FB: Duke vs. Northwestern 9/19 12:30 EDT

[Henderson]

Duke opens as a 1 point favorite, and the line quickly moved to -3.

[duke blue brewcrew]

Might as well get this thread started.

Both teams are 2-0 with impressive wins. Duke opened as a 1 point favorite. That's now been bet in Vegas to 3 points. So early money says Duke by a field goal. What do the experts at DBR say?

It's 12:30 EDT. Sorry for the mistake. Can a mod correct the title?

I personally love the respect Duke is getting against a ranked opponent, that's awesome! I'm hoping Jela is back for this game. Until now, Duke has not needed him. However, now that Duke has a ranked Power 5 match-up, having Duncan as a weapon to plug into the game-plan would be HUGE! Speaking of huge, Duke's D has been impressive up to this point. Now that the Blue Devils are facing some higher caliber bullets this coming weekend, it will be interesting to see how that part of the story plays out. GO DUKE!

[duke79]

Where will the game be televised? ESPN3?

[Henderson]

Where will the game be televised? ESPN3?

Yes, I'm showing ESPN3. Could change.

[Olympic Fan]

Where will the game be televised? ESPN3?

There is another thread about this. The game is on ESPN3, but also on the ACC Network.

I don't have the complete list, but the ACC Network is nation-wide -- 125 stations in all, including all 10 of the nation's top 10 markets.

[duke blue brewcrew]

There is another thread about this. The game is on ESPN3, but also on the ACC Network.

I don't have the complete list, but the ACC Network is nation-wide -- 125 stations in all, including all 10 of the nation's top 10 markets.

Here's the full list for local and national:

http://duke.247sports.com/Bolt/How-t...stern-39406979

[rasputin]

There is another thread about this. The game is on ESPN3, but also on the ACC Network.

I don't have the complete list, but the ACC Network is nation-wide -- 125 stations in all, including all 10 of the nation's top 10 markets.

I've been pleasantly surprised the last couple of years in having an independent station here in St. Louis as part of the ACC Network. Even got to see a few of our FB games in HD.

[Olympic Fan]

Interesting story today ... apparently a Northwestern defensive lineman tweeted out a prediction that Northwestern would shut Duke out ... nice bulletin board material. Reminds me of 1971, when Duke headed west to play No. 10 Stanford and their QB Don Bunce predicted a 42-0 Stanford win ... Duke won 9-7.

Interesting that Northwestern comes to Durham ranked No. 23 ... Duke has beaten ranked teams the last two years -- No. 16 Virginia Tech in 2013 and No. 22 Georgia Tech in 2014. But both of those games were on the road -- Duke hasn't beaten a ranked team at home since 1994, when No. 23 Duke beat No. 13 Virginia.

The last time an unranked Duke team beat a ranked team? That would be a year earlier, when in Barry Wilson's last home game, unranked Duke upset No. 22 NC State in a quagmire of mud. The game came three days after Wilson announced his resignation, effective at the end of the season.

[brevity]

Interesting story today ... apparently a Northwestern defensive lineman tweeted out a prediction that Northwestern would shut Duke out ... nice bulletin board material.

It's a third party tweet that includes a video. Not sure if you can post a video to a bulletin board. Wait, DBR is a kind of bulletin board, so I guess I just did.



Go to the 4:25 mark. Northwestern DL Ifeadi Odenigbo sounds like he's speaking generally about a defense that has gone two games without allowing a touchdown and is trying to get better. Sports motivation is subjective, so believe what you want, but it's not like he's obviously calling Duke out or anything. He wasn't asked about Duke until later.

[duke79]

Here's the full list for local and national:

http://duke.247sports.com/Bolt/How-t...stern-39406979

Is the ACC Network on DISH?

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Is the ACC Network on DISH?

