I’ll be at Koskinen tonight, at 8pm, to check this one out. Not only because I’m curious, but because I’m working on a story about Duke women’s soccer that will culminate on October 13, when they face Carolina in Chapel Hill.
For the first time maybe ever, you can actually make a compelling argument that Duke is better than their Tobacco Road rivals. UNC’s greatness is established; 20 of 28 NCAA titles, 20 of 22 ACC tournament championships, and a 33-2-1 all-time record against Duke. Even on the rare instances when the Blue Devils won, Carolina finished the year as the better squad.
This year, though, Duke is ranked higher. They beat Texas A&M, who beat Carolina. They beat Notre Dame 3-1, who Carolina beat 2-1 in overtime. And tonight, they have a chance to beat a team that just won against Carolina for the first time in 25 years of trying.
The real test won’t come until Duke faces Carolina, but this is another baby step; progress toward proving to themselves that they have the superior team.
Last thing: check out the awesome Erwin Cup scoreboard Will put on the right side bar. We’re going big time, baby!
-The Duke women’s team is red-hot, but the men are entrenched in a year-long struggle. They started off ranked, but a series of close losses pushed them well out of the top 25. On the other hand, they’re now working on a 4-match winning streak in which they’ve scored at least four goals in each. Here’s video from their win against Presbyterian. Notice how the players don’t seem to celebrate even a little after a goal. Do they hate each other?
-Unlike Duke, UNC has had a dream season. They started off the year with a win over #1-ranked Louisville, and have lost just one game, a 1-0 road loss to Virginia Tech, en route to compiling an 8-1 record. Their last win, yesterday against #14 Old Dominion, should shoot them up even higher than their current #5 ranking.
I will be there for the second ever Erwin Cup match. If anyone attends, any kind of Erwin Cup sign will make the pages of this blog.
1:36 seconds into the video (below) Miles Plumlee takes a ball from Kyle Singler and dunks over everything. Miles Plumlee is an unstoppable force. Hell, just watch the entire video and savor that brilliant tournament. The 09-10 NCAA Tournament is probably my favorite sporting event of all time. I expected another early Sweet 16 exit but the Devils used brilliant defense combined with the “Big Three” and beat all comers. Once Lance Thomas half-dunked over the entire Baylor team I felt like we had a fantastic chance to make the final four. My nerves were firing during the Butler game and I still couldn’t believe how close Hayward’s last shot was. If his shot had gone in I would’ve quit sports forever. During March Madness highlights we would no longer see Christian Laettner banging his magical jumper, we would see Gordon Hayward knocking down a clutch half-court shot after Kyle Singler was illegally leveled by Matt “The Creeper” Howard. Enough reminiscing, we’ve got work to do.
UNC field hockey player Elizabeth Stephens became the first athlete to score a point in the Erwin Cup last weekend, netting a double overtime goal to give UNC a 1-0 field hockey win over Duke.
Since the match took place in Chapel Hill, UNC earns 1.5 points. The current standings are:
UNC: 1.5 Duke: 0
For more information about the Erwin Cup, a year-long athletic competition pitting Duke against UNC, read here:
Holy sweet suffering saints on the cross: Duke scored 48 points.
It’s not like it hasn’t happened before. In fact, it happened last year, twice. But after losing to Richmond and barely surviving on the road at BC, I was just hoping we could eke out a win against Tulane. Instead, the Devils brought the mollywhomp sticks to Wallace Wade. Renfree threw for 278 yards. The Killer Vs rolled up 168 yards in the air. Will Snyderwine made a field goal.
It was a great win, and after a miserable first two weeks we’re back to .500. 2-2. Before the season, I wrote a joke post where I convinced myself Duke could win a national title. Now, it’s time to get serious and ask a legitimate question: can Duke make a bowl game? This is the next rung on the ladder for a program starting to poke its head up from the bowels of misery.
It’s going to take six wins, which means Duke has to win four of its last eight. Let’s check out the remaining schedule and see what we can sell ourselves.
