FB: Stanford 50, Duke 13

[sagegrouse]

Game time: September 8 at 10:30 PM EDT in Palo Alto. Local time: 7:30. Limited TV coverage -- PAC12 Network.

Discuss:

I saw the Duke-Stanford game in person last year. The primary difference between the two teams was that Stanford was far more efficient on offense. Duke was the opposite -- and should have been ahead at the half. I did not think that Duke was overpowered.

Stanford survived San Jose State, 20-17, but the Cardinal should be fired up for the suddenly potent Blue Devils.

sagegrouse

[DukeSean]

It seems that our defense, while thin at depth at some positions, is pretty solid and more capable of producing turnovers. It seemed as though FIU opened up some big running lanes, so that will be a concern moving forward. Stepfan Taylor is a Heisman-caliber tailback, so containing him will be a tall order.

Stanford's offense obviously should take a hit in efficiency without Luck. We'll see how our defense, especially our secondary, matches up to that. I felt that the secondary could've been credited with more sacks during the FIU game.

We have a chance for an upset, so I hope it happens and gets us some national recognition. We have a bunch of great players (such as Vernon) who don't get the press they deserve.

[OldPhiKap]

This game should be a good measuring stick of how mature (or not) we are. Need to play solid, get some big plays, and execute the game plan.

No moral victories, guys. Go on out there and put the world on notice.

[Bob Green]

We all know preseason rankings are useless, but I'm going to quote them anyway:

Stanford - 21
FIU - 38
San Jose State - 72
Duke - 103

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoot...ngs/124/index1

Duke manhandled #38 FIU, while Stanford struggled with #72 SJSU. This game should be very interesting. I expect those numbers will look very different when updated later this week.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

This game should be a good measuring stick of how mature (or not) we are. Need to play solid, get some big plays, and execute the game plan.

No moral victories, guys. Go on out there and put the world on notice.

We all know preseason rankings are useless, but I'm going to quote them anyway:

Stanford - 21
FIU - 38
San Jose State - 72
Duke - 103

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoot...ngs/124/index1

Duke manhandled #38 FIU, while Stanford struggled with #72 SJSU. This game should be very interesting. I expect those numbers will look very different when updated later this week.

Let's go shock the football world! LET'S GO DUKE! BEAT STANFORD!

[Acymetric]

We all know preseason rankings are useless, but I'm going to quote them anyway:

Stanford - 21
FIU - 38
San Jose State - 72
Duke - 103

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoot...ngs/124/index1

Duke manhandled #38 FIU, while Stanford struggled with #72 SJSU. This game should be very interesting. I expect those numbers will look very different when updated later this week.

You know, its a little hard to take those rankings seriously when Duke is behind San Jose State (all due respect to Coach MacIntyre) by 30 spots.

That said, I can't wait for next Saturday. The FIU game has me officially pumped for this season...just gotta find some way to watch the game on Saturday. I wonder if there are any sports bars around here that use a service other than DirectTV

[burnspbesq]

Worth remembering that Luck wasn't the only Cardinal player to go early in the draft. They lost DeCastro and Martin from the offensive line and Fleener, a quality TE.

Much better to play them now than a month from now, when the new guys at those positions are farther along in getting acclimated.

[hq2]

Worth remembering that Luck wasn't the only Cardinal player to go early in the draft. They lost DeCastro and Martin from the offensive line and Fleener, a quality TE.

Much better to play them now than a month from now, when the new guys at those positions are farther along in getting acclimated.

Don't think Stanford is that good this year; they tend to go up and down year by year. Duke might have a shot at upsetting them, especially early in the season before they get their offense reorganized. We'll see.

[mkline09]

Not that it matters to me but food for thought Vegas has Duke a 14.5 point underdog against Stanford. I think the game is closer though.

[peloton]

Not that it matters to me but food for thought Vegas has Duke a 14.5 point underdog against Stanford.

Mkline09, excellent - I like the sound of that (seriously). I want everyone in the nation (except for our team, coaches, and the Duke faithful) thinking that we don't stand a chance in Hades to win this game. I want the entire Stanford program...every coach and each player (hey, even the student assistants handing out energy drink bottles, towels, etc.) thinking there's no way that they'll lose to the Duke Blue Devils. Okay, that said - I realize that most of the people comprising their program are intelligent and mature enough in realizing that if they play badly and we play inspired and fundamentally sound football, our guys could come home with the win. But my point is that I relish the fact that Duke is the underdog in this matchup, I hope our guys do also, and have a bit of the proverbial chip on their shoulder. Let's go out to the west coast, prove to 'em that Duke football is back, and shock the football world (as The Eternally Optimistic One said). We've taken the first step in the dawn of a new era...it's time to take the second one and pull the upset against a strong program. The coaching staff and Duke faithful know you can do it! Stick it to Stanford!!!

P.S. - Great to see some of the folks at The True Blue 'Cue Crew tent Saturday; thanks as always for the hospitality, Chris and Tim. My son & I saw Ozzie but didn't get a chance to talk with him before he disappeared.

[Wander]

I want everyone in the nation (except for our team, coaches, and the Duke faithful) thinking that we don't stand a chance in Hades to win this game.