Here's a link to a complete listing of stations in The ACC network for this coming Saturday:
http://www.theacc.com/news/acc-footb...uke-09-19-2015

[Olympic Fan]

Go to the 4:25 mark. Northwestern DL Ifeadi Odenigbo sounds like he's speaking generally about a defense that has gone two games without allowing a touchdown and is trying to get better. Sports motivation is subjective, so believe what you want, but it's not like he's obviously calling Duke out or anything. He wasn't asked about Duke until later.

The exact quote (from the 4:25 mark in your video) is Northwestern DL Ifeadi Odenigbo saying, "For next week, we expect to hold the team ... we expect to have a shutout."

Parse that any way you want ... it sounds like bulletin board material to me.

[OldPhiKap]

We have a ranked team coming into town, and the game is widely seen as pretty close to pick-em. I have trouble believing that we need more motivation than that.

[Native]

Duke hasn't beaten a ranked team at home since 1994, when No. 23 Duke beat No. 13 Virginia.

Wasn't 2013 Miami ranked?

[Isaac Sours]

Wasn't 2013 Miami ranked?

You, my good sir, are correct. They were 24th in the nation. We beat them at home, by multiple touchdowns, on the back of like 300+ rushing yards.

[JetpackJesus]

Here's a link to a complete listing of stations in The ACC network for this coming Saturday:
http://www.theacc.com/news/acc-footb...uke-09-19-2015

Thanks for posting that link. I thought Honolulu had a ACC Network affiliate based on last season, but I couldn't remember for certain or what channel. Now I can set my DVR in case I don't wake up in time to catch the 6:30 a.m. start. And I won't waste time cursing ESPN 3 for not having the game up.

[Bob Green]

A quick read:

http://dailynorthwestern.com/2015/09...ys-importance/

Fitzgerald stressed that Duke will pose a serious challenge for NU, calling the Blue Devils “the fastest team we’ve played yet this year.”

[loran16]

Football Outsiders has its statistical measures up already for this season, although right now they're probably 2/3 preseason projections and 1/3 actual results (due to the tiny sample size). For those unfamiliar, they have two measures, S&P+ and FEI, which are merged into their combined metric F/+. Unfortunately, the run/pass projections aren't up at the moment. Here's what they say about the game:

Northwestern Offense vs Duke Defense:
NW Offense S&P+ = #121 in the Nation,
Duke Defensive S&P+ = #19 in the Nation.

Garbage Offense vs Strong Defense. Northwestern's Offense relies on the rush - in 2 games they have 123 carries to 40 passes. Their average is good but not great so far. Duke's defense has been historically bad vs the rushing game, but has been stout so far this year. This will be the first real test in this regard. Note that their freshman QB can scramble for yardage - dude had 68 on the ground vs Stanford. Bottling up running QBs has always been a Duke issue. One thing that should help is NW is apparently dealing with injuries to the OLine.

Duke Offense v Northwestern Defense:
Duke Offense S&P+ = #91 in the Nation
NW Defensive S&P+ = #8 in the Nation

Bad Offense vs Elite Defense. The stats don't love Duke's offense so far. This is mainly due to projections I'm sure, but also, the #s aren't particularly impressed by Tulane's D (Ranked #82 in the Country), so the credit for doing well against it is less than you'd think (and even less credit is given to a 1-AA win). By contrast, Northwestern's D is supposed to be elite. Stanford's O isnt good at all, but NW shut it completely down. The NW Defense last year was pretty balanced - good vs both run and pass. This will be a HUGE step up for Sirk and the offense.

----------
Overall, Duke is projected to be the better team, but it's close. It's at home so we should win. But the #s suggest this is going to be a very low scoring game with a lot of punts. Avoiding turnovers will be huge, as is making the most of our field position and special teams.

[duke blue brewcrew]

A quick read:

http://dailynorthwestern.com/2015/09...ys-importance/

Interesting article. Their OL issues should help Duke's DL to some degree, and hopefully impact how the Blue Devils are able to attack the NW offense. I liked Coach Fitzgerald's comments about Duke and Coach Cut at the end, that was a nice tip of the cap.

[Billy Dat]

Small tangent - Cut, all class all the time

https://twitter.com/JamesConner_/sta...83765043642368