Brandon Connette will make the second start of his collegiate career in place of injured quarterback Anthony Boone, but Duke's defense could have the toughest task in store this weekend.
The Blue Devils will once again be tasked with stopping the spread-option attack of Georgia Tech as Duke hosts the Yellow Jackets Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium at 3:30 p.m.
Blue Devil head coach David Cutcliffe joked that in theory, stopping the triple-option should be as easy as one, two, three.
"Stopping the option—just get one guy on the dive, one guy on the quarterback, one guy on the pitch, and let the other eight guys do whatever they want," Cutcliffe said. "What’s so hard about that?"
Stopping Georgia Tech's spread attack was no small task for Duke (2-0) when the teams met in Atlanta last year. The Yellow Jackets (1-0) racked up 330 yards on the ground and averaged 4.6 yards per carry in a 42-24 victory.
Duke's defensive front, which allowed opponents to pick up 5.0 yards per carry in 2012, has been stellar against the run in victories against N.C. Central and Memphis to open the season. The Blue Devils have held opponents to just 2.7 yards per carry thus far, but will face their toughest test in Georgia Tech's deep stable of running backs and unique blocking scheme.
After splitting snaps with Tevin Washington last season, redshirt sophomore Vad Lee will be under center for the entire game against the Blue Devils. Lee completed 7-of-11 passes for 189 yards and two touchdowns in Georgia Tech's season-opener, a 70-0 drubbing of Elon.
"They do the best job consistently of creating big plays," Cutcliffe said.
"Great play-action pass team, particularly with a quarterback like Vad, who has a strong arm and can get downfield with the ball. They'll always have big, tall receivers who can out-jump you."
A matchup with Duke will also serve as a homecoming for Lee, who is a Durham native and graduate of Hillside High School.
On the Blue Devils' sideline, Connette will be making his first start since the middle of the 2010 season when Duke takes the field Saturday with a chance to go 3-0 for the first time since 1994. After Anthony Boone was sidelined with a broken collarbone in the second quarter of the Blue Devils' 28-14 victory against Memphis Saturday, Connette entered the game and completed 14-of-21 passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns.
With an entire week to prepare with the first-team offense, Connette has had the chance to build a rapport with his wide receivers before Saturday's contest.
The pace of the Duke offense could be one of the key factors in this game. The Blue Devils' attack is one of the fastest-moving in the country, but with a ground-and-pound Georgia Tech team standing on the opposing sideline, Duke might be rethinking that approach.
In last year's contest, the Yellow Jackets wore down the Blue Devil defense throughout the game, taking as many as eight minutes off the clock on each drive and marching down the field for scores. Duke's usual approach of sprinting up and down the field may not lend itself well to resting its defense enough to put up with Georgia Tech's spread option.
"On the offensive side of the ball, there may only be 10 series in the whole game," Cutcliffe said. "They are all huge."
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