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21st Ranked Duke Is Hosting Northwestern Today In Durham Who Has An Interim Head Coach In David Braun Who Is Also Northwestern's Defensive Coordinator Following Pat Fitzgerald Being Fired

A season ago Duke played at Northwestern who they topped 31-23 a season ago in Evanston Illinois where Duke topped Northwestern 31-23 on Saturday September 10, 2022 Mike Elko acquired his first road win as Head Coach Of Duke as Jaylen Stinson forced fumble Evan Hall fumble on 1 yard line. Brandon Johnson recovered Evan Hull fumble.

Where?

1 Yard Line in Evanston Illinois!

Before that Duke  jumped ed out to a quick 21-0 edge following a rushing score by redshirt junior Jaylen Coleman and two from Waters.

  • Northwestern found the end zone midway through the second quarter after a six-yard rushing score by Hull, cutting into the Duke advantage at 21-7.

  • The home side then added a 34-yard field goal with 30 seconds left in the half to pull within 21-10 at the break.

  • With two minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Wildcats rushed in from 39-yards out to bring them within 21-16 … Northwestern failed its two-point conversion attempt.

  • The Blue Devils responded with an eight-play, 77-yard touchdown drive, capped by an eight-yard reception by sophomore Jordan Moore to extend their lead to 28-16.

  • The Wildcats answered with a 14-yard catch-and-score to cut the edge down to 28-23 with 5:49 remaining.

  • Duke was forced to punt on its ensuing drive, but Johnson intercepted Northwestern quarterback Ryan Hilinski at the Wildcats' 25-yard line to hand the Blue Devils good field positions with under four-and-a-half minutes left to play.

  • Redshirt junior Charlie Ham would convert on an 18-yard field goal for Duke to extend the lead to eight points.

  • Northwestern would try to counter on its final drive, but Johnson's fumble recovery would secure the win for the visitors.

  • Saturday's game marked the second consecutive in which Duke scored a touchdown on its opening drive … the Blue Devils are now 12-1 since 2017 when that happens.

  • Coleman's 16-yard rushing score was the second touchdown of his career.

  • Waters earned his first career multi-score game after scampering in from 42- and 3-yards out.

  • Leonard and Pancol connected on an 81-yard reception at the end of the first quarter which set up Waters' second touchdown of the game … both the pass and reception were career highs.

  • For the second-straight game, Leonard surpasses 200 yards passing.

  • Joiner's 14 tackles marked the 11th time the Roanoke, Ala., native recorded double-digit tackles.

  • Stinson finished with a career-high 11 tackles for his first double-digit tackle performance.

  • Heyward posted 2.0 tackles for loss to pull within one of breaking into Duke's top 15.

    “According to goduke.com”

    A season ago Northwestern played at home in Evanston Illinois lost to Duke 31-23 though they rallied to get within 1 score in the 4th quarter.

    but could not complete the comeback, falling 31-23 to Duke (2-0) at Ryan Field on Saturday afternoon. Running back Evan Hull turned in a career performance, catching 14 passes out of the backfield for 213 yards and a score, while also rushing 17 times for 65 yards and a touchdown. His 213 receiving yards rank fourth-most in a single game in program history. His 14 receptions are tied for the fourth-most in school history and the most since Zeke Markshausen totaled 16 in 2009 vs. Michigan State.

    Quarterback Ryan Hilinski went 36-for-60 on the way to a career-high 435 passing yards with two-touchdowns. He helped lead the offense to a 511 yard performance.

    Tight end Thomas Gordon set career-highs of five receptions for 78 yards.

    Garnett Hollis Jr. led the Northwestern defensive effort, recording five tackles and one interception. Adetomiwa Adebawore added seven tackles, 1.0 TFL, 1.0 sack, and one forced fumble.

    Since Duke, Northwestern played last season September 10, 2022 a lot has happened to the Northwestern program their Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald was fired following amid allegations of widespread hazing within their program.

