The last time the Blue Devils played an SEC opponent on the road, Duke lost to No. 7 Tennessee, 23-6, in 2003.
Three years since then, many Blue Devils will encounter the hostile environment of a non-conference, big-time college football program for the first time when they step into Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Saturday.
"There will be over 90,000 people, one of the toughest stadiums to play in," sophomore linebacker Michael Tauiliili said. "We've been in those situations before. We've been down to play Florida State in their stadium. We recently played at Virginia Tech. It might be one notch up, but we're ready for it."
Duke (0-4) has not fared well over the past two seasons outside of Wallace Wade Stadium versus tough competition. On the road against ranked ACC opponents, the Blue Devils have lost all their matchups by a combined score of 171-14, including their 36-0 loss to Virginia Tech earlier this season.
But road games against non-ACC, premier opponents like Alabama (3-2) give Duke exposure in a demographic outside of the usual ACC venues. The added publicity could benefit the program in recruiting and players trying to impress NFL scouts.
"You're playing the best competition and getting noticed, playing on TV, pretty much a no-brainer," Tauiliili said. "We play some of the top notch teams, and that continues to change year in and year out. Next year we play Notre Dame, and those are the types of games you might want to be in."
The Blue Devils will begin a home and home series with Notre Dame on the road next season. Duke will also complete its home and home series with Alabama in 2010 and plans to continue to schedule such high-profile games in the future, said Chris Kennedy, senior associate athletic director.
"You want to balance having a manageable non-conference schedule and also, from time to time, being in a big-time game in the large stadiums like they have in the SEC," Kennedy said.
Although the different atmosphere may motivate the Blue Devils, they must contend with the extraordinary crowd noise and distractions from the Crimson Tide fans.
But Duke will not enter the game unprepared for the conditions. Not only are they used to playing in front of distractions like Seminoles fans' incessant war cries and tomahawk chops, the Blue Devils changed their method of play-calling this week in practice to accommodate for the excessive crowd noise.
"We've been sending the plays in with different players, sending them in with running backs so there's no problems with communication between offensive coordinator and quarterback on what play to call," junior wideout Jomar Wright said.
If Duke wishes to silence the Alabama fans, the Blue Devils will have to improve on their 100 total yard performance in their loss to Virginia, 37-0, last Saturday.
"If we don't come out and execute, we're going to be embarrassed," Wright said.
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