Courtesy: Duke Photography Jabari Marshall

Duke Plays First Night Game at Northwestern
The Duke football team will travel to Evanston, Ill., for its first night game of the 2007 season as the Blue Devils take on Northwestern at 8 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, Sept. 15. The game will be televised live by the Big Ten Network with Mark Neely (play-by-play), Glen Mason (analyst) and Marshall Harris (sideline) calling the action. Last week, the Blue Devils opened up ACC play with a 24-13 loss at Virginia while the Wildcats improved to 2-0 with a 36-31 win against Nevada.

The Duke-Northwestern Series
Saturday’s game between Duke and Northwestern will mark the 15th time the two schools have faced each other with the two squads splitting the overall series 7-7. The Blue Devils dominated the early part of the series, winning the first six contests from 1985-90. Since then the Wildcats have won seven of the last eight, including five straight since 1999 when they earned a 15-12 overtime victory in Durham.

Series Record Series tied, 7-7
Record in Evanston Duke leads, 4-3
Last Duke Win in Evanston 1998, 44-10
Last Northwestern Win in Evanston 2002, 26-21
Record in Durham Northwestern leads, 4-3
Last Duke Win in Durham 1989, 41-31
Last Northwestern Win in Durham 2003, 28-10
Current Winning Streak Northwestern, 5
Last 10 Games Northwestern, 7-3
Longest Duke Winning Streak 6, 1985-90
Largest Duke Margin of Victory 34, 1998, 44-10
Longest Northwestern Winning Streak 5, (current)
Largest Northwestern Margin of Victory 37, 2001, 44-7

Duke-Northwestern Notes
Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald played against Duke in 1996 when he was a senior on the Wildcat football team. The Blue Devils prevailed in the contest, 38-13.

More Duke-Northwestern Series Notes
• 1987: The Blue Devils defeated Northwestern 31-16 in the second week of the season behind a 112-yard rushing performance by Roger Boone.
• 1988: Duke’s all-time leading receiver Clarkston Hines hauled in 131 of Anthony Dilweg’s 353 passing yards to lead the Blue Devils to a 31-21 victory in the season opener. Northwestern wide receiver Richard Buchanan tallied all three touchdowns for the Wildcats to set a new school record for receiving touchdowns in a game.
• 1989: Roger Boone posted one of only seven 200-yard rushing games in Duke history as he carried the ball 24 times for 201 yards to lead the Blue Devils to a 41-31 victory to open the season. The Wildcats’ quarterback Tim O’Brien completed 29 passes and Richard Buchanan had 13 catches for 175 yards in the loss.
• 1990: Three Duke wide receivers had over 100 receiving yards, including Walter Jones (117), Marc Mays (101) and Aaron Shaw (100) as the Blue Devils edged Northwestern 27-24 in Evanston.
• 1997: Wildcat wide receiver Brian Musso explodes for 183 receiving yards to help Northwestern squeak by the Blue Devils 24-20 in the second week of the season.
• 1998: The Duke offense runs a school record 100 plays from scrimmage and amasses 575 yards in a 44-10 win over Northwestern. Spencer Romine passed for 303 yards and Richmond Flowers recorded 124 receiving yards to guide the Blue Devils while the defense allowed only 205 yards.
• 2001: Northwestern running back Damien Anderson rushed for a school-record four touchdowns as the Wildcats cruised to a 44-7 victory over the Blue Devils.
• 2002: Despite a 134-yard rushing performance be Alex Wade and Northwestern committing a school-record 16 penalties for 146 yards, Duke fell just short at Northwestern in a 26-21 loss.

Duke-Northwestern State Ties
Senior offensive lineman Zach Maurides is the only player on the Duke roster from the state of Illinois. Maurides is from Glenview, Ill., a town located only 15 minutes away from Evanston, where the Blue Devils will take on Northwestern this weekend. The Wildcats do not have any players from the state of North Carolina on their roster.