Can't-miss clashes: College football Week 2's premier matchups

Last Matchup: Duke won 38-14(2023) All-Time Series: Duke leads 13-10 Location: Lanny & Sharon Martin Stadium in Evanston, Illinois

Duke travels for their first road test against the Northwestern Wildcats. This all-academic matchup has been played in each of the last three seasons. The Blue Devils started their season with a good but unspectacular 26-3 win over Elon. Meanwhile, the Wildcats are playing in their second straight home game. Last week, they took down top MAC contender Miami of Ohio, 13-6.

Duke has won each of the last five meetings dating back to 2017. Duke has a new coach, Manny Diaz, who is one of the top defensive minds in the sport. In his first game as Blue Devils coach, Diaz saw his defense sack Elon quarterback Matthew Downing eight times. They also held Elon to just 30 yards rushing. Duke only led 10-0 at the half but ran away at the end.

Meanwhile, when it comes to their offense, Duke runs an air raid attack led by sophomore Maalik Murphy. Last week, he was efficient, completing 26 of 40 passes for nearly 300 yards and tossing a score. Duke only ran the ball a combined 27 times for 59 yards. While the offense stalled at times, it looked good when it needed to come up with points.

On the other hand, Northwestern also struggled on offense for most parts of the game. They were only able to gain 328 yards. On the good side though, they did show they can lean on more of a balanced attack as 178 yards came through the air, and the other 150 were gained on the ground. The top playmaker for the Wildcats is senior quarterback Mike Wright.

He also had an efficient performance last week, completing 18 of 30 passes for 178. He showed his dual-threat ability in the win over the RedHawks, rushing for 65 yards and scoring the game's only touchdown. The defense was great last week as well. The pass rush was all over Miami-Ohio quarterback Brett Gabbert who was sacked twice and threw two interceptions.

Miami was only able to garner 267 total yards and Northwestern only allowed 40 of those on the ground. The Northwestern defense can win games by themselves. Now what should we expect to see in this game? Well, you can expect this matchup to be a defensive battle. It's important to note that Northwestern is playing at their practice field since their stadium is being renovated.

The reason why this is mentioned is because their practice field is near water, which can make it difficult for offenses to move the ball down the field through the air. Duke might have a tougher time generating any offense due to this since they rely on the pass. There shouldn't be tons of scoring as both defenses are great to start the year and they've shown they can stuff the opposing run.

For Duke to win, they will have to get after Mike Wright since he can do a bit of everything. Northwestern's offensive live didn't face too much of a challenge against Miami-Ohio so they can be in for a rude awakening against Duke's frontline. On the other side, Northwestern will have to limit mistakes if they want to start 2-0.

While Wright had a good showing last week, he also fumbled the ball twice and lost both of them. If the offense can take care of the ball, they'll already be doing their job. Duke's offensive line struggled a bit against Elon when preventing them from getting into their backfield. This contest should be interesting, despite a lack of highlights.