David Cutcliffe said earlier this week that more opening games are lost than are won.
Copy that.
It’s not fair to deny Charlotte their justified credit for their 31-28 win over Duke Friday night. But Duke sure teed it up for them. Jarret Garner dropped an easy touchdown pass early, Gunnar Holmberg lost a fumble at the Charlotte one-yard line and Duke committed some spectacularly untimely second-half penalties, including a holding penalty at the Charlotte 30 with Duke poised to put the game away.
“We felt like we could have generated a lot more points,” Cutcliffe acknowledged “but they made some plays there.