FB: Duke 26, Northwestern 20 (2OT)

Interesting looking at the Northwestern board...mixed reviews on the "stadium."
No down and distance indication on the main scoreboards...some horrendous noise was badly placed speakers...gotta push thru things and escape with a win....
 
A quick look at NW from the Miami of Ohio game:
The Wildcats rushed for 150 yards on 31 attempts for an average of 4.8 and their only TD came on the ground. They held Miami to 40 yards on the ground and 1.7 per carry.

Through the air, they were 18-30 for 178 yards and Miami was 22-37 for 227 yards. Miami threw two INTs.
Each team had 61 offensive snaps on the afternoon. NW fumbled twice and lost both. TOP was 31:22 for NW and 28:38 for Miami.

NW averaged 41 yards per punt. They were 5-11 on 3rd down and Miami was 5-14.
NW was 2-2 in the red zone and Miami 2-3. NW got 4 sacks for 25 yards.
They made FGs from 45 and 38 yards and missed from 45. NW committed 4 penalties for 35 yards.
Out of 4 kick-offs, they had one touchback.

Smith and Fitzgerald had one INT each.
Their leading rusher was the QB, Wright with 71 yards on 9 carries and their lone TD.
Porter had 13 carries for 63 yards.
Kirtz was the leading receiver with 6 for 91 yards.
Henning had 5 and Covey 4.
 
I watched a good portion of the Northwestern 13, Miami (OH) 6 game. Containing dual threat QB Mike Wright will be a defensive priority. Northwestern also has talented skill position players at running back (Cam Porter) and wide receiver (Bryce Kirtz and Frank Covey). I like our secondary to take care of coverage duties providing the defensive line time to get sacks or force Wright to throw early.

Duke needs to show improvement running the ball and the passing game needs to hit on those deep routes. I’m confident we will show improvement across the board but I am biased.

This is a winnable game and I expect Duke will depart Evanston 2-0.
 
Bob Green said:
I watched a good portion of the Northwestern 13, Miami (OH) 6 game. Containing dual threat QB Mike Wright will be a defensive priority. Northwestern also has talented skill position players at running back (Cam Porter) and wide receiver (Bryce Kirtz and Frank Covey). I like our secondary to take care of coverage duties providing the defensive line time to get sacks or force Wright to throw early.

Duke needs to show improvement running the ball and the passing game needs to hit on those deep routes. I’m confident we will show improvement across the board but I am biased.

This is a winnable game and I expect Duke will depart Evanston 2-0.
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I agree 100%, including on the need for rushing improvement. I know that others disagree, but I think it is very hard to win in college football without a QB who presents some threat to run. Based on one game alone (and the stats from Texas), I'm worried about that.
 
Mike Petrik said:
I agree 100%, including on the need for rushing improvement. I know that others disagree, but I think it is very hard to win in college football without a QB who presents some threat to run. Based on one game alone (and the stats from Texas), I'm worried about that.
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I think the running game might well improve, but I would not expect Murphy to be running much at all...it's not his thing. Didn't run at Texas, not going to run much at Duke unless chased.
 
budwom said:
I think the running game might well improve, but I would not expect Murphy to be running much at all...it's not his thing. Didn't run at Texas, not going to run much at Duke unless chased.
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I agree, and that worries me. I'm not asking Murphy to be a running quarterback and would expect few if any designed runs, but the willingness to improvise a successful run when the opportunity presents is something every successful quarterback must do. Even the games most famous runaphobe Tom Brady understood that. I guess it is the zero runs at Texas that concerns me. Zero. Yikes.
 
CameronBornAndBred said:
Just an FYI, NW is a direction, NU is a school we are playing a game against.
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might be fair to use NW this game since they're using "Puke" on their board to describe us.
I have no idea how the game will go, but I've followed this series for decades, go to NU to see our game often, and they almost never give us any credit, even when we beat them multiple times in a row (currently five in a row I believe)...
In 2018 we beat them in Evanston 21-7 even though Jones hurt his leg in the first half and didn't return, and Gilbert had his horrific hip injury.
We so out-athleted them with our defense that we didn't even try to throw in the second half..still got no respect. Whatever.
 
I'll be there cheering on our Blue Devils!! Front row sideline. Given there are only 12,000 seats and many of them are "premium", NU average ticket prices on the secondary market are apparently the second most in the country!! I could turn a decent profit but will instead be there to cheer on the team. Should be a good matchup. I don't think NU looked very good in their first game but they have a solid team on paper and expect a tough one. Looks like NU is about 3-point favorites. I've been there in person for our last two victories, so hope to continue my good luck winning streak.
 

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budwom said:
might be fair to use NW this game since they're using "Puke" on their board to describe us.
I have no idea how the game will go, but I've followed this series for decades, go to NU to see our game often, and they almost never give us any credit, even when we beat them multiple times in a row (currently five in a row I believe)...
In 2018 we beat them in Evanston 21-7 even though Jones hurt his leg in the first half and didn't return, and Gilbert had his horrific hip injury.
We so out-athleted them with our defense that we didn't even try to throw in the second half..still got no respect. Whatever.
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I believe that was the game with a broken collarbone. I was there and reported to DBR, where there was hope for his return: "He's talking to two men in suits - I don't think he's coming back in."
 
one NU fan noted about the new stadium on their board that "it's nice but you can't see sh**" which makes total sense when you see where all the seats are located.
 
budwom said:
one NU fan noted about the new stadium on their board that "it's nice but you can't see sh**" which makes total sense when you see where all the seats are located.
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I expect them to fix the scoreboard issues they had in week 1 for our game. They were silly miscues of not having easy ways for fans to see the clock/down/etc. but those theoretically should be relatively quick fixes. I'll let you know! But maybe they were talking sightlines
... I won't have that problem from my seat. 🙂
 
Bluedog said:
I expect them to fix the scoreboard issues they had in week 1 for our game. They were silly miscues of not having easy ways for fans to see the clock/down/etc. but those theoretically should be relatively quick fixes. I'll let you know! But maybe they were talking sightlines
... I won't have that problem from my seat. 🙂
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If the seat is too low, you won’t see much through the big bodies on the sidelines.
 
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