Tag: Durham

Duke football reveals new ‘Durham Camo’ merchandise line

Ahead of Saturday’s rivalry football game against UNC on Saturday, the Duke Blue Devils launched their ‘Durham Camo’ merchandise line.

It’s officially North Carolina week on the Duke football schedule, and as has become the norm over the past few seasons, the Blue Devils are getting creative with their team apparel.

The Blue Devils still haven’t disclosed their uniform combination for this weekend’s game against the Tar Heels, but the team’s social media account did share a video on Wednesday introducing fans to the ‘Durham Camo’ merchandise line.

Rather than the muddled greens that fans likely envision when they hear the word camouflage, ‘Durham Camo’ uses greys and browns to mimic the campus buildings.

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“Each stone handpicked for crafting this great campus,” the video’s narration said. “A tradition that has lasted for 100 years, brought to life once again.”

The video showed off shirts, towels, and hats each accentuated with the stone color scheme, all worn by team captain Aaron Hall.

A release from the team confirmed that the Blue Devils roster would wear the new designs before Saturday’s game.

Duke men’s tennis hosting first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament this weekend

Duke men’s tennis welcomes Alabama, Charlotte, and UNC Asheville into Durham on Friday and Saturday for the opening rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

The Blue Devils get to host the opening rounds of the NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament.

Monday’s selection show tabbed Duke as the No. 13 seed, and the top 16 teams in the bracket get to play the first two rounds of the team tournament on home court.

The Alabama Crimson Tide, the 21st overall seed, head to Durham as the second seed in the region. Charlotte and UNC Asheville round out the four-team competition.

This is the second straight year that the Blue Devils get to host a regional after they finished the 2023-24 season with an 18-9 record. Duke won nine of its 12 conference matchups, including a 4-0 win over North Carolina in the opening matchup of the ACC Tournament and a 4-1 road victory over a top-10 Wake Forest team on April 12.

Duke closed the season with seven wins in its last nine matches, including five victories in a row from March 15 to April 6.

The Blue Devils take on UNC Asheville at 4 p.m. on Friday, and the winner of that battle will take on either Alabama or Charlotte on Saturday.

How social media reacted to Notre Dame-Duke: Blue Devils side

Heartbreaking night in Durham.

It looked like Duke was going to pull off the upset of Notre Dame in the final minute. But one long [autotag]Sam Hartman[/autotag] first-down run and one [autotag]Audric Estime[/autotag] touchdown run later, the Blue Devils found themselves behind, 21-14.

Already faced with a long shot of scoring a touchdown after starting their final possession deep in their own territory, the Blue Devils’ chances were snuffed out. Riley Leonard was strip-sacked by [autotag]Howard Cross[/autotag], and [autotag]Marist Liufau[/autotag] recovered the fumble. The raucous crowd that had been in Durham all day was silenced.

More concerning was that Leonard injured his leg on the strip-sack and came off the field without putting any weight on the leg. Hartman even left his ABC postgame interview to check on him. The injury undoubtedly was one of many things on Blue Devils fans’ minds as they wondered what could have been.

Here are some of the reactions to the game by Blue Devils fans on social media:

Notre Dame defensive lineman Jordan Botelho ejected for targeting

Oof.

Notre Dame has had a tough time with Duke in the second half, and it just got even tougher. Defensive lineman [autotag]Jordan Botelho[/autotag] has been ejected after called for targeting against Blue Devils quarterback Riley Leonard deep in Irish territory. Naturally, this means Botelho will not be eligible for the first half of the next game against Louisville.

The Blue Devils quickly made the targeting call hurt as Leonard hit Jordan Moore for the game-tying touchdown. They then took a 14-13 lead on the point-after kick, and the Irish have an uphill battle ahead of them. Durham is up for grabs right now as the home team might be on the verge of another upset victory that would merit storming the field.

The Irish have time to stop the celebration, but they haven’t shown much indication that they’ll snap out of their funk. If that doesn’t happen, forget about a national championship this year.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Social media reacts to Notre Dame touchdown after fake punt

Nice sequence of events.

Notre Dame knew it needed to open its road contest against Duke with a bang. It appeared that wouldn’t be the case when the Irish were faced with a fourth-and-4 at the Blue Devils’ 47-yard line. Instead, the Irish successfully executed a fake punt as [autotag]Jeremiyah Love[/autotag] ran for 34 yards:

Two plays later, [autotag]Audric Estime[/autotag] was in the end zone on a 7-yard run, giving the Irish an early 7-0 lead:

One of the criticisms of the Irish during their loss to Ohio State is that they got too cute at times instead of doing what had been working. That criticism probably wouldn’t have happened so often if those cute plays had worked. They did this time, and that put an early damper on the festivities in Durham.

We’ll see how this game plays out, but in the meantime, here are some  the best reactions on social media to the Estime touchdown:

 

What the experts are predicting: Notre Dame at Duke

Do the Irish bounce back?

As disappointing as Notre Dame’s loss to Ohio State was, the time to dwell on it has passed. If it hasn’t for the Irish, they’ll be in trouble against Duke, and that will mean the end of any College Football Playoff hopes. Their job is to not let that happen. If they’re mentally strong enough, they won’t.

