Duke coach Mike Elko is making his first venture into the long-standing rivalry with visiting North Carolina.
It turns out there’s quite a bit at stake for both Atlantic Coast Conference teams Saturday night when the Tar Heels travel the 10 miles to visit Durham, N.C.
“They certainly understand the significance of this game and the significance of this game to our fan base, our community, our alumni,” Elko said of his players. “We talked a lot about what the energy and emotion is going to be like Saturday night and making sure we handle that the right way.”
Duke (4-2, 1-1) suffered its first league defeat last week in a 23-20 overtime setback at Georgia Tech. That left North Carolina (5-1, 2-0) as the only team in the ACC’s Coastal Division without a conference loss.
“This will be an exciting week,” Tar Heels coach Mack Brown said. “Duke week always is.”
North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye is second in the ACC in completion percentage at 69.4 percent, followed by Duke’s Riley Leonard at 65.9.
“We’ve got to find a way to get stops,” Elko said. “That is going to involve containing (Maye) and not allowing him to get outside the pocket and create plays with his feet.”
North Carolina’s defense received considerable criticism in the opening weeks of the season. But they beat Virginia Tech 41-10 on Oct. 1 and last week beat held Miami to 42 rushing yards in a 27-24 victory.
“We’ve said we’ve got to be great at something,” Brown said, though Miami gained 496 yards passing.
The Blue Devils have noticed that the points aren’t piling up as often on North Carolina’s defense.
“They are a much-improved defense over the last two weeks,” Elko said. “We have focused a lot of our attention on what they’ve become the last two weeks. I think they’ve become a lot more physical.”
The Tar Heels will be without defensive tackle Ray Vohasek and safety Don Chapman because of injuries for the second week in a row.
Duke has won its first three home games, but the Blue Devils haven’t been 4-0 at Wallace Wade Stadium since 2014.
North Carolina has won three in a row in the rivalry and lead the all-time series 63-41-4. The teams play annually for the Victory Bell, which is kept by the winner until the next meeting.
–Field Level Media
