First In A Series- Ranking The ACC Coastal Division Teams:Duke

New coach but same old position for the Blue Devils- at the bottom. David Cutcliffe is the new man on campus who will try to instill a new attitude and head the Blue Devils upward in the Coastal Division.

Cutcliffe inherits a program that has gone 17–97 since the Bowl Championship Series was formed in 1998. That by the way is the worst record among Division I Bowl Subdivision teams. The Blue Devils went 1–11 in 2007 which led to Cutcliffe being hired from Tennessee where he had spent the previous two seasons as Tennessee’s offensive coordinator

At quarterback, Cutcliffe has Thad Lewis, who started every game in 2007, and Zack Asack, who started six games in 2005. Both will compete for the starting job with Lewis in the lead at the conclusion of spring practice.

Cutcliffe has said that he wants Duke’s offense to be similar in structure and philosophy to the New England Patriots. Senior Re’quan Boyette returns as the leading rusher (432 yards) and will be the feature back in the Blue Devil offense.

At receiver, the only proven pass catcher is senior Eron Riley who led the ACC in yards per catch (20.8 yards) and ranked second in the conference with nine touchdown receptions and 830 receiving yards.

The Blue Devils do have talent at the linebacker position in junior linebacker Vincent Rey who had 111 tackles last season and senior linebacker Michael Tauiliili who recorded 108 tackles last season, including 13 for loss. .

FSU It's Time Ranking Prediction: It will take time for Cutcliffe to bring significant change to a program that has been down for so long. I am going out on a limb and predicting that the Blue Devils end up at #6 in the Coastal Division in 2008.