Last year’s loss to Wake was an ‘embarrassment.’ Duke doesn’t want it to happen again
The lopsided result from a cold, wet day last November provides Duke some extra fire this week.
Wake Forest ran over the Blue Devils when the two ACC teams played in the regular-season finale last Nov. 24 at Wallace Wade Stadium.
On the way to a 59-7 wipeout, the Demon Deacons gained 340 of their 517 total yards on the ground with running back Cade Carney rushing for 223 yards all by himself.
With Duke traveling to play at Wake Forest on Saturday night (7:30 p.m., ACC Network), defensive end Chris Rumph had plenty to say about what he remembers from that day and what the Blue Devils plan to do this time.
“The score,” Rumph said. “Embarrassment. Come on our field put, what, 50-something on us? So we’ve had this marked on our schedule since last year. We’re coming to practice with the mindset that that’s not going to happen again. And we are going to their house this year.”
Duke (4-6, 2-4 ACC) needs to find and implement whatever motivation it can find. The Blue Devils have dropped four consecutive games and, to be eligible for a bowl game, must close the regular season with wins over Wake Forest (7-3, 3-3) and Miami (6-4, 4-3).
The Demon Deacons are up first on Duke’s agenda and the Blue Devils are eager to renew this annual ACC rivalry series.
“Last year, the way things went against Wake Forest, I feel like everyone’s kind of got a little bit more of an edge this week,” Duke redshirt sophomore center Will Taylor said. “At least I do. I can’t speak for everybody. But that’s what it feels like, so I’m hoping that shows up on Saturday.”
While he said he expects players to have those opinions because they are competitors, Duke coach David Cutcliffe said he’s not bringing up last year’s result when talking to the team.
“They remember those things,” Cutcliffe said. “You hope you have competitors. But because you say something has nothing to do with outcome. Outcome is all about your work and what your input is. You know, I don’t ever ride that kind of emotional wave as a tool of inspiration because I think it’s pretty shallow most of the time. It doesn’t last.”
Cutcliffe said last season’s lopsided score was “certainly an outlier” due to the circumstances. Duke had already assured itself of a bowl trip. Wake Forest needed the win to even its record at 6-6 and make the postseason.
That was the exact opposite of 2017, when Duke went to Winston-Salem with a 5-6 record and beat already bowl-bound Wake Forest 31-23 to earn a trip to the Quick Lane Bowl.
Both the Blue Devils and Demon Deacons have posted back-to-back winning seasons that were culminated with bowl wins.
This year, Wake Forest has already reached bowl eligibility and is in the mix for the ACC’s Orange Bowl berth.
Duke, after starting 4-2, is in a slide that has included one-sided losses to Virginia, 48-14, Notre Dame 38-7 and Syracuse, 49-6, and a difficult 20-17 loss at North Carolina.
Rumph said Syracuse simply “wanted it more” than Duke did last week so his team needs to fix that for these last two games, starting at Wake Forest.
So the Blue Devils, if the logic of the last two seasons applies, should have more at stake this time against Wake Forest.
But, as Cutcliffe said, saying and doing are two different things.
“You’ve got to practice with energy and effort,” Rumph said. “You’ve got to practice with 110 percent effort so you can play that way. It’s not going to be easy. Wake is a good team. But we are ready for it, though.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2019 at 3:18 PM with the headline "Last year’s loss to Wake was an ‘embarrassment.’ Duke doesn’t want it to happen again."