1) Duke’s basketball team hasn’t had a truly great point guard since Jason Williams, but Duke’s football team has a great one this season in QB Thaddeus Lewis, who has 62 career touchdown heaves and a Duke Chapel full of confidence right now. UNC quarterback TJ Yates, who’s taken almost as much flack as former Duke point guard Greg Paulus, is playing his best football of the season after a stunning victory at Virginia Tech. While neither of these players is the caliber of a Ty Lawson or a Jason Williams, both of these gridiron point guards are more experienced and productive than their basketball team counterparts, Nolan Smith of Duke and Larry Drew III of UNC.
2) I love college basketball as much as the next North Carolinian, but (other than the NCAA tournament) it doesn’t have the same tension as college football games like this one. If UNC loses to Duke in basketball during the regular season, the Tar Heels can still go on to win the conference or the national title. If UNC loses to Duke in football on Saturday, then the Heels’ bowl hopes likely go the way of the toilet bowl. Making matters worse, a win for Duke would make the Blue Devils bowl eligible for the first time since 1994 which would make losing the game a bit like driving three hours out of your way to buy your arch enemy their favorite type of cupcake. For 100 dollars.
3) No one likes watching a movie character with too many super powers or no personality flaws (This is why Batman is ten times better than Superman), but fortunately for us, interesting ineptitudes abound in this in-state showdown. Duke’s fatal flaw is its atrocious running game. If you take away the Devils’ backyard beating of neighboring NCCU, Duke is averaging less than two yards per carry, good for dead last in the entire country. Enormous Duke basketball player Brian Zoubek could literally tip over like a felled tree at the line of scrimmage (or “take a charge” as Duke basketball fans would say) and average more yards per carry than Duke’s football team has this season. UNC’s weakness is its shorthanded passing game, which has averaged just 5.65 yards per attempt, good for 112th in the nation. UNC’s outlet passing on the hardwood is better than its downfield passing on the gridiron, but that’s part of why they’re so interesting to watch. How many different types of reverses can UNC Offensive Coordinator John Shoop call to overcome the lack of a Tar Heel passing game? Tune in to find out!
4) Duke and UNC certainly do not exude football traditions the way that Notre Dame, Michigan, and Ohio State do. However, both teams’ coaches have seen glory days on the gridiron and are hiking their way back up to the top. Chief Blue Devil David Cutcliffe coached Peyton Manning at Tennessee to a 2nd place finish in the Heisman voting while Boss Butch Davis led Miami to a #2 final ranking in 2000. If you watch this game, you can say that you started liking Butch Davis before he hit it big, which would be sort of like seeing Blink 182 in a small venue in their first show of the comeback tour. Or something like that. In that same vein, now’s a great time for fair-weather UNC and Duke fans to appear out of the tobacco fields at just the opportune time. Be the first (more like second…) one on the bandwagon, and watch this game Saturday!
5) Lastly, the prestigious Carlyle Cup is at stake, and for the first time ever, UNC could keep Duke from earning a single point in the series. The Tar Heels currently lead 3.5 to 0. If they win Saturday, they’ll still have to beat Duke 4 times in basketball, once in volleyball, wrestling, rowing, and fencing— and twice in cross country, golf, lacrosse, swimming, tennis, track, and baseball—in order to achieve the feat. It seems unlikely, but stranger things have happened, like Duke starting this season 5-3 in football…
