Following a contest which head coach Ted Roof called the "most physical game of the year," Duke (1-3) will face a Navy team coming off three full weeks of rest.
The Blue Devils will try to rebound from a hard-fought 38-7 loss to Virginia, as they take on the Midshipmen for Homecoming at 1 p.m. Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium. Duke is hoping to avenge a 27-12 loss in last year's opener in Annapolis, Md.
Navy (0-2) was slated to play Rice in Houston Sept. 24 following an idle date the previous week, but the game was postponed because of the threat posed by Hurricane Rita. The Midshipmen last played Sept. 10, a 41-38 loss to Stanford.
The extended break gave the Midshipmen a chance to rest their banged-up players, but Navy head coach Paul Johnson did not rule out the potential for his players to come out rusty.
"I would have rather played last week but we didn't have much a choice," Johnson said. "We'll find out what the effect was on Saturday."
Although his team will be playing a game for the fifth consecutive weekend, while Navy enters Saturday's contest fresh, Roof said the Blue Devils cannot play with that in mind.
"After the first practice, the rest of the year there is something wrong with you," Roof said. "It doesn't matter how you feel, you have to go perform. That's football."
The Midshipmen will use a triple-option offense that racked up more than 300 yards rushing in last year's win over the Blue Devils. The triple-option is effective in large part because it is so rare that defenses are not accustomed to the formations or the reads.
"Their scheme forces you to be disciplined because they don't block everybody-they read people," Roof said. "They don't have to have the perfect play called to take advantage of a mistake because they are reading people."
Navy is missing many of the seniors who ran the offense so well against the Blue Devils last season. The Midshipmen lost 16 starters and more than half of the lettermen from a squad that amassed a 10-2 record and tied a school mark for wins. Roof, however, said Navy's continuity as a program allows them to replace the large number of graduates.
"They did lose a lot of seniors, but every year they bring back a lot of seniors because the system has been the same," Roof said. "They do have some experience, although it might not be game-tested experience."
Along with the triple-option formation, the Navy offense is unique in its reliance on cut blocking. A cut block is a legal maneuver in which the offensive blocker dives at the defenders legs in order to impede the defender and create space for the runner. Roof said the need to prepare for cut blocking has caused a change in his practice procedures this week.
"We don't do it in practice normally because we can't afford to get anyone hurt," Roof said. "But this week we've had to do it, because if we don't, it has been my experience that it comes at you so fast the first couple of series as far as the adjustment process, they'll chop you down like a thin tree."
Navy's rested defense may have to make some early adjustments of its own, as Roof said he will not name his starting quarterback until game time. Freshman Zack Asack and junior Mike Schneider each saw playing time last week, and both should be able to move the ball against a Navy defense that has struggled in its first two games. The Midshipmen have allowed 32 points on more than 420 yards per game.
Regardless of who is named Duke's starter, he will likely not be the sole signal caller for the game-multiple quarterbacks have seen action in each of the Blue Devils' first four contests. Fullback Malcolm Ruff reflected an attitude held by much of the team when he said he has no preference with whom he shares the backfield.
"All our quarterbacks are really good players, and they all have a lot on their plates," Ruff said. "We're comfortable with anybody there, we are confident that any of them can get the job done."
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