With Duke taking on Stanford this weekend, the question arises: Why can Stanford, known for its academics, do so much better than equally admired Duke, which lost to Richmond last Saturday?

Well, I don’t think Stanford ever went to the depths of Duke,” said Blue Devil Coach David Cutcliffe. “They’ve had some modern history where most of our history goes well back where apparently a pretty conscious decision to minimize the importance of football was made at Duke. So we’re in a much different situation as far as recovery.”

But Cutcliffe said Duke can get there. “They do it with quality young men that are great students, and we’re going to do the same thing,” he said. “We feel very good about the track we’re on. We’re recruiting very well. Only thing we don’t feel good about right now obviously is our opening game performance, and that’s my
responsibility.

“But what we’re doing in recruiting and what we’re doing in facilities and focus of taking a program to another level, we’re absolutely on that same path, and there’s no question in my mind we can do what our basketball program does, compete nationally with Duke-quality student athletes.”