DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke Blue Devils host the Tulane Green Wave at Wallace Wade Stadium on Saturday.
Duke won the most recent meeting between the teams at home by a 48-27 score on Sept. 24, 2011, but the Green Wave holds a 2-1 lead in the two teams’ overall series that began back in 1964 game at Tulane.
The Blue Devils enter the game with a 3-0 record after defeating Kansas 41-3 last week at home, while the Green Wave stands at 1-2 after defeating Southeastern Louisiana, 35- 20.
Tulane will face its second Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) opponent in three weeks following a 38-21 loss to Georgia Tech at home on Sept. 6.
The Green Wave will have to contain both Duke’s wide receivers and running backs, while the Blue Devils defense will need to present an effective scheme to contain a potentially problematic Tulane passing game.
As Duke freshman running back Shaun Wilson broke the school single-game rushing record with 245 yards and scored three touchdowns in Duke’s win over Kansas, Tulane quarterback Tanner Lee threw three touchdowns passes to lead his team past Southeastern Louisiana.
Cut’s quotes
Duke head coach David Cutcliffe’s comments during his weekly ACC teleconference included talking about what he expects to see from Tulane, the discrepancy in red zone defense and scoring defense results, the philosophy relating to maintaining the running back depth chart, and what his team will need to do to contain the Green Wave passing offense.
What to expect from the Green Wave:
“Looking at them this year, a lot of athletes, a lot of speed, a very aggressive-natured team. Defense that will take the ball away from you, an offense that will throw the ball down the field. They’ll throw vertical after vertical. They have backs, tight ends, quarterback that are playing well.”
On sitting last in ACC red zone defense, but first in scoring defense:
“Well, it’s football. It’s a combination of a lot of things. We’ve not turned the ball over on offense, so we haven’t given people a short field. Our defense does bend at times, but we’ve avoided breaking. We forced field goal attempts, et cetera. Our kicking game has given teams a long field to deal with. Again, the further away they are from our end zone, the less chance they have of scoring. There’s some things we definitively have got to do better and defend better. But ultimately the name of the game is points per game. That is it. Everything you try to do as a team is you try to average more points per game than the opponent does every week independently. That’s a positive. But, again, it shows you a lot of things we’ve got to work on to get better.”
On Shaun Wilson’s record-breaking performance and his place on the depth chart:
“We’re going to still stay in the same rotation. It’s part of the reason he had as much success as he did. We’re going to keep our guys fresh. We’re going to play our guys. He certainly is a part of our plan. We talked about it going into last week, getting him in the game quicker and earlier, which we did, which paid off. And Joe Ajeigbe as well. Shaun will get his touches and carries. We’re going to try to put him in good position to be successful. But we’re not going to have a back in our system that’s going to carry the ball 20 or 25 times in a game.”
On containing Tulane quarterback Tanner Lee:
“He’s a passer. He’s a big, good pocket passer. He still can run some. He’s not going to major in running the football. What I see is he’s got great vision downfield, he’s courageous in the pocket, keeps his eyes where they should be, has a big offensive line in front of him. He’s six-foot-four-inches. He’s one of the best seam throwers we’ve seen since we’ve been here. He really has a knack of throwing vertical seams and vertical balls down the field. He’s an accurate deep-ball guy. He poses a lot of threats. One of those guys that can get hot on you and pick you apart.”
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Duke Injury Report (As of Sept. 18)
QUESTIONABLE
DE Dezmond Johnson (leg)
OG Lucas Patrick (leg)
OUT
TE Dan Beilinson (upper body)
CB Johnathan Lloyd (lower body)
OL Trip McNeill (lower body)
OL Jake Sanders (upper body)
OUT FOR SEASON
LB Kelby Brown (leg)
TE Braxton Deaver (leg)
DE Taariq Shabazz (leg)
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