6:00 PM ET
Saturday, September 12
Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium
Durham, NC
TV: ESPN3
Radio: Blue Devil IMG Sports Network
Duke in 2015: 1-0
NCCU in 2015: 1-0
Duke's 2015 home opener features the 4th Edition of the Bull City Gridiron Classic as the Blue Devils host cross town school North Carolina Central University Eagles. Duke has dominated the first three meetings in this series winning by an average score of 49 - 10. The last meeting was in 2013 with Duke winning 45-0.
The Eagles are coming off a 72-0 shellacking of Div II opponent St. Augustine, while Duke traveled to New Orleans and defeated Tulane 37-7 to open the season.
Barring an unmitigated disaster, Duke will easily handle NCCU in this game. NCCU has some speed and is an improved program under second year coach Jerry Mack, winning the MEAC Championship in 2014, so it will be interesting to see how long the Eagles can hang tough in the game.
The weather report is calling for scattered thunderstorms with a 60 percent chance of rain so the Blue Devils might opt to grind it out on offense via the run game more than normal to counter the bad weather.
Final Score: Duke 41, NCCU 10
Random Ramblings heading into Week 2 of the 2015 Season:
Special Teams: Duke's special teams were special in the Thursday night season opener highlighted by DeVon Edwards 95 yard kick-off return for a touchdown. While he did not return one for a touchdown, Ryan Smith was impressive returning punts. Fans should be looking to see additional special teams fireworks in the home opener.
Defense: Led by senior All America safety Jeremy Cash, the Blue Devils defense was dominate against Tulane. The defensive line pressured quarterback Tanner Lee and stopped the Green Wave running attack. Tulane rushed 23 times but gained only 25 yards. Another strong defensive performance is expected this coming Saturday.
Thomas Sirk: A lot of commentary over the summer focused on Sirk having only thrown 14 passes in his career at Duke. With a 27 - 40, 289 yards, 2 touchdowns and zero interceptions performance, Sirk quelled speculation he was heading into the season with insufficient experience. With a start under his belt, both Sirk's confidence and statistic should rise in Week 2.
True Freshmen: Five true freshmen played in the victory over Tulane. This number is not expected to increase. All five who played in the season opener are expected to see action again on Saturday. Those five are: T.J. Rahming (WR), Jeremy McDuffie (CB), Marquies Price (DE), Brandon Boyce (DT), Ben Humphreys (LB).
Redshirt Freshmen: Eleven redshirt freshmen saw their initial college football action last week with several standing out. Linebacker Tinashe Bere was very active in the middle of the defense recording five solo tackles and wide receiver Chris Taylor hauled in a 27 yard reception from quarterback Parker Boehme. Along the offensive line, Christian Harris, Jake Sanders, Trip McNeill and Zach Harmon all saw action.
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