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Here is BDN's Charles Westfall's take -
Outlined against a blue/gray April sky, the Four Horsemen rode again. Ok, I'm not here to masquerade as Grantland Rice. But, if you were at Wallace Wade, well you remember the play. Freshman running back Tony Jackson starred as Red Grange and bolted 75 yards for the White team for the lone offensive TD score of the game. Duke's version of the Four Horsemen opened up the field, and Jackson found the crease to lead an underdog white team to a methodical 14-3 win over the Duke Blues.
Indeed, the running game was the strong suit for the White. Jackson, for his efforts, ran 5 times for 85 yards. Thad Lewis, the winning QB, kept it mostly conservative by focusing on Brett Huffman and Jeremy Ringfield. Clifford Harris ran in tandem with Jackson and gained 40 yards on 5 carries.
On defense, the winning team limited the rush attacking for the Blues to 39 yards. This was a team without the services of Vince Oghobaase, Marcus Jones, Leon Wright, and Ayanga Okpokoworuk. Wes Oglesby, who played admirably at defensive end as a freshman, recovered a fumble deep in White territory and rumbled 7 yards for the clinching score. Vincent Rey and a host of others also contributed to the effort.
All of this transpired before a record crowd of 3,250 fans. While there may be some dubiousness to that stat, it was clear that the Cutcliffe Era got off to a good start by Duke standards. What the crowd witnessed were some things that were not evident in a large part of the Roof reign: hustle, ball pursuit, and well conditioned line play. Players were not grasping at their knees with fatigue. Players were shuttling in and out of the game with a greater sense of focus. As a colleague of mine put it, "There were times in the past when guys were talking about Psych 201 on 3rd and 1 in the Roof Era. Not the case this year. Not even close".
What else was not even close and was a welcome sight was the play of the offensive lines. Duke gave up a record number of sacks last year. Throughout this game, the interior of the line was solid. Zack Asack rolled away from the rush with some ease as linemen held their blocks. And the clincher is that three sacks were given up for both teams. That is a good news/bad news proposition, but it was clear that the ball was getting delivered quickly out of the backfield for both teams.
Not all was perfect. The wide receiver had trouble getting open, for instance. With the addition of young players like Randez James, does that bode well for the defensive secondary? Hard to tell at this stage. A few of the running backs had trouble finding cutback plays that were open momentarily. And the imaginative playcalling was limited for some people's liking. However, spring ball is limited to fifteen practices. One cannot install a comprehensive offense or defense in that time frame.
The prevailing sentiment was one that most fans expected. We've got an upgrade with David Cutcliffe and his staff. He is the most confident coach that we've had since Steve Spurrier. Arguably, he is the most experienced coach (32 years) that has coached on The Methodist Flats. Time will tell, but the signs point to better game days in Durham.
Blue Devil Nation Premium will give you a behind the scenes take on the game on Monday. The photo galleries from this event are generally for premium members, but we feel the entire Duke fanbase needs to get a feel for what Cutcliffe is doing with the program. I hope that all of you will get your season tickets and get ready for the four game home stand which opens the season. BDN supports all Duke Athletics and we here are especially excited about the 2008 football season.
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