History is about to be made, my friends. W.A. Erwin is about to ride Tobacco Road again, screaming his pioneering head off. In case you’re not schooled, the Erwin Cup is a brand new competition pitting Duke and UNC athletics against one another in a year-long battle. Points are accrued for rivalry wins, ACC titles, Final Four appearances, and National Championships. The sports are weighted according to importance, ensuring that this is the best and most accurate measure of the rivalry to date. For more info, read up on:
Tomorrow afternoon, at 1pm, it begins. UNC field hockey takes on Duke at Chapel Hill’s Henry Stadium in the first ever Erwin Cup set-to. Points are at stake, baby! The eyes of the world are on us!
If anyone happens to attend this match, or any other, you can achieve instant Tobacco Road Blues notoriety by taking a picture yourself with a sign at the game. It can be home-made, elaborate, or purchased. All we ask is that you have the blog name written somewhere along with the words “Erwin Cup.” Take a picture, send it along, and I will post the hell out of it and write some complimentary words. And you know what? I’ll also name the match after you. BAM! I can do that. Limited time only. Get it while it’s piping.
Am I expecting any blog readers to attend a field hockey match on a college football Saturday? Not necessarily. Am I willing to be surprised? Fuck yes necessarily. So willing. So willing that I just willed myself a daydream about field hockey. At least it started off that way. Turned into a daydream about me and an angry Abe Lincoln beating up some State fans in a parking lot. But there was like a minute or two of field hockey, I swear.
Come Monday, we should have a sweet page for you with a running tally of the Erwin Cup score courtesy of William the Intrepid (Site Designer). After that, we’re straight grooving for the year.
Second-to-last thing: the good folks at Grantland are letting me write a College Football Spectacular every Thursday. It’s a preview of the weekend ahead, it’s fun to write, and I would dearly appreciate y’all’s support. Triangle Prophets coming later.
Last thing: I discovered this song yesterday, and I’ve listened to it basically on repeat. What a chorus. Happy Friday, free souls.
It’s crazy to think of this as a possibility, considering UNC’s ridiculous dominance since the NCAA championship was founded in 1982 (20 of 29 titles), and their uber-ridiculous dominance of Duke (33-2-1 all-time). But there’s a chance that we’re witnessing a changing of the guards. Here’s the evidence:
1. Duke is ranked 4th in the country, while UNC is 5th.
2. UNC needed overtime to beat defending national champion Notre Dame 2-1. Two days later, Duke smoked ’em 3-1.
3. Duke freshman Kelly Cobb (7 goals) looks better than anyone on UNC, including Kealia Ohai.
4. Against four common opponents (Notre Dame, Houston, Texas A&M, UNC-Greensboro), Duke is 4-0 with a +11 goal differential. UNC is 3-1 with a +7 goal differential.
These are just numbers, and nothing really matters until the teams meet in Chapel Hill on October 13, but to see Duke consistently outperform their Tobacco Road brethren is quite a novelty. Looks like I picked a good season to get interested in college soccer.
I just dunked and now I'm going to give up a bad foul trying to block a shot on defense!!!
Look at those biceps. Â They make me salivate with jealously and maybe a bit of romanticism. This, my friends, is Mr. Mason Plumlee. Â A six foot, ten inch, 235 pound monster of an athlete. When he committed to Duke I was extremely excited. Â He was oft compared to Josh McRoberts. Â Fast, athletic, with a handle and impressive passing abilities. Â Thus far Mason has shown flashes of potential, but has yet to live up to that billing.
I still can’t believe this happened. After thoroughly outplaying Boston College on the road, in every facet of the game, Duke was going to break our hearts again. I look at the numbers today, and I can feel the anger from a hypothetical loss welling up. We could have had just our third ACC road win since 2003! We had 465 yards of total offense! The had 328! Renfree set a school record with 40 completions! Thompson averaged five yards a carry! Rettig for BC barely completed half his passes! We held them to 3.2 yards per carry!
Guess what, folks? We are just ONE WEEK AWAY from the first Erwin Cup showdown! On Saturday, September 24, Duke and UNC meet in field hockey, and the first points in Cup history will be awarded. The excitement is palpable. I might even attend the match. That’s how effing crazy this is getting.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Before we get to the weekend, a quick note from last night. The #5 Duke women are ranked ahead of the Tar Heels, a rare occurrence, and they preserved their lead with a 3-0 win against the College of Charleston last night. Check out the highlights below, including Kelly Cobb’s sixth goal of the season and a nifty header by Natasha Anasi.
Now, then. Here’s what’s on tap for the weekend in Duke and UNC sports:
