Noah Gray: We Need To Play With Unity and Love To Make Bowl
Duke needs to win two of its final three games to make a bowl. It will be a challenge, but tight end Noah Gray remembers Duke succeeding against even longer odds.
“It’s a big grind,” he said. “I know freshman year, we had to win the last two games to go to a bowl game. It’s difficult, but I’m telling the young guys to stick together, stick with what we’re taught, keep working hard at practice. It’s going to show on game day.”
After starting 4-0 in 2017, Duke lost six straight games and were on the verge of missing a bowl. The Blue Devils rebounded to beat Georgia Tech at home, 43-20 and went to Wake Forest to win, 31-23, earning a trip to the QuickLane Bowl, where Duke beat Northern Illinois, 36-15.
“We went into the Georgia Tech game, freshman year and played like we had nothing to lose,” Gray recalled. “It showed. We played with unity and love for each other, and that carried on to the Wake Forest game. We’ve got a huge task for the next three games. Hopefully, we can win out.”
Gray had one catch in each of those stretch-run games, including a touchdown at Wake. He’s been a much bigger part of the offense this year. His 36 catches and 266 yards are both second on Duke.
It would make sense for teams to start scouting him and taking steps to take him out of Duke’s game plan, but Gray isn’t spending much time worrying about that.
“I just line up, and I go,” he said. “I don’t really know if teams are scheming me up or what they’re trying to do. Coaches do a great job preparing us for the looks we’re going to get in games, and we see a lot of those same looks. That’s really what I’m looking at when I’m out in the field.”
