re: Who's brilliant idea was it to play Duke as our marquee...

Bama agreed to play in the game and the money. It was then up to Chic fil A and the ACC to provide the opponent. Miami was supposed to be that team but they backed out when they fired Richt. Duke was the only one with the balls to step up and agree. Clemson didn't need it since they already had USCe and A&M on the schedule and they had pretty much made there point back in January.