Duke Football: Respectable at last.

The Duke Blue Devils are 5-1! Not an uncommon headline, however its a sentence one usually expects in December, NOT in October. For years, 18 to be exact, the Duke Blue Devils have been bullied mercilessly on the gridiron. This year however, the Blue Devils are the child who had enough and started fighting back. Not only does Duke look like a decent football team, but you can tell that they believe they are a decent football team. With a 5-1 record and two winnable games remaining, Duke could be going bowling for the first time since 1994 when Fred Goldsmith lead they to the Hall of Fame Bowl (Now the Outback Bowl).

Tom O'Brien: Fools Gold

Today I find myself conflicted. I'm exceedingly proud of my fellow Wolves of NC State for upsetting the #3 ranked Seminoles yesterday. However, such a high profile victory means that State will likely refuse to cut ties with respected but ultimately average Tom O'Brien for yet another year. O'Brien has coached the Wolfpack to respectable records for the last two seasons (9-4 & 8-5) but his overall record at NC State is 36-32 over 5 plus seasons. While State may not carry the reputation as a pro factory that recruits look for, it still has a passionate fan base & State of the art Athletic facilities. While the die hard fan base isn't going anywhere, in a few years those facilities wont be state of the art. Between the evolution of new lifting technologies and the construction of new facilities across the nation, that eventuality is certain & State will have squandered its astounding asset under the direction of the infuriatingly inconsistent Chuck Amato & the untiringly average Tom O'Brien. State hasn't been a national power for years, if ever, but they could easily be a perennial top 25 program and O'Brien has failed to deliver on that potential. While high profile victories are great, & O'Brien has his share, they mean nothing if they don't elevate your program, & in that regard O'Brien has failed.