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| The Duke Blue Devils 'D' will adorn the field at the 2012 Belk Bowl - Peter Koutroumpis, PKS Consulting LLC |
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No one following the Duke Blue Devils (6-6) this season could ask for a better set-up to finish the 100th year of Blue Devils football - watching the team play its final game in the state of North Carolina at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte and competing in the Belk Bowl against the Big East co-champion Cincinnati Bearcats (9-3) on Thursday.
All the ingredients of a perfect ending are in place for Duke football fans who have endured 18 years to see their team compete in a postseason bowl game and to finish the season with a winning record.
Both of those things have not happened since the team played in the Hall of Fame Bowl game on Jan. 2, 1995, suffering a 34-20 loss to the Wisconsin Badgders, and finishing the season with an 8-4 record.
A pivotal game
The Belk Bowl match-up with the Bearcats holds much significance for Duke as it represents both an ending and a beginning of sorts.
A win for Duke will provide the seniors recruited by head coach David Cutcliffe with their first winning season and a bowl victory to cap it all off.
Though that scenario will bring to an end a four-plus year process to resurrect Duke football from the dormant stage it has been in at the bottom of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) for so long, it places the program in a place to go to a higher level.
Coach believes in you
Cutcliffe recently signed a significant contract extension that will allow him to continue the work he has started in putting Duke football back on the map, and a bowl win will provide the star to place on the grid for future recruits to know exactly where the football program stands.
The belief that the Duke coach has in his players' abilities and talents has brought them very far and he uses that to his advantage.
He is a leader of athletes who possess character and that is what he will continue to look for with his recruiting efforts.
His players' individual and collective talents have helped them establish new school, conference, and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) records throughout the season - reason for him to call this team is a 'special' one.
Cutcliffe continues to tell all who will listen that he has 'special people doing special things' all the time at Duke.
A team of destiny?
Team captains Sean Renfree, Connor Vernon Walt Canty, and Ross Cockrell have all set examples playing their respective positions throughout the season to establish their individual legacies at Duke.
There is no doubt that these players hold the Blue Devils' destiny in their hands when they take to the field against Cincinnati.
They will try to do what many believe they can't do - win.
Even after clinching a bowl bid with a final-seconds 33-30 finish against cross-Triangle rival the North Carolina Tar Heels, many were content to say that Duke's season had reached its peak.
Four consecutive losses to end the regular season lent support to that thinking.
The prototypical heart break and aching that has been a part of following Duke football for a long time has presented that smidgen of doubt for non-believers to hold on to.
However, for those who have watched the surprisingly exciting plays and exhilarating moments that this team has executed and experienced, one can only assume that the best is still yet to come.
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A look back: 100th season of Duke Football on Examiner.com:
