Chick-fil-A Bowl, Duke and integrity go hand-in-hand

Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network

DURHAM, N.C. – The 22nd-ranked Duke Blue Devils football team got not one, but two invites from the Chick-fil-A Bowl this week.

Even though the Blue Devils got their verbal invite from the event organizers via a teleconference on Sunday night, they got the official notice when Gary Stokan, President and CEO of the Chick-fil-A Bowl, and his staff traveled to Durham to present it to Duke coach David Cutcliffe and Vice President and Director of Athletics Kevin White on Thursday.

Bowl staff along with Duke Athletics department personnel coordinated a press conference in the Yoh Football Center in front of gathered media and supporters to officially present Duke, as representatives of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), their written invitation to play the Southeasern Conference (SEC) representative, the No. 20 Texa s A&M Aggies.

It seems that the Chick-fil-A Bowl likes to do things in a high quality manner and with integrity.

Led by Stokan, the message was so delivered as the Blue Devils and their supporters received a thorough explanation of why they deserved to be in the ninth-oldest bowl game in the history of college football and the oldest ACC vs. SEC match-up in bowl business.

Stokan began the press conference by referring to the Bowl’s selection process which apparently had received criticism in making Duke its selection.

“I understand that there’s been some consternation about our selection process,” Stokan said.

“There’s been some mention of politics and I want to address that upfront because I feel that it denigrates the great season that Coach Cutcliffe and Duke has had. It denigrates, and I thought was unprofessional in casting dispersions on John Swofford and the ACC, as well as the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

Stokan described in detail the process that his staff and organizing committee followed – a regimented and rigorous process – to select the two teams that would compete in their game.

Call it a thorough vetting of transparency.

Stokan’s words were intended to truly lift any possible sidebar and frivolous discussion for any naysayers to have regarding Duke’s candidacy for such a high-profile bowl game.

“I’ve been CEO and President for 16 years and every year we have done the right thing in selecting our teams,” Stokan continued.

“There is some pressure on that first pick after the BCS because there’s a trickle-down effect. I want you to know that there was no doubt in our mind – as a matter of fact, on Friday night at the function in Charlotte, the Legends (Dinner), that I told both these gentlemen to my left (White and Cutcliffe) that if Clemson’s up in the Orange Bowl, which I thought they would be – Duke was going to be our selection.”

“Other than a conversation Friday night with John Swofford asking him if he thought the Orange was going to take Clemson, that’s the only conversation I had with John Swofford and the ACC…There were no politics. Again that denigrates the season that Duke had and how we thought about Duke. In this tweeting world that we all live, I just think it was unprofessional and inaccurate for someone to put out that we were not going to select Duke because there was some leveraging and some politics going on for us to have to select Duke.”

With that said, integrity and respect intact for all parties involved, Stokan outlined the various points on the checklist that the Chick-fil-A Bowl used in selecting the Blue Devils before handing the Bowl’s written invitation to White.

Duke had its best season ever in school history and claimed its first ACC Coastal Division Championship.

The Blue Devils were ranked nationally in the BCS at No. 24 and held an eight-game winning streak going into the ACC Championship game, a run that included beating two top-20 opponents in their division (Virginia Tech, Miami), and subsequently winning that division.

Check.

Check, check.

Check, check, check.

The Blue Devils met each criterion.

“Lastly, we in our bowl game, take great pride in letting teams play themselves into our game or let themselves play out of our game,” Stokan concluded.

“It’s not some cigar smoke-filled room where we’re sittin’ up making these decisions. It’s the players that are making the decisions. Duke played their way into our game and are very deserving to be in our game.”

For anyone who dreamed of the Cinderella-type scenario where Duke’s 10- win season was not real and that its chariot to a significant Bowl game had turned into a pumpkin – thus, not earning a spot in a sold out postseason game on New Year’s Eve in front of an exclusive nationwide television audience – can now open their eyes and wake up.

The Duke Blue Devils are headed to the Chick-fil-A Bowl and now have their invitation in hand to go along with the respect and support of their hosts to prove it.