The law of inertia states that an object in motion, unless acted upon, tends to stay motion.
The football team is hoping that physics does not apply to football losing streaks--otherwise the Blue Devils, despite an important 42-21 win against Army last weekend, will have a very long afternoon next Saturday in Charlottesville, Va.
Duke kicks it off against Virginia at 1 p.m. at Scott Stadium. The Blue Devils are 1-2 on the year, 0-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. 22nd-ranked Virginia stands at 3-0, 2-0 in the league. In this game, both teams are likely to take things personally.
In recent years, the Cavaliers have enjoyed great success at Duke's expense, pummeling the Blue Devils the last three years by scores of 59-0, 34-3 and 55-28. Virginia has won 10 of the teams' last 14 meetings. And this year's Virginia squad may be the school's strongest since it finished in a tie with Duke for the ACC Championship in 1989.
The Cavaliers have manhandled all of their opponents this season, outscoring them 116-43--including last week's 35-14 demolition of Georgia Tech. Virginia is well-rounded, fielding quick and powerful players on both sides of the line of scrimmage.
Offensively, the Cavaliers feature junior running back Charles Way, who has run for 238 yards this season, including three touchdowns.
"Charles Way, at fullback, has been very impressive," Duke head coach Barry Wilson said. "He has done a great job for them, and [the Virginia coaching staff] seems to have developed more confidence in him."
But the real strength of the Virginia attack lies in the offensive line--it has provided ample time for Willis to find his receivers and has opened gaping wholes for the Cavalier running backs.
"The thing that scares me the most is that they have a humongous offensive line that is very powerful and skilled," Wilson said. "If they can continue to run the ball down our throat as they have many times in the past, it will be a long day for us."
Defensively, the Cavaliers may have the personnel to extinguish the Blue Devils' incendiary passing attack. Virginia has surrendered an average of 193 passing yards per game, while Duke has amassed a total of 703 passing yards the past two weeks.
Duke's task is to try to block out past embarrassments against UVa when they take the field Saturday. Last week's win over Army is history as well.
"We are excited to get the win but that is behind us," Wilson said. "We know that [the Virginia game] is a whole new challenge and it is a totally different type of ball game. We've not played Virginia very well and they are an outstanding football team."
Wilson recognized that his team must give a better effort than it did against Army to avoid another embarrassment against the Wahoos.
"We are going to have to play a heck of a lot better than we did against Army and we're going to have to play an awful lot better than we did than in any game against Virginia in recent years," Wilson said.
In Duke's recent losses at Virginia, the Blue Devils have been out-played on both sides of the ball.
"We have to play better in all phases of the game," Wilson said. "We just haven't executed. We have not had a good offensive or defensive game."
Virginia head coach George Welsh respects the experience of this year's Duke team which boasts 15 returning starters and 11 fifth-year seniors.
"I think this is their best chance [to win], certainly, because they are a more senior-dominated team like they were in '89," Welsh said.
Welsh believes that the recent Virginia domination over Duke is a simple case of who plays better on game day, and is unimportant as far as Saturday's matchup is concerned.
"It is a year-to-year thing," Welsh said. "I don't think it has anything to do with anything except [in recent years] we played well and they didn't."
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