It’s amazing the optimism that new Duke coach Ted Roof seems to have conjured out of thin air. The Duke football program has been profoundly bad for a long while now, so it’s jarring to see people so excited about their season.
Roof did coach in five games last year and Duke did look like a completely different team after he took over. They managed two wins, but the teams they beat were an inconsistent Georgia Tech and the completely collapsed Tar Heels. In fairness, Duke did play both Tennessee and NC State close as well.
The thing is, it’s not unusual for new coaches to light a quick spark and get surprising results. It’s sort of the coaching version of the Ewing Theory. The hard part is making it carry over to the next season. Duke still has nothing approaching the talent of the other ACC teams, except maybe Wake Forest. If Roof can get a .500 season out of this team, he deserves all the accolades he can get.