Will Duke’s football season end Saturday against Miami? It’s not likely.
In a football season where so much has gone wrong on the field, Duke players, coaches and staff have done enough things right when it comes to managing the pandemic they are likely to get to complete their schedule.
Currently, Duke is scheduled to play Miami on Saturday night at Wallace Wade Stadium in its ninth ACC game and 10th game overall.
There remains a chance, more likely than not, that the Blue Devils (2-7 overall, 1-7 ACC) will tack on an additional week to their regular season to play on Dec. 12.
“I see us playing the next two weeks,” Duke coach David Cutcliffe said Monday, “but I’m not sure, I’m hesitant to say an opponent. We’ve been healthy all year. We’ve been available. I think that’s what’s happening right now. A lot of people are having issues with COVID-19. But we’re up and ready and our team enjoys the challenges and the opportunities to play.”
After losing 56-33 at Georgia Tech this past Saturday, Cutcliffe and the Blue Devils returned from Atlanta early Sunday morning expecting to face Florida State this week.
But the Seminoles have seen their last two games, against Clemson and Virginia, postponed as positive COVID-19 cases, contact tracing and injuries have left them short of players at key positions.
So the ACC on Sunday night switched things up, having Miami travel to face Duke instead
Complexities in making up, rescheduling games
Though the Hurricanes and Blue Devils normally play annually as Coastal Division rivals, the ACC did not have them playing when it reworked the schedule in August to feature 10 league games with one nonconference game amid the coronavirus pandemic.
So now they are back facing each other anyway, albeit on short notice for both sides.
“Our team is excited about playing another ranked team, a top-10 football team and certainly one that merits it,” Cutcliffe said of the Hurricanes (7-1, 6-1 ACC)
As for the Dec. 12 game, Florida State, Louisville and Clemson are possibilities. The Blue Devils haven’t faced any of those teams this season and none of them currently have games set for Dec. 12.
The Cardinals are scheduled to make up a game with Wake Forest on Dec. 19. Duke was supposed to play Wake Forest on Nov. 21, but COVID-19 issues at Wake caused that game to be canceled.
At that time, Wake proposed playing Duke on Dec. 19. But Cutcliffe balked at that, since Duke didn’t have a game scheduled after Dec. 5. During the week prior to the Nov. 21 scheduled game with Wake, Duke hadn’t played since Nov. 7.
“I think the initial reaction when you were in the middle of a three-week period of not playing and you get a game canceled and our guys were ready to play and then they hear it’s Dec. 19,” Cutcliffe said, “I don’t think they were very comfortable with that. I wasn’t comfortable with that. But now playing this past week and getting to play back-to-back these guys love to play. So it’s a little bit more appropriate to look at it as Dec. 5 and Dec. 12.”
The Duke-Wake game can’t be made up on Dec. 12 because Wake is making up a postponed game with Notre Dame that day. Other ACC games already scheduled are North Carolina at Miami and Virginia at Virginia Tech. Pitt and Georgia Tech are playing Dec. 10.
N.C. State, Boston College, Syracuse and Clemson are all scheduled to play their 10th league games this Saturday, completing their regular seasons. Duke has already played N.C. State, Boston College and Syracuse this season, only beating the Orange.
Being a freshman during the coronavirus pandemic
While it has had games postponed, switched around or canceled due to COVID-19 issues at other schools, Duke has yet to have coronavirus issues of its own affect its practice or game schedule.
That’s a point of pride for Cutcliffe and his staff as they manage a team that’s had a rough go of it in terms of game results.
“Our freshmen came here in mid-july really unprepared, not knowing what to expect,” Cutclife said. “No workouts with us before. They go nowhere. They go to class virtually. They are not really meeting new people. They are living in a room by themselves, they don’t even have a college roommate. These are unique challenges for young people.
“From the seniors down to true freshmen it’s been inspirational as a coach. It reminds me of why I got into coaching. Nobody enjoys getting beat, particularly me. I’ve never been a good loser. But this has been an inspirational year of football for us here. Nobody has run away from any part of it.”
Duke did announce Saturday that linebacker Rocky Shelton would be unavailable for the Georgia Tech game due to the school’s COVID-19 protocols. Cutcliffe said Shelton isn’t expected to be available for this week’s game with Miami.
But his absence is not due to him testing positive for the virus. On the contrary, Cutcliffe said, it’s Duke doing all it can to lower or eliminate the chances of multiple players getting exposed and infected.
“We didn’t have a positive player,” Cutcliffe said. “We have a player that’s out due to protocol. What I will tell you in terms of tracing or anything else that happens here, our protocol and what it’s been is crazy good.”
No. 9 Miami at Duke
When: 8 p.m., Saturday
Where: Wallace Wade Stadium, Durham
Watch: ACC Network
This story was originally published December 1, 2020 at 6:00 AM.