Duke kicks off its 102nd season of football by hosting Elon on Saturday, August 30 at 6 p.m. The game will mark the eighth on the gridiron between Duke and Elon, with the Blue Devils holding a 6-0-1 all-time series lead.
The Blue Devils posted a 10-4 overall record in 2013, captured the ACC’s Coastal Division championship and appeared in the Dr Pepper ACC Championship Game.
The game will be broadcast live by ESPN3 with Roy Philpott (play-by-play) & Stan Lewter (analyst) calling the action.
• Duke received a bid to the 46th annual Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta, Ga., where the Blue Devils suffered a 52-48 loss to Texas A&M on December 31, 2013
• The series with Elon began in 1920 with a 13-6 Duke victory … The schools battled to a 0-0 deadlock one season later … The most recent meeting — the first between the two schools since 1926 — came in 2010 and resulted in a 41-27 victory for Duke in Durham … The two schools are separated by 40 miles
• Duke owns an all-time record of 475-494-31 in 101 seasons
• Ameritas Group serves as the official game sponsor of this week’s contest … In addition, Duke will celebrate Duke Employee Appreciation Day at Wallace Wade Stadium
• Duke will welcome back to campus members of the 1989 football team to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its ACC Championship … The squad will be honored on the field following the first quarter of play … Led by ACC Player of the Year Clarkston Hines and ACC Coach of the Year Steve Spurrier, Duke compiled a 6-1 league record to tie for the top spot in the standings with Virginia … The Blue Devils finished with an 8-4 overall ledger
• Duke head coach David Cutcliffe enters his seventh season at the helm of the Blue Devil gridiron program … Named the ACC Coach of the Year in both 2012 and 2013, Cutcliffe is 31-44 at Duke and 75-73 overall as a head coach
• Duke is among others receiving votes in both the Associated Press and USA Today/Coaches national polls entering the season
• Duke’s five team captains for the 2014 season — as voted on by their teammates — are QB Anthony Boone, LB Kelby Brown, S Jeremy Cash, WR Jamison Crowder & OG Laken Tomlinson … Boone will serve as a captain for the second consecutive season
• A season ago, Duke enjoyed the friendly confines of Wallace Wade Stadium, where the Blue Devils matched the school single-season record for home victories with five … The school standard of five home wins in a single campaign is shared by the teams of 1930, 1932, 1933, 1943, 1974, 1989, 1994, 2012 & 2013
• Duke is 3-1 all-time in games played in August with wins over East Carolina (2002), James Madison (2008) and N.C. Central (2013) and a loss to Virginia (2003)
Blue Devils by the Numbers
• 10-2 — Duke’s overall record in¬cluding a perfect 7-0 ledger in ACC regular season action with Anthony Boone as the starting QB
• 10 — School-record victories for the Blue Devils last season, bettering the standard of nine set by the 1933, 1936, 1938 & 1941 teams
• 121 — Tackles for S Jeremy Cash in 2013 en route to earning second team All-America honors from USA Today
• 4,216 — Career all-purpose yards for WR Jamison Crowder, who sits 1,537 yards shy of the school record of 5,753 set by RB Chris Douglas (2000-03)
• 28 — School-record consecutive games with 2+ receptions for WR Jamison Crowder … Crowder shares the school record with both Clarkston Hines and Conner Vernon
• 4 — Non-offensive TDs produced in 2013 by S/CB DeVon Edwards, who logged two TDs on interception returns and another pair on kickoff returns
• 30.21 — Kickoff return average for DeVon Edwards last season, a mark which ranked second in the ACC and third nationally
• 68-4-14 — Combined tackles, interceptions and PBUs in 2013 for the CB duo of Breon Borders (26-4- 8) and Bryon Fields (42-0-6) … Both saw extensive action last season as true freshmen and are expected to start in the secondary in 2014
• 25 — Career games with 5+ tackles for LB David Helton
• 7.52 — Duke record career points per game average for K Ross Martin … Through two seasons as a Blue Devil, Martin has amassed 203 points
• 43.65 — Career punting average for P Will Monday, marking the top average among active punters in the ACC … Monday also ranks ninth on the league’s career punting average chart
• 5.45 — Career yards per rushing attempt for RB Josh Snead, marking the fourth-highest total in Duke history trailing only Red Smith (6.05), Ace Parker (5.87) and Elmore Hackney (5.86) … Snead enters the 2014 sea¬son as one of just 11 RBs nationally with 250+ rushing attempts and 5.40+ yards per carry average
• 39 — Consecutive starts for OG Laken Tomlinson along the Blue Devil offensive line
• 60-10 — Career record for David Cutcliffe when leading after three quarters … At Duke, Cutcliffe is 26-3 when ahead entering the final period