Feeling bored, so I decided to rank Cut's 12 seasons at Duke. Enjoy my useless list!
1. 2013 - 10-4/6-2 - the magical, breakthrough season culminating in a Coastal title. Only wish we'd held on against A&M and Manziel in the Chicken Bowl.
2. 2014 - 9-4/5-3 - another mostly enjoyable year. Raced out to an 8-1 start, but choked to VT and got blasted by UNC in November. Should've repeated as Coastal champs.
3. 2012 - 6-7/3-5 - The UNC win was epic, and it was awesome to snap the 18 year Bowl drought. Losing 5 in a row, including the horrific Belk Bowl collapse sucked, but it was clear the program was on the rise.
4. 2015 - 8-5/4-4 - Year started out well, but the Miami lateral debacle killed it and arguably the Cutcliffe era as a whole. Ranked fourth for snapping the 55 year bowl win drought, and achieving a .500 ACC finish.
5. 2018 - 8-5/3-5 - Came into the year with hopes of competing for the Coastal with a veteran team, but injuries and poor coaching dashed those. Winning @ Northwestern and Baylor b2b was nice, but the horror of 59-7 vs Wake still lingers.
6. 2009 - 5-7/3-5 - I'll always have a soft spot for Thad's senior team. Loss to Richmond sucked and we faded down the stretch, but it was a solid season. I'll never forget thrashing State in Raleigh.
7. 2017 - 7-6/3-5 - Started 4-0, including a destruction of a 10-win Northwestern and a victory @ UNC, but the 6-game losing streak filled with lifeless play was brutal. At least we rallied to make a bowl, I guess.
8. 2008 - 4-8/1-7 - Cut put a respectable product on the field for the first time since the early 1990s in his first season in Durham. Won @ Vanderbilt and snapped a 25+ game ACC losing streak.
9. 2016 - 4-8/1-7 - Wins @ Notre Dame and vs top 15 UNC were memorable, but this was a rough year, and signaled the end of Cut's peak at Duke.
10. 2019 - 5-7/3-5 - Smacking VT in Blacksburg was amazing, but the choke to Pitt and the halfback pass disaster against UNC destroyed the season. Lots of miserable blowouts too, including 49-6 vs dreadful Syracuse.
11. 2010 - 3-9/1-7 - Completely forgettable season.
12. 2011 - 3-9/1-7 - Ditto. I remember having serious doubts about Cutcliffe by this year.