Duke Football Draws Praise From Illinois Ahead of Saturday Showdown

The Duke Blue Devils are coming off a season-opening win over Tulane on Saturday, beating the Green Wave 17-3 on the shoulders of running back Nate Sheppard. He had a career day in the win over Tulane and showcased his ability to carry an offense.

While Sheppard paced the offense, the defense found a way to shut down the Green Wave offense. They made it really tough on Tulane's offense all game long. 

But now, going into Week 2, the test gets tougher. 

Duke now heads on the road to face off against an Illinois team that is 1-0 after beating UAB in their season opener. The Fighting Illini are unranked to start the season but a few wins and that could turn around in a hurry.

As we get set for Saturday's game, Illinois head coach Bret Bielema met the media and offered some praise for Manny Diaz's team ahead of the matchup. The two coaches have met in the past, including last season's Illinois win at Duke. And Bielema knows what to expect from Diaz and his team. 

“When his offense and defense especially come together on the field, they're very aggressive,” Bielema said. “They play very physical. It's fun to watch, in my opinion.”

Duke is a physical team. That's part of their DNA and we saw that with how they grinded out a win over Tulane. As Bielema noted, Diaz-coached teams are very physical so he knows what to expect.

But the same can be said about a Bielema coached team as well.

He's also a coach who has built his team based on toughness and he wants to take it out on the opponent. This game very well could come down to the trenches as Duke will want to run the football often and Illinois is going to have to focus on stopping it. 

If Sheppard can get going, it could be a long day for the Illinois defense. However, Duke's offensive line is going to have to be good in pass protection as well.

The two teams will kickoff at 3:30 p.m.ET at Memorial Stadium Champaign in Champaign, Illinois.