    The firing came two weeks following Northwestern’s announcement that Pat Fitzgerald would be suspended without pay for two weeks

    Following the firing of Northwestern Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald Northwestern president Michael Schill wrote an open letter to the school community saying the hazing we investigated was widespread and clearly not a secret within the program providing Coach Fitzgerald with the opportunity to learn what was happening . Either way , the culture in Northwestern’s Football while incredible in someways was broken in others. In the letter Monday Michael Schill said the decision to fire Pat Fitzgerald after a difficult complex evaluation of my original discipline decision imposed last week on Coach Fitzgerald for his failure to know and prevent hazing in the football program . Over the last 72 hours. I have spent a great deal of time in the thought and in discussions with people who love our university the Chair and members of our Board Of Trustees , faculty , leadership , student and Coach Fitzgerald himself. I have also received many phone calls , texts , emails from those I know , and those I don’t sharing their thoughts . While I am appreciative of the feedback and considered it in my decision making ultimately the decision to originally suspend Coach Fitzgerald was mine and mine alone as is the decision to part ways with him.

    According to Pete Thamel article on espn app

    21st ranked Duke is hosting Northwestern today in Durham who has an interim Head Coach in David Braun who is also Northwestern’s Defensive Coordinator.

    Duke is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference comes into the game with record of 2-0 because they’ve won their first two games of the season including last Saturday’s game 42-7 over Lafayette in Durham where As quarterback Riley Leonard was 12-12 passing as quarterback Henry Belin IV was 8-8 passing as 21st ranked Duke beat Lafayette Saturday 42-7 to improve to 2-0 on the season.

    Where?

    Durham!

    Jalan Calhoun caught 16 yard pass from Riley Leonard, Todd Pelino kicked the extra point giving Duke a 7-0 lead in 1st quarter before Lafayette countered with a touchdown of their own as Chris Caraisia caught 12 yard pass from Dean DeNobile , Jack Simonetta kicked the extra point.

    From there though it was all Duke as Jordan Waters ran for 5 yard touchdown as Todd Pelino kicked the extra point as Jordan Waters ran 16 yards for touchdown, Todd Pelino kick the extra point putting Duke up 14-7 in 2nd quarter before extending their lead over Lafayette 21-7 in 2nd quarter. In the third quarter Jaquez Moore ran for 39 yard touchdown, Todd Pelino kicked extra point extending Duke’s lead over Lafayette 28-7 before backup quarterback to Riley Leonard Henry Belin IV ran for 1 yard touchdown Todd Pelino kicked the extra point extending lead over Lafayette yet again. This time, by score of 35-7. In the 4th quarter Jordan Moore caught a 5 yard pass from Henry Belin IV Todd Pelino kicked extra point making final score 42-7 Duke over Lafayette.

    Following quarterbacks Riley Leonard, Henry Belin IV being 12-12 8-8 passing as 21st ranked Duke beat Lafayette 42-7 to improve to 2-0 on the season Duke Head Coach Mike Elko had this to say about Henry Belin IV getting a chance to make plays late in the game!

    I thought that was really critical. We talked about that a lot this week. We wanted to get him an

    opportunity to get out there with the ones where he could run the offense, and we were able to

    do that, get him a drive with some of the wideouts, with some of the running backs and just let

    him function and operate, and so he did that. I thought he did a really nice job, I thought he

    threw the ball around well, he managed the offense really well. I thought he managed the 11

    guys on the field. Obviously, he’s a kid who we have a ton of confidence in and at some point

    he’s probably going to have to go out there and do that for us to win a game, and so it was

    really great to get him that opportunity tonight to do that.”

    According to article on goduke.com

    Northwestern is a member of the Big Ten comes into the game with record of 1-1 because like Duke they won their previous game last Saturday September 9, 2023 in Evanston Illinois as they defeated UTEP 38-7 as After falling behind 7-0, Northwestern responded with an eight-play, 71-yard touchdown drive that was capped off by Lausch's six-yard scamper with 7:46 remaining to tie the game at 7-7, a score that would hold heading to halftime.

    Northwestern came out of the half with its foot on the gas, engineering a 13-play, 79-yard march over 6:36, punctuated by Bryant's 18-yard pass to Gordon that made it 14-7.

    The Wildcat defense flexed its muscles shortly after, with Mueller's interception and subsequent 28-yard return setting Northwestern up with first-and-goal from the Miners' three-yard line.  Bryant cashed in shortly after, battling into the end zone from one yard out to stretch the lead to 21-7.  

