Almost a year after one of its most heartbreaking losses last season, the football team returns to Evanston this weekend looking to exact some revenge on the main culprits who engineered Northwestern's 24-20 come-from-behind win.
One problem: the Blue Devils will have a hard time recognizing anyone on the current Wildcats roster who had anything to do with their win just a year ago.
Tim Hughes, Darnell Autry and Brian Musso, three players who figured prominently in Northwestern's comeback victory, have all departed along with seven other starters from last season.
Indeed, the Northwestern offense that looked so crisp in its season-opening 41-7 win against UNLV featured only three returning starters from last season, including an offensive backfield boasting a combined zero games in NCAA game experience.
"We're just really young on offense," Northwestern coach Gary Barnett said. "[The UNLV game] was good for us from that standpoint - at least get some jitters out. A team where we are right now, as far as maturity level on offense, we're really going to have to play well to win this game."
Duke, however, is hardly concerned with Northwestern's dilemma. Saturday's contest marks perhaps the most important game in the last three seasons for the program and its future.
A win means a 2-0 start to the season and momentum heading into the Blue Devils' ACC opener at Florida State.
"The way we're looking at this one is that we're going all out," quarterback Spencer Romine said. "For us, this is a big game; this is our Super Bowl. This is the one that we think is going to change Duke football from the way it has been the last couple of years. [If] we beat [Northwestern], we're thinking a lot of other people are going to be turning their heads and looking for us coming."
While Duke's 24-10 win last week against Division I-AA opponent Western Carolina may not have turned many heads, it certainly caught the attention of Barnett.
In fact, Barnett has been so impressed with Duke's experience and talent that he has projected Duke to finish higher in the conference than perhaps even the most optimistic of Duke fans.
"[Barnett] said it's going to be a really good test for us," Northwestern quarterback Gavin Hoffman said. "He expects this Duke team to be one of the two or three best teams in the ACC this year. That's what he told us in our meetings, [after] watching how they improved last year and watching their film this year."
Although Barnett may have simply been doing his job to keep his team properly focused, he certainly has reasons to be concerned. Despite injuries to its top two tailbacks, Letavious Wilks and Duane Epperson, Duke had a relatively easy time running the ball against Western Carolina.
Both Epperson and Wilks have seen ample time in practice this week and appear to be healthy enough to go on Saturday. But whether or not Goldsmith will bench true freshman B.J. Hill, who set a school record by gaining 121 yards on 23 carries in his collegiate debut, remains to be seen, as Goldsmith has yet to name a starter for Saturday.
"Having three guys-my thought is that three is better than one," Romine said. "So if we lose one, we've got two others. I don't know who's starting. But if Letavious is healthy, he's our running back-he has been since preseason. I don't think it changes our strategy at all."
While Duke may not have shown much of its offensive gameplan last week against Western Carolina, it will certainly expand its playbook Saturday against Northwestern. Finding the plays that work, however, will certainly not be easy against a defense that surrendered just 35 rushing yards on 25 attempts last week to UNLV. And aside from a freak play where two Northwestern defensive backs collided and allowed a 77-yard touchdown pass, the Wildcats shut down UNLV in the air as well.
For the Blue Devils, though, this game is not about exploiting the Northwestern defense or shutting down the Wildcats' offense. This game is about Duke, and righting a program that has fallen on hard times the last two seasons.
"We realize it could be a very pivotal game for us," safety Eric Jones said. "We realized it could do great things for this program, but at the same time, there's no pressure on us-not a lot of people expect us to do much.
"We come out here, we have our expectations, and that's all we need to live up to as a football team. The great thing about this football team is that all year long we've relied on ourselves to get us through, and that's all it's going to take to get us through the game on Saturday."
And if this team indeed pulls itself together this weekend, Barnett's evaluation of Duke as one of the top three teams in the ACC may just prove to be more prophetic than mere coach-speak.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.