Duke 2005 Season | Team Page	Select Conference ACC Big East Big Ten Big 12 Conference USA Independents MAC Mountain West Pac-10 SEC Sun Belt WAC Select Team

Special Athlon offer for SI.com readers

The Lowdown 2006 Schedule Coach: Ted Roof (3rd season, 5-22) 2005 record: 1-10 ACC finish: 0-8 (6th Coastal) 2005 I-A offensive rankings: Rushing: 81st (127.1 ypg) Passing: 113th (121.0 ypg) 2005 I-A defensive rankings: Rushing: 108th (207.3 ypg) Passing: 36th (204.0 ypg) Date Opponent Sept. 2 Richmond Sept. 9 at Wake Forest Sept. 16 at Virginia Tech Sept. 30 Virginia Oct. 7 at Alabama Oct. 14 Florida State Oct. 21 Miami Oct. 28 Vanderbilt Nov. 4 Navy Nov. 11 at Boston College Nov. 18 at Georgia Tech Nov. 25 North Carolina Depth Chart: Offense 2 returning starters in red Ps. No. Player Yr. No. Player Yr. WR 81 Jomar Wright Jr. 40 Ronnie Drummer Jr. WR 15 Eron Riley So. 9 Deon Adams Sr. LT 74 Cameron Goldberg So. 78 Ben Loebner Fr. LG 76 Zach Maurides Jr. 71 Danny Bowling Sr. C 68 Matt Rumsey Jr. 72 Garrett Mason Jr. RG 61 Rob Schirmann So. 73 Joe Suder Fr. RT 70 Fred Roland So. 99 Chris Moore Jr. TE - Brandon King Fr. 80 Nick Stefanow Jr. QB 13 Zack Asack So. 6 Marcus Jones So. FB 2 Tielor Robinson Jr. 14 B.J. Smith Sr. RB 21 Re’quan Boyette So. 20 Justin Boyle Jr. Depth Chart: Defense 6 returning starters in red Ps. No. Player Yr. No. Player Yr. DE 52 Eli Nichols Jr. 91 Ayanga Okpokowuruk Fr. DT 51 Casey Camero Sr. 42 Kinney Rucker Fr. NG 3 Vince Oghobaase Fr. 97 Clifford Respress So. DE 84 Patrick Bailey Jr. 54 Greg Akinbiyi So. SLB 58 Codey Lowe Sr. 45 Charles Robinson So. MLB 34 Michael Tauiliili So. 47 Zach Smith Jr. WLB 25 Jeramy Edwards Sr. 36 Brandon Tapps Jr. CB 11 John Talley Sr. 1 Jabari Marshall So. CB 10 Deonto McCormick Sr. 38 Evalio Harrell So. SS 16 Andreas Platt So. 24 Glenn Williams So. FS 27 Chris Davis Jr. 39 Adrian Aye-Darko So. Special Teams Ps. No. Player Yr. Ps. No. Player Yr. K 26 Joe Surgan So. P 14 Alex Feinberg Jr. KR 27 Chris Davis Jr. PR 27 Chris Davis Jr.

To order your 2006 Athlon Sports annual and receive $1 off plus free shipping courtesy of SI.com, click here.

Forgive Ted Roof if he counts the days until Sept. 2. Duke's season-opener against Richmond means the coach can officially bury the 2005 season.

For Duke, it was a forgettable 1-10 season. While Roof makes tangible progress in recruiting better talent to Durham, winning games has been a taller task. The Blue Devils stumbled through a winless conference season for the seventh time in 14 years. Duke's only win was against VMI, a Division I-AA team. In Roof's first five games as the interim coach in 2003, he won twice.

The optimism from that promising start has been tested. Duke's administration has been steadfast in its support of the 41-year-old coach despite his 5-22 record. Roof continues to hang his hat on the future.

Roof used an ACC-high 14 true freshmen in 2005 for the second straight season, and that total does not include perhaps Duke's best freshman, defensive tackle Vince Oghobaase, who missed the entire season with a knee injury.

The 2005 freshman class produced a new quarterback, Zack Asack, and the team's leading tackler, linebacker Michael Tauiliili. Roof expects to rely on rookies again in 2006. "Hopefully, this will be the last class that we have to count on so many of them," Roof says.

And Roof hopes his young players will learn from last year's disaster. He doesn't know how many more one-win seasons he can take. "It's a process," Roof says. "Believe me, nobody wants to speed it up more than I do, but it's what we have to do to build the program."

OFFENSE

In a trying 1-10 season, Duke found its starting quarterback, leading rusher and leading receiver. That was the good news from 2005, which coach Ted Roof hopes was another step in the process of building a program at Duke, despite finishing with a winless ACC record for the seventh time in 14 years. The bad news for Duke: it ranked last in the ACC in every offensive category except rushing (ninth).

A perpetual problem for the Blue Devils is their offensive line. For the third straight season, Roof will have to rebuild his line, and this time it will probably include true freshmen.

The skill positions need less retooling. Asack started five of the final six games, becoming the first Duke freshman to start at quarterback in 21 years. He showed poise and moxie that allowed him to displace three-year starter Mike Schneider midway through the season.

Duke returns two big-play threats in running back Ronnie Drummer, who had three runs of 50 yards or more in 2005, and receiver Eron Riley, who averaged 22.5 yards per catch. Duke calls Drummer a "Devil back," which means he'll play both running back and receiver -- anything to get him the ball.

Riley and the passing game will be helped by the return of Jomar Wright, who missed the final six games with a knee injury.

Running backs Justin Boyle (nine touchdowns) and Re'quan Boyette can alleviate some of the pressure on Asack, if the line allows them to produce.

DEFENSE

Duke's defense took a big hit last March when freshman tackle Vince Oghobaase tore ligaments in his right knee. Oghobaase enrolled at Duke in January and was expected to be the type of game-changing player the Devils have been missing. After all, in the recruiting process Oghobaase (6-6, 325) chose Duke over Miami and Oklahoma.

Without Oghobaase, Duke discovered other contributors. Sophomore linebacker Michael Tauiliili, one of Oghobaase's closest friends, led the team -- and freshmen nationally -- with 92 tackles. With those two talented players, plus end Eli Nichols and All-ACC corner John Talley, Duke's defense could make a marked improvement in 2006.

SPECIALISTS

Joe Surgan came in as a freshman last year and took over at kicker. He made 6-of-8 field goals and 15-of-16 extra points.

Drummer, who had a 100-yard touchdown return against East Carolina, and Chris Davis give Duke two returners capable of scoring as efficiently as the offense.

FINAL ANALYSIS

After Asack walked off the field for the final time in 2005, after a crushing 24-21 loss to North Carolina, he couldn't help but think that this group of freshmen could be starting something at Duke.

"We're not the same old Duke," Asack said.

That might be true, but for the 2006 season to be different Duke needs more from Asack than just moxie. He needs to develop as a passer and expand with the massive playbook that accompanies Bill O'Brien's offense.

If Duke wants win a conference game, it has to get the ball to Drummer more often. The junior finished 2005 with a whopping 10.2 yards per carry but only 33 carries.

The schedule affords Duke's young talent no breaks, inside or outside the league. The Blue Devils are the only ACC team that has to play Miami, Florida State, Virginia Tech and Boston College, and out of the league, they travel to Alabama.