    After forcing a UTEP punt with 4:17 to play in the third quarter, Hilnski connected with Himon II on a screen pass as Himon II did the rest, racing 85 yards for another Wildcat score to make it 28-7.  

    The 'Cats continued to shut down the UTEP attack in the fourth quarter, forcing a turnover on downs after the Miners had driven to the Northwestern nine-yard line.  Lausch once again provided fireworks shortly after, ripping off a 46-yard run to put the Wildcats in striking distance.  A.J. Henning capped off the drive with a four-yard rush as the lead ballooned to 35-7.

    Jack Olsen added a 40-yard field goal with just under four minutes remaining as Northwestern closed out a decisive 38-7 win in its home opener.

    Northwestern outgained UTEP by a 391-319 margin, including a 184-104 advantage in the ground game.
    - Bryant and Lausch are the first Wildcat quarterbacks to each record a rushing touchdown in the same game since Trevor Siemian and Matt Alviti in Northwestern's win over Notre Dame back on November 15, 2014.
    - Lausch's 46-yard carry in the fourth quarter marks the longest run by a Wildcat since Stephon Robinson Jr.'s 49-yard rush against Wisconsin on November 13, 2021.
    - All three of Northwestern's forced turnovers came via interceptions.
        - The Wildcats three interceptions are their most in a game since November 21, 2020 against Wisconsin.
    - The Wildcats limited UTEP to just 3-of-13 on third down attempts.
    - Northwestern finished the afternoon with nine tackles for loss and four sacks.
    » Gavin Hardison led the Miners' passing attack, completing 17 of his 25 attempts for 192 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.

    Northwestern came out of the half with its foot on the gas, engineering a 13-play, 79-yard march over 6:36, punctuated by Bryant's 18-yard pass to Gordon that made it 14-7.

    The Wildcat defense flexed its muscles shortly after, with Mueller's interception and subsequent 28-yard return setting Northwestern up with first-and-goal from the Miners' three-yard line.  Bryant cashed in shortly after, battling into the end zone from one yard out to stretch the lead to 21-7.  

    After forcing a UTEP punt with 4:17 to play in the third quarter, Hilnski connected with Himon II on a screen pass as Himon II did the rest, racing 85 yards for another Wildcat score to make it 28-7.  

    The 'Cats continued to shut down the UTEP attack in the fourth quarter, forcing a turnover on downs after the Miners had driven to the Northwestern nine-yard line.  Lausch once again provided fireworks shortly after, ripping off a 46-yard run to put the Wildcats in striking distance.  A.J. Henning capped off the drive with a four-yard rush as the lead ballooned to 35-7.

    Jack Olsen added a 40-yard field goal with just under four minutes remaining as Northwestern closed out a decisive 38-7 win in its home opener.


    Northwestern outgained UTEP by a 391-319 margin, including a 184-104 advantage in the ground game.
    - Bryant and Lausch are the first Wildcat quarterbacks to each record a rushing touchdown in the same game since Trevor Siemian and Matt Alviti in Northwestern's win over Notre Dame back on November 15, 2014.
    - Lausch's 46-yard carry in the fourth quarter marks the longest run by a Wildcat since Stephon Robinson Jr.'s 49-yard rush against Wisconsin on November 13, 2021.
    - All three of Northwestern's forced turnovers came via interceptions.
        - The Wildcats three interceptions are their most in a game since November 21, 2020 against Wisconsin.
    - The Wildcats limited UTEP to just 3-of-13 on third down attempts.
    - Northwestern finished the afternoon with nine tackles for loss and four sacks.
    » Gavin Hardison led the Miners' passing attack, completing 17 of his 25 attempts for 192 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions

    Kickoff is set for 3:30pm from Brooks Field @Wallace Wade Stadium if Duke fans, Northwestern spectators are watching in Eastern Standard Time 2:30pm if Duke fans, Northwestern fans, spectators are watching in Central Daylight Time!

    The game is going to be televised on ACC Network with Chris Cotter , Mark Herzlich Sherree Burruss!