On the heels of a game in which the field was as interesting as the events played out upon it -- the football team's 45-7 drubbing at the hands of the No. 1 Florida State Seminoles -- head coach Barry Wilson once again had to play meteorologist at his weekly press conference Monday.
As Duke packs its luggage and prepares to head to the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J., for a Saturday evening contest with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, Wilson recalled the fond memories of his last trip to New Jersey on Oct. 3, 1987.
"In the '87 [Duke-Rutgers] game, the conditions were horrible," Wilson said. "It's the second-worst football game that I've ever been associated with, in terms of the weather conditions. It was cold as the devil. I don't remember what the temperature was, but I just remember that the rain that was howling down was freezing."
Duke lost that game by a score of 7-0 when Rutgers scored on a late fourth-quarter touchdown. The game was significant for a number of reasons. In his first year as head coach, Steve Spurrier had led the Blue Devils through a fairly light early season schedule, and they stood at 3-1 entering the game.
The Blue Devils wound up the year with a 5-6 record. The 7-0 final score stands as the only shutout of a Steve Spurrier-coached Duke team.
Duke's 1987 edition of "Air Ball," piloted by quarterback Steve Slayden, was hampered by the conditions, gaining only 60 yards on 7-of-21 passing with two interceptions.
"My hands were so cold," Slayden told The Chronicle after the game. "I couldn't get any zip on the ball."
Even when torrential rain isn't cascading down on the turf at Giants Stadium, the playing conditions can be less than ideal for a pass-oriented offense.
"In the Meadowlands Stadium, the wind conditions are a major factor even if it isn't raining, because they get unusual gusts," Wilson said. "We went out prior to the [1987] game to try to figure out where the directions of the wind were coming from, and I remember specifically looking up at flags on both ends of the stadium and seeing both flags being [blown] towards the center of the field."
Even if Old Man Winter tries to blow into the Garden State on Saturday, Wilson should not be affected by it. The 1987 Duke-Rutgers game was an afternoon picnic in comparison to what he experienced as the linebackers coach at Georgia Tech on Nov. 11, 1978.
"I was [an assistant coach] at Georgia Tech, playing against the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, and a blizzard came down through the Rockies," Wilson said. "Now the riot was [former Green Bay Packer] Eddie Lee Ivery, who was a great running back [for us], set an NCAA rushing record in that game, while he had the flu.
"It would be great to claim all kinds of wonderful coaching things and strategy in that game. But we'd call a sweep right and Eddie Lee would start right and there wouldn't be anything there except a snowbank. He'd just ad-lib on his own. The funny part about it, every time he'd come out of the game, he'd go behind the bench and throw up. [We'd tell him], Go back and getem again, Eddie Lee."'
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