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The general disbelief that Duke is in a major New Year's Eve Bowl game has sort of forced the Chick-Fil-A Bowl folks to address Duke's presence in the game.
The general belief seems to be that the bowl would've preferred Virginia Tech or Miami. Chick-fil-A Bowl president Gary Stokan says that's not the case.
He told Duke that barring a drop by Clemson, that the bowl wanted Duke.
It's part of a continuing theme: because Duke sucked for a really long time, people seem to think that the Blue Devils have no business in a game with a school like Texas A&M.
The first part is true; the second is not, as Stokan, a former State basketball player by the way, confirms.
The good news for Duke, we guess, is that despite a tremendous season, despite coming within a couple of plays of finishing the regular season at 11-1, still gets no respect.
We've gotten just a bit of guff from Texas A&M fans asking if we really play football at a basketball school.
Keep it up. We hope the staff is keeping a file on everyone who thinks Duke can't compete. Of course the flipside of that is this: with swagger comes pressure. If the game is tight late, Duke has a huge advantage.