Duke kickoff returners have shown great restraint by downing the ball in the end zone and giving the Blue Devils the ball at the 25 yard line – as opposed to the 20 in years past.

It’s not by accident that you don’t see Duke returners coming out from a couple of yards deep in the end zone and getting tackled before reaching the 25.

“I’ve paid a lot of attention to the new rule,” Duke coach David Cutcliffe said. “We did a lot of work on this in spring practice and in camp. Really I go into every game with a plan and if I see a kicker that has hang time and a unit that can run, we’re not bringing anything out of the end zone.”

In looking at other games, Cutcliffe said he sees “knuckleheads” coming out three yards back in the end zone and getting tackled at the 12.

In addition, Duke wants its kicker to get the ball inside the 5 on the kickoff without the ball going in the end zone.

“We’ve got a freshman kicker, and he’s going to get better and better at putting it where we want it,” Cutcliffe said of Ross Martin. “If we can put the ball where we want it, and put it at the 1, or 2 or 3-yard line, we think we can tackle you inside the 20. Why would we give you the ball on the 25-yard line?”

He said the Blue Devils work very hard at this aspect of the game. “How great an advantage is it to go back-to-back if you can pin somebody at the 12-yard line, go out there, play great defense, go three-and-out and put a score back on top of that. You can take a team out of a game.”

He said it’s a big rule change and his team has made a big deal about it. “Our return men have strict orders one way or the other,” he said. “I don’t even like them catching it if they know it’s deep, because there is no reason. The only thing that can happen if you catch one in the end zone and drop it, it’s a live ball. People don’t know that. So if I put them in a spot and it’s over their head, just leave it alone and leave it at that.”