In search of its first victory in two seasons, Duke travels to Houston, Texas this Saturday to take on Rice, a team certainly unlike last week's opponent, Florida State, but a very capable team in its own right.
Coached by former Clemson head man Ken Hatfield, the Owls possess one of the best running games in all of college football. Thus, the Blue Devils must adjust from the explosive offense of the Seminoles and prepare for Rice's possession-oriented ground attack.
"When I think of Rice, they're very consistent," Duke middle linebacker Jim Scharrer said. "They grind the ball out, and they have very talented running backs. They really don't have the big-play threat, like a Florida State, but they're going to grind it out for three to four yards every play."
In last week's victory over Houston, the Owls rushed for 354 yards, more than one-third of the cumulative 11-game total of last season's Blue Devils.
"They do have a ball-control offense," Duke coach Carl Franks said. "They try to keep the ball quite a bit, and they have a good history of doing that."
Against a dominant run-oriented team like Rice, superior conditioning and defensive depth are an absolute necessity, and the Blue Devils realize the importance of addressing the fatigue factor.
"I think we're in
Scharrer agreed with Franks.
"There has to be some depth on the team," Scharrer added. "Two linebackers can't sit out there and play 60-70 plays per game. We have some real good linebackers this year, and hopefully they will all be able to contribute."
When facing a possession-oriented team, one would ideally like to establish a strong running game of one's own, to combat fatigue. The Blue Devils, however, suggest that the success of their the passing attack will be a key to victory.
"You'd like to have some sustained drives," Franks said. "But they put a lot of people on the line of scrimmage, which makes it tough to run the ball. You need to be able to throw the football to set up the running game."
In last week's contest, Duke's offense flashed a few moments of brilliance. Quarterback D. Bryant threw for 167 yards, 32 more than his Florida State counterpart, Chris Nix. However, Bryant connected on only nine of his 26 passes, and 78 of his yards came on one completion.
This week, Bryant relishes the opportunity to establish the Blue Devils' offense through the air, particularly after facing FSU's NFL aspirants last week.
"Florida State, they came out man-up on the receivers; they tried to intimidate," Bryant said. "We watched Rice on film, and their cornerbacks are 15 yards back, not wanting to get beat. So the passing game will be night and day."
Bryant played down the importance of time of possession.
"If we go out and score, and then they go out and hold the ball for eight minutes and don't score, we're up," Bryant said.
Duke must also worry about the Texas heat, notorious for draining players' energy levels, and inducing heat-related illness.
Some Blue Devils expressed caution.
"The one thing that worries me about Texas is the heat," Scharrer said. "It's going to be a lot hotter than it is here."
Others disregarded temperature as an unimportant factor.
"I like the heat," running back Chris Douglas said. "I've never been to Texas, so I don't know what to expect, but heat's never bothered me."
The Duke coaching staff hopes that come Saturday, Douglas will not rue those words. It also hopes that the Blue Devils can show significant progress, and provide optimism for the rest of the season.
"There's some kind of theory that you improve the most from the first game to the second game," Franks said. "I hope that proves true for our team."
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