Let’s see if any experts agree that the Irish will be able to move past their last game:

Duke statistical leaders through four games

Does anyone on this list worry you?

There are few programs college football fans are buying more stock in right now than Duke. Maybe the only program that has turned more heads is the Deion Sanders-led Colorado. ESPN decided that there’s enough interest in the Blue Devils that the next episode of “College GameDay” will be broadcast from Durham. For once, people on Duke’s campus are excited and not about men’s basketball.

It is there that Notre Dame will play this weekend coming off the toughest of losses to Ohio State. The Irish will be facing a team trying to prove it’s for real and belongs with the best of college football. Plus, a raucous crowd at Wallace Wade Stadium likely will be waiting for them. Only they will be able to put a damper on the celebratory mood.

Here are the players who have gotten it done for the Blue Devils so far and will look to continue to do so against the Irish:

Notre Dame among first four out in latest tournament projections

Not good.

Notre Dame needed a strong showing in the ACC Tournament to get off the NCAA Tournament bubble. Instead, the Irish suffered losses to Pittsburgh and Wake Forest, and that was it for them in Durham. Two days after D1Baseball projected them as the last team in, they now are the second team out. Before falling to the Demon Deacons, they were the first team out.

The Irish have no one to blame but themselves for this. Beginning with a defeat to a putrid Northwestern team at Wrigley Field, the Irish lost five of their last six before Selection Monday. When you sputter towards the finish line before the tournament, you don’t do yourself any favors with the selection committee. Nothing the Irish did earlier in the season will matter much if they don’t have momentum, and they don’t.

The Irish will need a lot of luck to break into the field. To put it mildly, having to leave your season up to chance stinks. Alas, here they are.

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Notre Dame victim of Pittsburgh power surge in ACC Tournament opener

Not a good start.

Notre Dame entered the ACC Tournament badly needing to pad its NCAA Tournament resume. Getting to the elimination bracket in Durham requires winning the assigned pool. Wednesday’s tournament opener will not help matters as Pittsburgh went deep early and often in a 9-5 win over the Irish.

The Panthers (24-30) hit five home runs, including one from Sky Duff to lead off the game. While the Irish (30-23) battled back from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game, that relief was short-lived. With two on and two outs in the fourth inning, Noah Martinez hit a three-run homer to right off [autotag]Aidan Tyrell[/autotag] on a full count. That put the Panthers up, 6-3, and the Irish never mounted a serious threat after that.

Although the Irish outhit the Panthers, 15-13, all but two of those hits were singles. They went 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position and hit into four double plays. They also struck out 10 times with three hitters fanning at least twice. [autotag]Carter Putz[/autotag] had the most respectable game by scoring twice and going 3 for 5 with two RBIs, one of them coming on one of two Irish doubles.

The Irish now have lost four of their past five games. They’ll get another chance in this conference tournament against Wake Forest, but the clock is ticking. While most projections currently have them in the NCAA Tournament, they very much are on the bubble. If they come away from Durham empty-handed, there’s going to be a lot of nervousness among the team up until the bracket is revealed.

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Notre Dame regular season comes to rough end against Boston College

Not a great night in Beantown.

BOSTON — Notre Dame didn’t plan on losing twice to Boston College in two different locations in one day, but it happened. With wet weather anticipated Saturday in Boston, the game scheduled for that day was moved up to Friday afternoon. The Irish lost that game, 7-2, and they hoped a shift in venues from that first game also would shift their luck. It didn’t happen in an 8-4 defeat at Fenway Park that closed the regular season.

The Irish (30-22, 15-15) ran into early trouble when Joe Vetrano put the Eagles (34-17, 16-14) on top in the first inning with a two-out, two-run homer to left-center. [autotag]Zack Prajzner[/autotag] got the Irish in the hit column with a leadoff double in the fourth, then scored on a [autotag]Vinny Martinez[/autotag] RBI single. That 2-1 score was as close as the Irish would get the rest of the evening.

After [autotag]Jackson Dennies[/autotag] pitched well for five innings, striking out six and walking nobody, [autotag]Caden Spivey[/autotag] relieved him in the sixth, and that’s when the wheels fell off. The Eagles lit Spivey up for six runs, three of which came on Vetrano’s second home run of the game, this one a three-run blast to right. Ten Eagles came to the plate in the frame, and Spivey recorded only two outs before [autotag]Shawn Stiffler[/autotag] gave him the hook.

If the Eagles’ offense hadn’t exploded, starting pitcher John West might have beat the Irish by himself. Over seven-plus innings, he gave up three hits despite striking out only four. Two of the three runs he allowed came during an eighth inning in which the Irish benefited from walks, hit batsmen and a wild pitch. He exited to an ovation after putting the Irish’s first two hitters on base in that inning.

The Irish did get one more run in the ninth on a pinch-hit home run by [autotag]Nick Juaire[/autotag], but all that did was make the game look closer than it was. The focus for Irish fans by that point was the ACC Tournament, which begins Tuesday in Durham. Between losing twice to the Eagles and the earlier loss this week to Northwestern at Wrigley Field, the Irish likely will need to win it or at least get to the title game to have a shot at the NCAA Tournament. Get those prayer circles going.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89