Northwestern Wildcats (1-1) vs. Duke Blue Devils (1-1)
September 18, 2021 4:00 pm EDT
The Line: Duke Blue Devils +2.5 / Northwestern Wildcats -2.5; Over/Under: 49.5
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The Duke Blue Devils meet the Northwestern WildcatsSaturday in week 3 college football action at Wallace Wade Stadium. The Northwestern Wildcats look for another win to get a game above a .500 record. The Duke Blue Devils also look for a win here to improve to 2-1 on the season.
The Northwestern Wildcats have lost five of their last eight road games. Hunter Johnson is completing 66.1 percent of his passes for 349 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. Stephon Robinson Jr. and Bryce Kirtz have combined for 188 receiving yards and one touchdown while Malik Washington has five receptions. The Northwestern Wildcats ground game is averaging 163 yards per contest, and Evan Hull leads the way with 213 yards and two touchdowns. Defensively, Northwestern is allowing 22 points and 340 yards per game. Chris Bergin leads the Northwestern Wildcats with 18 tackles, Jeremy Meiser has two sacks and AJ Hampton has three pass deflections.
The Duke Blue Devils have lost four of their last six home games. Gunnar Holmberg is completing 71.4 percent of his passes for 498 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions. Jake Bobo and Jalon Calhoun have combined for 301 receiving yards on 25 catches while Mataeo Durant has four receptions. The Duke Blue Devils ground game is averaging 251 yards per contest, and Durant leads the way with 296 yards and six touchdowns. Defensively, Duke is allowing 24 points and 371 yards per game. Shaka Heyward leads the Duke Blue Devils with 20 tackles, RJ Oben has one sack and Lummie Young IV has four pass deflections.
The Wildcats are 34-16-1 ATS in their last 51 road games and 8-3-1 ATS in their last 12 games overall. The Blue Devils are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 vs. Big Ten and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games overall. The under is 8-3 in Wildcats last 11 games overall. The over is 8-3 in Blue Devils last 11 games overall. The underdog is 7-1 ATS in their last 8 meetings.
The Northwestern Wildcats haven’t had a ton of road success these last couple of years and they’ve had issues moving the ball offensively while stopping the run defensively. This Northwestern team isn’t as good as past seasons. Duke has had its issues as well over the years, but it’s also had great offensive success through two games and has a beast of a player in Durant, who has six rushing touchdowns in two games and two or more rushing touchdowns in four of his last nine games. I like Duke at home. Give me the points.
