansas demography him away.
"Kansas played columnist advantage on him, but we aloof didn't feel like we had to go there. They didn't booty him abroad necessarily," Cutcliffe said. "But that's a acceptable affair for our football aggregation that added bodies footfall up and play, and that's activity to advice Jamison. I'd adulation to accept Jamison get 10 assurance a game, and we'll attending at that too. We've got to accomplish abiding he gets his touches."
3. Boone continues to be a bit erratic, but aback he's good, he's absolutely good.
In the aboriginal half, Boone started off absolutely well, commutual 3-of-4 passes for 55 yards and a touchdown on Duke's aboriginal drive. The blow of the half, he was aloof 6-of-18 for 44 yards. But he able off well, activity 10-of-11 for 81 yards in the additional half.
It was aloof the average that was confusing. He absent on a few abysmal balls, sure, but he additionally absent on some almost accessible abbreviate actuality during that first-half stretch.
"It was absolutely aloof throwing the football, the mechanics of throwing the football. There's times, sometimes in the aboriginal half, it was abominable humid, abominable wet. You never absolutely apperceive at times. I would like to anticipate that it's not activity to happen, but you saw what he did," Cutcliffe said.
"I told him, I said, 'Sometimes, you're aggravating to accomplish every play. Aloof comedy football. Accept fun.' We absent some abysmal assurance today that we -- I apperceive Anthony was affronted with it -- that we've got to hit. But we can do bigger than what we've done."
It was aloof a amount of execution, according to Boone. The bold plan was sound, because they knew they were activity to booty shots on Kansas' advancing defense. They aloof didn't hit some of them, and one that was hit -- a continued touchdown canyon to Blakeney -- was alleged aback due to abhorrent canyon interference.
"We took a lot of shots and we didn't appear bottomward with them but if it was the added way around, again we would bandy for 400 yards and they'd be adage 'How'd you guys booty advantage of their DBs?' It's aloof one of those canicule area the brawl didn't abatement the appropriate way. It's aloof affectionate of how football is," Boone said.
"We started hot, and again we affectionate of hit a rut area alike now, that's what we charge to assignment on, actuality able to accumulate our bottom on the burke for four quarters, not activity in and out."
That Duke breach can hit some ruts from time to time, and it's not aloof Boone. It feels like animadversion aback they put up 41 points, but the abstruse stagnation of first-half drives is apropos to the Blue Devils, who accept become perfectionists in that way.
"I don't appetite to say it's one specific reason. It's altered reasons. For archetype aftermost bold (at Troy), we had two penalties on our aboriginal three plays. Sometimes, we accept little accessory penalties that affectionate of get us off agenda as far as affective the brawl bottomward the field," Crowder said. "It's aloof a abridgement of beheading is absolutely what it comes bottomward to. In those algid stretches, we don't assassinate as able-bodied as we can. So if we can annihilate those, those algid stretches, again I anticipate that we'll accept a appealing acceptable season."
4. Kansas is what Duke acclimated to be.
Duke's 38-point win over the Jayhawks was its bigger allowance over a Power 5 aggregation aback 1998, aback it won 44-10 at Northwestern. The Blue Devils accept gone from abominable to admirable to absolute alarming so bound beneath Cutcliffe, it's adamantine to accumulate in angle area they came from.
Kansas should know, though, because the Jayhawks -- thoroughly bedeviled in all aspects of the bold -- are now, essentially, what Duke acclimated to be. A major-conference aggregation in name alone that the added teams beg to agenda for a win that looks bigger than it absolutely is.
That acclimated to be Duke, and the Blue Devils' hapless football history above-mentioned to the aftermost few years is able-bodied known. But this time, Duke did what acceptable teams do to inferior opponents -- boss them.
"Right now, I anticipate that the mentality in the locker allowance and in the apprenticeship allowance is every game, we apprehend to win. We apperceive that we accept a lot of players and we apperceive that if we go out there and execute, we can attempt with anybody, abnormally offensively," Crowder said. "So today aloof acquainted like a accepted win."
That doesn't abate what Duke has accomplished, though, aback the aftermost (and alone other) time it played Kansas aback in 2009. The Blue Devils would accomplishment with bristles wins in Cutcliffe's additional division in Durham, but this one was a loss, and a bad one -- 44-16. Aback that season, Duke is 22-22 (16-11 the aftermost two seasons) with 19 FBS wins (11 over Power 5 teams) and Kansas is 9-39 with aloof six wins over FBS teams (three in the aftermost two seasons) and three over Power 5 opponents.
"That's a big deal, because from 2009 to now is appealing significant, the difference. We knew that activity in. Any time you win one of those games, and decidedly aback you win it in a assertive fashion, that's a acceptable thing," Cutcliffe said. "Other bodies in added genitalia of the country pay a little bit added absorption to who we are. Now, you've got to do article to booty advantage of it."
This time around, Duke bedeviled the bold in all phases, but best arrant conceivably was its ascendancy at the band of scrimmage. Because it wasn't aloof dominance. It was generally an annihilation.
"I acquainted like activity into the bold ... I anticipation the key one was our d-line adjoin their abhorrent band and carnality versa. And I anticipation we would win that big, and I anticipate we did. I'd accept to attending at the tape, but I anticipation that was the affair that advantaged us the most, which is a nice affair to go into a bold feeling, decidedly adjoin a Big 12 opponent."
Cutcliffe said, though, that afterwards he larboard the acreage in Lawrence post-thrashing aback in 2009, he never absent hope. Alike as Duke had back-to-back 3-9 seasons in 2010 and 2011 that followed that five-win division in 2009.
"I never accept had any doubts here, and I'm not adage that arrogantly. We've never doubted ourselves," Cutcliffe said. "We were aloof ill-equipped or accessible for it at that point. I anticipate our aggregation still has abundant guys about that they apperceive area we've appear from that the best way for us to abide to acquire allowances and that affectionate of turnaround is aloof to accumulate working. We've got an outstanding assignment belief in this program. It's a accolade to those guys that played in 2008, 2009. They bought in. They helped canyon this on.
"But I don't anticipate we anytime absolutely doubted ourselves, though. I anticipate we've developed and we've got a lot of growing larboard to do, I can acquaint you that."