Honestly, the spread of 14 points doesn't strike me as that much. The fact that the spread is that small for one of the worst programs of the past decade playing a true road game against a ranked team that was just in a BCS bowl game IS a sign of respect for this year's team. For comparison's sake, last year the spread was 21 points, and that game was in Durham. Admittedly Stanford was better last year, but still.

[Dukehky]

Duke defensive philosophy appears to be bend don't break. Fine with me. As long as we don't give up touchdowns, we have a shot at winning. I don't care if Stanford goes down the field 70+ yards on every drive, as long as the most points they get per drive is 3, with the occasional TO by the Duke defense.

I'm not expecting Duke to win this game, but as many have said before, the biggest difference between this game and the game last year is that there is no Andrew Luck on Stanford's team. Hopefully its an entertaining game and gets us some press, because we sure as hell didn't get any for beating the snot out of FIU. That FG block return had Top 10 written all over it, didn't happen.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

P.S. - Great to see some of the folks at The True Blue 'Cue Crew tent Saturday; thanks as always for the hospitality, Chris and Tim. My son & I saw Ozzie but didn't get a chance to talk with him before he disappeared.

Sorry I missed you. I was "only" there for over 6 1/2 hours (11:45 - 6:25) before I disappeared and went into WW to be there when the team entered the field, as Coach Cut had requested the day before! He wants to see a "blue out" of cheering fans to help get the team excited when they run onto the field through the tunnel, so I complied!

[loran16]

Vegas Sports Odds has the early line at Stanford -14. Last year Stanford opened -20. So a 12 point swing there (since Stanford gets a 3 point edge from Home Field and we had one last year).

[Bob Green]

CBS Sports has their rankings updated:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoot...ngs/124/index2

Stanford fell from 21 to 33, while Duke improved from 103 to 89. The ridiculousness of rankings is illustrated by FIU still being 22 spots above Duke at 67. What???

[chrishoke]

CBS Sports has their rankings updated:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoot...ngs/124/index2

Stanford fell from 21 to 33, while Duke improved from 103 to 89. The ridiculousness of rankings is illustrated by FIU still being 22 spots above Duke at 67. What???

Well, they did outgain us in total yardage... SCOREBOARD!

[johnb]

CBS Sports has their rankings updated:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefoot...ngs/124/index2

Stanford fell from 21 to 33, while Duke improved from 103 to 89. The ridiculousness of rankings is illustrated by FIU still being 22 spots above Duke at 67. What???

At the top end of their rankings, Oklahoma beat UTEP by 17, while Alabama beat Michigan by 4 touchdowns. Their interpretation: moving previously #4 OU ahead of previously #3 Bama, and bumping Michigan UP from 9 to 5.

Louisville beat Kentucky (which is ranked 1 below us) by 18, and their rank soared from 29 to 10.

Boise State lost a game and jumped from 25 to 11.

Georgia won a game by 3 touchdowns and dropped from 6 to 17.

Carolina beat Elon and jumped from 30 to 18.

West Virginia won by 5 touchdowns and dropped from 10 to 25.

TCU didn't play and dropped from 16 to 30.

Navy lost by 40 points and moved up from 39 to 37.

Baylor won by 5 touchdowns and dropped from 28 to 39.

Kansas State won by 6 touchdowns and dropped from 22 to 52.

Miami (OH) lost by 46 points and moved up from 69 to 61, thereby remaining ahead of Miami (FL), which beat BC by 9.

At least we're going in the right direction

[Dev11]

Can't wait to see Stanford's campus, and can't wait to see Duke go to 2-0. Both will be firsts for me. I'm also hitting the Dodgers-Giants game earlier in the day and hope that my blue and white Duke apparel doesn't get me in any trouble with the black-and-orange faithful.

[johnb]

Can't wait to see Stanford's campus, and can't wait to see Duke go to 2-0. Both will be firsts for me. I'm also hitting the Dodgers-Giants game earlier in the day and hope that my blue and white Duke apparel doesn't get me in any trouble with the black-and-orange faithful.

Both are beautiful venues. My hunch is that the group will be less hostile than if you were wearing Duke gear at a Kentucky or UConn football game.

[mkline09]

At the top end of their rankings, Oklahoma beat UTEP by 17, while Alabama beat Michigan by 4 touchdowns. Their interpretation: moving previously #4 OU ahead of previously #3 Bama, and bumping Michigan UP from 9 to 5.

Louisville beat Kentucky (which is ranked 1 below us) by 18, and their rank soared from 29 to 10.

Boise State lost a game and jumped from 25 to 11.

Georgia won a game by 3 touchdowns and dropped from 6 to 17.

Carolina beat Elon and jumped from 30 to 18.

West Virginia won by 5 touchdowns and dropped from 10 to 25.

TCU didn't play and dropped from 16 to 30.

Navy lost by 40 points and moved up from 39 to 37.

Baylor won by 5 touchdowns and dropped from 28 to 39.

Kansas State won by 6 touchdowns and dropped from 22 to 52.

Miami (OH) lost by 46 points and moved up from 69 to 61, thereby remaining ahead of Miami (FL), which beat BC by 9.

At least we're going in the right direction

Ridiculous ranks. Carolina beat Elon, and not even a decent Elon team as they lost pretty much their entire team from last year. But whatever. Can't control it, so all Duke should focus on is winning. I think it will take a maximum effort, but I think they could beat Stanford unless what we saw from Duke and Stanford this week was an adoration.