[NU Sports] Some Duke thoughts

[DPENDERG at aol.com]

Yes, we should beat Duke easily (and at last report were 16 point  
favorites), but I'm still uneasy.  The Blue Devils would just love to end  their streak 
in Evanston and will arrive highly motivated and revved up to  play.
The Wildcats?  Will they be looking ahead to Columbus?  Will they  come out 
flat and distracted as heavy favorites sometimes can be?  Will  Colby's "Swiss 
cheese" defense give confidence and yards to Duke's offense and  the game 
suddenly becomes a shoot-out?   
 
In some ways, frankly, this game will be more of a test for Fitz and staff  
to get the team ready than the two Big Ten games to follow.  If they are  not 
ready, this could be one of the worst Cat embarrassments ever. I'm not  
pessimistic but just want to point out that NU will not win simply showing  up.  
That's obvious, but we were 10-point favorites against Nevada and  barely won that 
game.
 
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 9/13/2007 10:35:34 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
CHerron604 at aol.com writes:

- Duke  hasn't won in 2 years (beat VMI 40-14 September 17, 2005 - 21 game   
losing streak)

- Duke hasn't beaten a D-I team since November 13,  2004 (beat Clemson  16-13)

- Duke ran for 15 yards against  UConn

- Duke rushed for 84 yards against Virginia (99 in two games, so  a 50-yard  
per game average)

- Duke lost a 'close' one to  Virginia, 24-13, despite being outgained  
324-229

- Virginia  fumbled 3, lost 2

- 2 Virginia bad punt snaps led to 10 points for  Duke

- 1 Virginia fumbled kickoff led to Duke's other 3 points

-  Virginia also had a bad field goal snap, Duke blocked it, returned 61   
yards, but could not score

- Duke missed 3 field goals (26, 45 and  40 yards)

All this tells me that we MUST:

- limit Duke's ground  game to their average - 50 or so

- limit Duke's offense to its average  or less (they've been averaging 199  
yards/game on offense)

-  perform well on special teams, no bad snaps, no turnovers (this I have   
high confidence in)

Duke has been giving up 400+ yards/game, we've  been averaging 424  
yards/game 
on offense

I am still concerned  that Nevada had 185 yards against Nebraska, and 541  
yards against  us

Our O-line and D-line need to show some dominance in this game -  especially  
sacks and quarterback pressure

Chuck  Herron   Tech  '85





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