When asked what was going to be the most difficult aspect of containing North Carolina’s offense this week, Duke head coach David Cutcliffe had just three words:
“Explosive plays—period.”
Considering the ending of the Blue Devils’ game against Miami, minimizing field-flipping plays will be key to shutting down a stout and newly-ranked No. 21 Tar Heel squad.
Duke will get its chance to do so in Chapel Hill Saturday at noon, when the homecoming fans will pack a sold-out Kenan Memorial Stadium. After defeating then-No. 23 Pittsburgh 26-19 last Thursday to take the outright lead in the ACC Coastal Division race, North Carolina will look to extend its seven-game winning streak against its Tobacco Road rivals and keep the Victory Bell for the second straight season.
“This is the best North Carolina team that I’ve seen. They’re extremely balanced as a team,” Cutcliffe said. “The offense has playmakers everywhere…. To win seven games in a row, you’ve got to be doing a lot of things extremely well.”
The Tar Heels’ offensive playmakers are looking to replicate their performance from a season ago against the Blue Devils, when they stormed Wallace Wade Stadium for a Thursday night, primetime dismantling that resulted in a 45-20 victory and a year’s worth of bragging rights.
Although Duke has won two of three in the series and captured a 27-25 victory in its last visit to Chapel Hill, quarterback Marquise Williams is enjoying a standout year both with his arm and his legs. Williams’ dual-threat abilities have netted 1,623 yards passing, 528 rushing and 16 total touchdowns. With a slew of receivers eager to find themselves on the other end of his passes, Williams is not lacking options through the air—four of his targets have 300 or more receiving yards with at least 15 catches this season, including speedster Ryan Switzer.
Behind the senior signal-caller in the backfield, sophomore Elijah Hood has carved up opposing defenses. Through eight games, the running back has 744 yards on the ground with eight touchdowns on 6.2 yards per carry, bursting through seams and powering through contact.
“He’s really strong [and] really fast—you usually don’t see that in a running back. You usually only have one of the two attributes, but he has both,” Duke linebacker Dwayne Norman said. “We’re definitely going to have to be sure tacklers this week because he can break tackles and hit you big with his speed.”
Although the offensive firepower will be on display for the Tar Heels, the biggest turnaround from a year ago is their newfound defensive edge. Last season, North Carolina allowed 497.8 yards per game—worst in the ACC—which contributed to its 6-7 record, despite scoring 33.2 points per game.
This season, though, new defensive coordinator Gene Chizik has injected new life into his unit. The Tar Heels are allowing 358.0 yards per game and have three players with at least 50 tackles. Sophomore safety Donnie Miles leads the way with 66 tackles, and junior defensive end Junior Gnonkonde paces the front line with 5.5 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks, seven quarterback hits and two fumble recoveries—all of which are team-highs.
“It’s still a really, really good defense,” Duke tight end Braxton Deaver said. “They’re playing a little different [from last season]. They’re a little more confident in what they’re doing, and when you have a confident defense you have a good defense—a strong defense—and we need to meet that with fire and playmaking.”
On the other side of the ball, North Carolina has to deal with a Blue Devil defense that is ranked ninth in yards allowed per game. Tar Heel head coach Larry Fedora identified the heart and soul of the stout defense as redshirt senior safety Jeremy Cash, who has been all over the field this season. In 35 career games for Duke, Cash has registered 302 tackles and is currently the ACC leader in tackles for loss with 15.5—good for 1.94 per game, which ranks third nationally.
“I feel like this week we might have something a little special because Jeremy Cash is particularly a special player when it comes to blitzing and getting tackles for a loss and being disruptive in the pass game,” Hood told reporters at North Carolina’s Monday press conference. “There might be something that we put in just in case.”
Although Hood and the rest of the offense may be watching out for Cash on the field, Williams may have his eyes focused a little closer to the line of scrimmage on defensive tackle Carlos Wray—his first cousin.
Wray has been instrumental to the Blue Devils’ success on the defensive front this season with 31 total tackles, 1.0 sacks and three quarterback hits, but Williams is determined to keep the Victory Bell on his side of the rivalry. Instead, the quarterback would prefer to replicate his four-touchdown performance from last season, when the entire Duke defense had trouble putting a hand on him.
“It’s going to be exciting just to go against your family member, just to have bragging rights,” Williams told reporters Monday. “Last year, I had the bragging rights. Leading up to that he was talking [about] how he was going to sack me five times, he was going to get his draft stock off me, he’s going to be big-time off me…and then we end up winning and that was it. He had nothing else to say.”
If Williams and North Carolina come out firing on all cylinders like they did in Durham a year ago, Duke will not have the chance to ponder the what-ifs of a final, eight-lateral play or claim bragging rights of any kind. Instead, the Blue Devils might have a 10-mile ride back down Tobacco Road without a bell in tow and with nothing else to say for the second year in a row.
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