Duke trying to continue elite play while Pittsburgh gets healthy on offense
The Duke Football team will look to win another game at home against the Pittsburgh Panthers on Saturday night but will have an obstacle to do so.
At 3-1 on the season and 1-0 in the ACC the Duke Blue Devils are playing better than most expected of them prior to the season.
The Blue Devils are coming off of a thumping of Virginia Tech last Friday night in Blacksburg and returning to Wallace Wade Stadium for only the second time this year.
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Awaiting Duke will be the Pittsburgh Panthers as quarterback Kenny Pickett will be starting for the Panthers on Saturday.
Pickett missed Pittsburgh’s too close for comfort win against the University of Delaware last Saturday but was a key part in the upset win two weeks ago against then No. 18 UCF Knights.
The junior from New Jersey was less than impressive in Pittsburgh’s 54-45 win over Duke last season, but was a serviceable 8-of-18 for 150 yards and two touchdowns. The Panthers opted for more of a rushing attack in that victory over the Blue Devils.
As Pittsburgh gets its quarterback back, Duke will be looking for its signal caller, Quentin Harris, to continue his outstanding play of late.
Harris is completing 72.9% of his passes on the year with 10 touchdowns and two interceptions. The dual-threat is also averaging 5.9 yards per carry as he might have to take on a bigger role in the running game as Brittain Brown may be lost for the season.
Duke has been executing at an extremely high rate on both sides of the ball in the first four games of the season, but one of the key factors in that production is how much the Blue Devils are valuing the football.
As an offense, Duke has only turned the football over four times this year, with three coming in the first game of the season against the Alabama Crimson Tide, perhaps the best defense in the country.
Expect Duke to continue what has been working for them all season, in establishing the run which will set up the play-action passing game to take shots down the field.
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The home-crowd will be important in this game and Duke fans should come out in droves for a primetime kickoff for a 3-1 team.
Kickoff is schedule for 8:00pm EST at Wallace Wade Stadium and the game will be televised on the ACC Network.
PREDICTION: Duke 37, Pittsburgh 27