Five years can change a lot in college football.
In 2009, when Duke and Kansas played the first of a home-and-home series, both teams would go on to finish 5-7. Fast forward five years. Duke football is a respectable program on the rise and Jayhawks head coach Charlie Weis is attempting to turn Kansas in a similar direction. And the second game of the series will finally be played this Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Wallace Wade Stadium.
“Just the way the schedule ends up falling when you do a home-and-home and you can’t meet,” Cutcliffe said. “They’ve got traditional conference dates and you cannot meet the two back-to-back, you separate quite often. It happens more than you think... We’re a little better. That helps, no question.”
Duke (2-0), which has faced two non-Power Five teams in its first two games, will take on a Kansas program that, though in the Big 12, has gone a combined 4-20 in its three years with Weis at the helm.
Despite the recent lack of on-field success for the Jayhawks (1-0), the Blue Devils know not to take the squad lightly. One of the areas Kansas feels is a strength is in its secondary, which boasts the 2013 Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the year in junior safety Isaiah Johnson. The Jayhawks will face off against a deep Duke receiving crops that will feature All-ACC talent Jamison Crowder and a reinvented 6-foot-6 Issac Blakeney, who has three touchdowns through two games and is confident they can have success Saturday.
“The competition is definitely going to increase, but what our coaches always try to tell us is it’s about us, it’s not about them,” Blakeney said. “As long as we go out there and do what we’ve got to do and execute, we have the playmakers to get it done.”
Part of that execution and success will come as a result of quarterback Anthony Boone’s refined control and decision-making abilities. Last season, the Weddington, N.C., native threw as many touchdowns as he did interceptions with 13. Through two games, the redshirt senior has accumulated six touchdowns and the Blue Devil offense has yet to commit a turnover.
“[Boone] has worked really hard at managing our offense, at understanding when he can pull the trigger and when he can’t,” Cutcliffe said. “That’s something that never stops. You’re going to have to take certain risks to be a really good player at quarterback. If it ends up a 50-50 proposition with his touchdowns, then something’s out of kilter and I think it got his attention.”
One change that will become seemingly permanent this week is the promotion of Jack Willoughby to the starting kickoff specialist position. Junior Ross Martin will still handle the field goal and extra point responsibilities, as Cutcliffe claimed it was a pure numbers game when it came to making the call.
“Hang time. We measured every week, we measure it closely in practice and that’s the best that we can do,” Cutcliffe said. “If you watch anywhere, kickoff coverage is a challenge. You’re putting great athletes in the open field....We were all shocked in that first game, because that’s not who we are.”
When Willoughby or Kansas kicker Matthew Wyman boots the opening kickoff Saturday, Duke will they hope to do so in front of another packed house. At the season opener at Wallace Wade, 31,213 people showed up to watch the Blue Devils dominate Elon in a 52-13 rout. Cutcliffe said the same kind of support will be needed Saturday when Duke plays host to the Jayhawks in order for it to have a true home field advantage.
“I think Duke football fans are in for a treat,” he said. “We need you all to be here early and dominant. It doesn’t have need to be a friendly environment. We’re all nice to folks. But it needs to be a hostile environment. We just came from one in Troy, Alabama... Wallace Wade needs to be rocking come Saturday afternoon.”
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