Even with Sun Bowl loss, Duke football’s climb hasn’t stopped

Chris Baird - TSN via Baird Photography

DURHAM, N.C. – Imagine the scene of a squad of fully padded football players with a 50-foot high obstacle in front of them.

In front of that obstacle – 50 yards wide – is a sign that reads: ‘Win with respect; lose with respect.’

No, that is not what Duke redshirt senior quarterback Anthony Boone, senior wide receiver and specialist Jamison Crowder, nor senior linebacker David Helton and their teammates literally saw in front of them when they took to the field in August.

However, there was a huge obstacle in front of them.

It was a similar obstacle that stood in front of the previous two teams they were a part of – both bowl participants.

Not bowl winners though.

At the beginning of the 2012 season, the Duke Blue Devils stepped onto the field in August picked to finish last in the Atlantic Coast Conference’s (ACC) Coastal Division.

The collective of media present at the annual ACC Kickoff didn’t pick them any better than the lower echelon of the standings – the abyss.

They’d been there many times and with the previous season results to justify it.

Not that David Cutcliffe was a bad head coach or that the prior senior classes were bad, but they weren’t as good as their opponents together as a collective.

That had to change and it did.

By the end of 2012 season, the Blue Devils sat at 6-6, and became bowl-eligible for the first time since 1995 and Cutcliffe was named ACC Coach of the Year.

All the reason to be happy, regardless of what happened and how they got there.

However, following a 52-45 gut-wrenching loss to the Miami Hurricanes that ended the regular season and denied them a winning record, a seventh win, the mood was not happy.

Not only had Duke surpassed anyone’s expectations, they blew them away.

For Cutcliffe, the opportunity to earn that winning season when it was in his team’s grasp and see it slip away was bitter sweet and left a bad taste that wouldn’t wash away until more wins accumulated.

“It’s gotta’ be important to you. That’s the accountability we have to each other – how important is it to win,” Cutcliffe stated following that loss.

“No offense, but you didn’t come to Duke just to get a quality degree. You’re here because you’re expected to win.”

That was Cutcliffe’s message of what the Blue Devils mindset would be from that point forward.

They had another chance to earn that seventh win, but they lost it in the Belk Bowl to the Cincinnati Bearcats.

Once again, they had it in their hands and let it slip away and finished the season 6-7.

They didn’t get the job done.

After successive leaps to climb over the obstacle in front of them, Duke couldn’t conquer it.

“We’re right there,” Cutcliffe said.

“It’s like being at the top of a wall and you’ve got both hands on and your fingers got a firm grip on it – but if you don’t have anything really left in you – you’re not going to climb over it.”

Even with senior quarterback Sean Renfree setting Belk Bowl records and ACC record-setter senior receiver Conner Vernon making catches, the Blue Devils couldn’t secure the program’s first bowl win since 1961.

They turned and walked away from the wall in December and returned to face it again the following August.

Looking forward to the 2013 season, the tandem of quarterbacks Boone and Brandon Connette, along with Crowder and running back Josh Snead, were set to get that winning season taken care of.

They did that and finished first in the Coastal with a 10-4 record overall.

That earned them a trip to the ACC Championship Game.

They had climbed that same wall, and came up with the results they were looking for.

However, as much as they won with respect, they unfortunately lost with it as well.

Back-to-back postseason losses showed the Blue Devils that there was another obstacle to conquer once they dropped down on the other side of the wall.

They had reached a summit, and now stood in front of a mountain.

Before moving on, they yelled back to Renfree, Vernon, and the graduating class before them who were on the other side of the wall.

“We got you. We got there – thanks.”

The loss in the ACC Championship game to eventual national-champion Florida State led by Heisman winning quarterback Jameis Winston was soon followed up by another one in the Chick-fil-A Bowl to Texas A&M led by 2012 Heisman pivot Johnny Manziel.

Duke had arrived, but had realized that finishing with 10 wins and ranked in the Top 25 was just the initial entry fee to become part of ‘the club’.

As the 2014 season came around, many were convinced that Duke had earned the respect they were looking for.

The first 10-win season in program history and appearances in successive bowls swayed the votes.

Selected as the preseason No. 2 in the ACC Coastal, the Blue Devils continued to live up to the expectations set on them.

Their early season results had them poised to repeat as Coastal Division champions.

However, as they suited up, they turned and saw the mountain with a large banner in front of it that read: ‘Success without adversity is falsely gained.’

Understanding that they would begin the season without Connette, their leading touchdown scorer who transferred to Fresno State to be closer to his ailing mother, the Blue Devils were prepared to deal with it.

However, as they began training camp, they didn’t expect to confront even more personnel losses.

During the team’s first scrimmage, captain and middle linebacker Kelby Brown went down with a season-ending ACL tear.

To add to that, tight end Braxton Deaver suffered a similar season-ending injury a week later.

The thought of repeating as division champions was quickly dissipating in many peoples’ minds.

The Blue Devils didn’t let it affect them though, no matter how daunting the situation looked before the season even started.

“It’s kind of a next-man-up mentality,” Boone described it at the time.

“Somebody has to step up…You gotta’ pick your man up. That’s kind of how it is. It’s like an Army mentality. One man goes down, you have to carry your man, or you gotta’ step up for him.”

Many on the Duke roster did just that throughout the season and the Blue Devils entered their third consecutive bowl game, the Sun Bowl, with a 9-3 record and seeking another 10-win season.

However, once again, the opportunity to win in the postseason slipped from their grasp.

Duke suffered its third straight postseason bowl loss, a 36-31 heartbreaker to Arizona State on Saturday.

As a result, next year’s senior class will face the mountain and summit that wasn’t successfully reached this year.

When that group eventually reaches that level, they too will look down to Boone (Duke’s winningest quarterback), Crowder (co-owner of the ACC’s all-time reception mark with Vernon), and Helton (the multiple conference and national award winner) and yell the very same words they heard them say to the seniors before them: “We got you. We got there – thanks.”

Duke football’s journey upwards will continue on – by winning more than losing, continuing to earn respect while becoming an established member of ‘the club’, and working through adversity to do so – the Blue Devils way.