Following its first shutout victory since 1989, Duke will take to the road in hopes of securing its first 2-0 start since 1998.
The Blue Devils will take on Memphis Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. The Tigers open their season hoping for revenge following a 38-14 loss in Durham last season.
The biggest change for both teams will be under center, as neither will have the same starting quarterback from their last meeting.
“They have a freshman quarterback beat out a returning starter, so that should tell you something about his capabilities,” head coach David Cutcliffe said.
Duke (1-0) redshirt junior quarterback Anthony Boone was efficient in his second-career start on Saturday against N.C. Central, going 16-for-20, throwing for 176 yards and adding a touchdown on the ground.
Boone’s presence as a runner, combined with the use of the zone-read, opened things up for Duke’s running game, which exploded for a 257-yard performance against the Eagles, led by sophomore Jela Duncan and redshirt junior Josh Snead, who combined for 129 yards and a touchdown.
“With Anthony being a quarterback, it adds a new dimension to the offense which opens up the running game a whole lot,” Snead said. “Because you’ve got to be accountable for him in the running game, with us having four guys that can get the job done, it made it much easier.”
Boone was not the only Duke player to see success at the quarterback position against N.C. Central. Fellow redshirt junior Brandon Connette went 5-for-8 for 55 yards and two touchdowns in his time under center. Connette was another big contributor to the running game, rushing for 22 yards and a touchdown.
“Anthony is our starter,” Blue Devil head coach Cutcliffe said. “But Brandon Connette can play really well. It’s been a long time for him since he’s been able to focus on being a quarterback.”
Memphis redshirt freshman quarterback Paxton Lynch, who beat out redshirt senior Jacob Karam for the starting job, will line up under center for the first time in his collegiate career against a Duke defense that was nothing short of dominant against N.C. Central, holding the Eagles to 187 total yards on the day and shutting out a team for the first time since then-head coach Steve Spurrier’s squad shut out North Carolina 41-0 in 1989.
The Blue Devils’ defense will look to build on its impressive performance against N.C. Central by relying on its big men to pressure Lynch into making rookie mistakes early on. Duke’s experienced front seven is the core of the team. Led by sixth-year senior Kenny Anunike, who registered one of the Blue Devils’ two sacks, the defense is determined to build on its historic shutout when it faces Memphis Saturday.
“Memphis is a very good team, we’re going to respect them,” Anunike said. “We’re going to go out there and play just as hard as we played against [N.C.] Central and as hard as we’re going to play against Georgia Tech and as hard as we’re going to play against [North Carolina].”
Inexperienced quarterbacks are easy to rattle early in the season, but because Memphis opened the season with a bye week, the Blue Devils have never seen Lynch play before. Duke’s defense has no film to study of Lynch playing for the Tigers, leaving them with glimpses from last year and his high school film to study in preparation for the game.
“That is tough because I’m a big film study guy,” Anunike said. “Right now we’re just going to have to go off a lot of last year’s film, focusing on their offensive line and how they protect. They’re most likely going to protect the same way.”
If the Blue Devils can rattle Lynch’s cage enough to force him into making rookie mistakes and come away with a victory, Duke will start 2-0 for the first time in 15 years, one of the many milestones the Blue Devils are looking to reach this season.
With their following four games being played at Wallace Wade Stadium and a fifth coming against a Virginia team that the Blue Devils beat handily 42-17 in 2012, opening with a pair of victories would put the Blue Devils in position to solidify their hopes of earning a second-consecutive bowl berth for the first time in program history.
“Little things like that are just showing how Coach [Cutcliffe] has changed this program so much and how we’re just steadily climbing, and climbing and working,” redshirt junior tight end Braxton Deaver said. “It’s working—the system is just working right now.”
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