The “Brainiac Bowl”, played between two schools who are much better known for their academics (well, Northwestern anyways–Duke has a basketball team that is decent, maybe you’ve heard of them) kicks off for the 16th time in Durham. The thing is–normally when these two teams play football, it’s not worth it to really pay attention; but this year is different.

Northwestern may have not looked overwhelming in a 30-10 win over Syracuse to start the year, but that’s the almost scary thing about the Wildcats–even in looking bad they are able to put up 30. Yes, it was Syracuse, I understand that–but still….While the Northwestern offense was clicking, especially on the ground behind Tyrell Sutton, the defense wasn’t doing too bad either–it held Syracuse in check, especially on third downs (3 of 14). While I still think that C.J. Bacher’s statistics were a bit padded, he still had a good game overall.

Duke didn’t play anyone special in James Madison, but for a program that has wallowed in despair for what seems like forever, a 31-7 drubbing is taken in the most positive vein for the Dukies. The Blue Devils ran all over JMU for 218 yards on 48 carries; Clifford Harris paced the team with 95 yards and two touchdowns, while Jay Hollingsworth added 46 yards. QB Thaddeus Lewis had a solid game as well; he completed 17-of-28 passes in the contest, and finished the game with 141 yards and two scores. While the Blue Devils only gave up 7 points, they didn’t exactly shut down JMU on the ground, giving up close to 200 yards to the run.

While Duke football is on the upswing, Northwestern’s level of talent is a bit better overall. The game is supposed to be played under heavy rain with all of the tropical storm which will force the game to a ground struggle, and the Wildcats hold a distinct advantage over the course of the game with depth and athletic ability as well as it being the achilles heel of Duke–Sutton is the key to victory and NU will ride him as long as they can. Northwestern is a 6.5 point favorite at the time of this writing, but I think that they cover that with ease. My vision: Northwestern 42, Duke 27