When Duke takes the field against N.C. Central in its 2013 season-opener, the Blue Devils will be sporting a brand new set of weapons and combinations on both sides of the ball.
Coming off its first bowl berth since 1994, Duke will look to gain some momentum in hopes of reaching back-to-back bowl games for the first time in program history. The Blue Devils take on N.C. Central in the third Bull City Gridiron Classic, kicking off at 4 p.m. Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium.
"Physically I feel like we're very ahead of the ball," redshirt junior quarterback Anthony Boone said. "Now it's just going out to execute and not let the first-game jitters cause a lot of penalties"
Saturday will mark the second start of Boone's collegiate career. The signal-caller stepped in for a game last season in place of an injured Sean Renfree, throwing for 212 yards and four touchdowns and leading the Blue Devils to a 42-17 victory against Virginia.
Head coach David Cutcliffe expressed his interest in using this game to use different players and packages. Cutcliffe said that playing N.C. Central—the lone FCS opponent on Duke's 2013 schedule, will allow many of his younger and less-experienced players to see some game action.
“I think we’re highly conditioned going in,” Cutcliffe said. “I see us trying to play a lot of people early. Our first three games are afternoon games, one of them on artificial turf. It will be pretty warm, so we will go in expecting to play 60 or so players.”
From a defensive standpoint, the Blue Devils have held the Eagles to an average of 15.5 points per contest in their previous two meetings. A similar result would be a welcome start to the season for Cutcliffe, whose Duke defense allowed 36.0 points per game last season.
The Eagles enter the 2013 campaign with a bit of turmoil from a coaching standpoint, as third-year head coach Henry Frazier was fired last Thursday—just nine days before N.C. Central's season-opener. He was replaced by interim head coach Dwayne Foster, who has stressed that the season will go on as planned.
"I do know that he's a good football coach and that they had worked very, very hard," Cutcliffe said of Frazier. "It's no question that it's very difficult for team, difficult for the people he's surrounded himself with. So that part makes it sad."
Along with the loss of head coach, the Eagles have also lost eight starters on defense and five on offense. Of the six returning on offense, redshirt senior quarterback Jordan Reid is the most notable. Reid completed 62.3 percent of his passes during the 2012 season, playing 11 games.
The contest is one that brings the Durham community together and one that Cutcliffe is very adamant about continuing.
"We certainly hope Durham responds," Cutcliffe said. "It's now, believe it or not, just the third time we've played it and it's a nationally televised game on ESPN3. That's a big deal to Durham, North Carolina."
Editor's note: This story originally mentioned Saturday's game as the second Bull City Gridiron Classic, omitting Duke's matchup with N.C. Central in 2009. This has since been corrected.
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