Frustrated from the dominating defense of Louisville a week ago, the football team (1-1) is eager to travel to Evanston, Ill., to face the winless Northwestern Wildcats (0-2) Saturday at 1 p.m.
With rookie quarterbacks playing for both teams, the game should be decided primarily on the ground. Northwestern has been out-rushed by 448 yards in its two games against Air Force and Texas Christian, but this does not come as a relief to the Blue Devils.
Last week Duke ran for only 22 yards, a week after the team dominated the running attack against East Carolina. Head coach Carl Franks blamed his offensive line for the team's inconsistency, but the line is confident it will have its "A" game Saturday.
"This is a big opportunity for us," offensive tackle Drew Strojny said. "You just look at how many yards they've given up; it depends on us to get something done. We know we're going to come out fired up."
Another member of the running game looking to breakout of a slump is junior running back Chris Douglas. Douglas led the team in rushing with 841 yards last season, but has been held to a combined 41 yards in the two games this season.
An injured ankle has been the main part of his struggles, but he says that the ailment is now a non-factor.
"[My ankle] is feeling pretty darn good," Douglas said. "I'm ready to go. I'm definitely looking forward to [Saturday]."
However, Franks dismissed some of the importance of the running game, stressing that Air Force and TCU have a more run-oriented offense.
"They'll play us a little different defensively," he said. "They have a new defensive coordinator, so we're not sure how they're going to play us."
In their meeting last season, the then No. 16 Wildcats dominated the Blue Devils in a 44-7 rout in Durham Sept. 22, 2001. Things look much more competitive this year, with the Wildcats' two superstars gone from a year ago--school all-time rushing leader running back Damien Anderson and quarterback Zak Kustok.
Northwestern is still caught in a downward spiral from last season where they started out as a dominating, top-25 team, and then failed to qualify for a bowl game.
The Wildcats have been crushed in their first two games with a 52-3 loss to Air Force and a 48-24 loss to Texas Christian.
One of the few positives for Northwestern this season has been the special teams play of Jason Wright. Wright returned the opening kick for 100 yards against TCU, and finished the game with 191 kick return yards.
Duke will need to slow Wright down if it is to have a chance at collecting its second win in three tries.
Franks thinks that both teams are looking at this game as an opportunity to get much-needed wins.
"I think they're a hungry football team," he said. "From what I hear, this is the week for them to win a football game. We've got to go up there on a mission that we're going to get back to playing football the way we know how to play it."
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