Duke Head Coach David Cutcliffe talks with quarterback Anthony Boone (7) in the second half of an NCAA college football game at Veterans Memorial Stadium, Saturday, Sept. 6, 2014, in Troy, Ala. (AP Photo/ Hal Yeager)

• Kansas Jayhawks (1-0) at Duke (2-0)
2:30 p.m. (central) Saturday, Sept. 13, Wallace Wade Stadium, Durham, North Carolina

Three and out, with the Duke Blue Devils…

1st Down

Duke enters this week’s game vs. Kansas with an 18-11 non-conference record under current coach David Cutcliffe. One of those 11 losses came to Kansas in 2009, when the Jayhawks drubbed Cutcliffe’s club, 44-16, in Lawrence.

KU coaches Clint Bowen and John Reagan, both on the Jayhawks’ staff in 2009, said they would not be able to take much from that game that will help them this week, other than the knowledge and memory of how disciplined, detailed and prepared Cutcliffe’s club was that day. Bowen remembered specifically the first couple of plays from scrimmage catching the Kansas defense off-guard.

In the last 12 regular season non-league games, Cutcliffe has guided the Blue Devils to an 11-1 mark, including eight straight regular season non-conference victories.

2nd Down

Did you know that KU coach Charlie Weis once hired Duke coach David Cutcliffe to be his quarterbacks coach at Notre Dame? Weis has long been a fan of Cutcliffe’s mastery of offense and play-calling and Weis said earlier this week that he picked Cutcliffe to join him at Notre Dame back in 2005 with the idea of eventually handing over the offense to him.

It never happened and neither did Weis and Cutcliffe working together. Cutcliffe resigned from the post before really getting started after suffering a heart attack and having triple-bypass surgery.

Cutcliffe was out of football for all of 2005 and he rejoined the Tennessee coaching staff in 2006 and 2007 (he previously worked at Tennessee from 1982-98 and helped develop Peyton Manning into one of college and professional football’s greats). In 2008, the former Ole Miss head coach took the head job at Duke, where he has racked up a 33-44 record and is now in his seventh season.

“I was looking for somebody I could turn the offense over to and I thought David was one of the best minds out there,” Weis said this week. “Not only was he well-schooled with the quarterback position, which is his reputation, but I thought he’d be a perfect person to hand over the offense to because of his mind and his ability as a play caller. What he’s done there is what I would expect him to do anywhere. Just about anywhere he’s gone, in an ample amount of time, he’s been able to get things going in the right way, especially offensively. He’s a very, very good coach.”

3rd Down

Although they wound up losing 34-17 to the Blue Devils last week, Troy proved one thing early on: Duke is vulnerable to a strong running attack.

On its first two drives of the game, Troy gained 100 yards on 16 carries — and 166 yards in all — and jumped out to a 14-3 lead. Duke’s D tightened up after that giving up just 58 more rushing yards and limiting Troy to a 3.7 yards-per-rush total.

But the two successful drives that opened the game each were 83-yard drives, with one taking 11 plays and another a whopping 13.

The Blue Devils lost All-ACC linebacker Kelby Brown to a season-ending knee injury in August and that left senior David Helton (6-4, 240) as one of the few experienced linebackers on the roster. In the first two weeks alone, Duke has relied upon a red-shirt freshman and a true freshman to play a significant number of snaps in the middle of the defense.

Duke’s first two opponents of 2014 recorded 152 and 158 yards on the ground in losses to the Blue Devils.

Punt

While last year’s 10-win team was one of the best in Duke history, the 2014 version is hardly the same club. In addition to losing two of the team’s top returners in Brown and fellow-all-ACC tight end Braxton Deaver to preseason injuries, the Blue Devils saw 21 players make their collegiate debuts in the season opener, with five true freshmen and 13 red-shirt freshmen playing in a college game for the first time.

However, despite that fresh blood, Duke still features an experienced roster. In all, the Blue Devils field 21 seniors on their roster, 17 of whom are listed on the two-deep depth chart.