Blue Devils And Pirates To Battle In Opener

Duke Blue Devils (0-0) vs. East Carolina Pirates (0-0)
Sept. 2, 2000
Wallace Wade Stadium
6:00 PM ET

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Duke-East Carolina at a Glance
The Series
Duke leads the all-time series vs. East Carolina, 4-3, including a 4-2 mark in games played in Durham. Duke's last loss to East Carolina in Durham was a 35-10 triumph in 1980. After dropping two of the first three games in the series, the Blue Devils have won three of the last four meetings between the two schools.

Series Breakdown
Overall Duke, 4-3
Highest Scoring: 59 points in 1992
Lowest Scoring: 23 points in 1994

at Durham: Duke, 4-2
at Greenville: East Carolina, 1-0
Neutral 0-0

First Meeting: ECU, 17-16, in 1977
Last Meeting: ECU, 27-9, in 1999
Current Duke Streak -- lost 1

Franks vs. ECU 0-1
Logan vs. Duke 1-2

The Last Meeting
On September 11, 1999, East Carolina toppled Duke, 27-9, in Greenville, N.C. In the first meeting between the two schools in five years, the Pirates spoiled Duke head coach Carl Franks' debut. The Blue Devils controlled the game for much of the first half, but could not find the end zone and went into the locker room trailing, 10-9. Sims Lenhardt provided all of the Devils' scoring on field goals of 31, 49 and 42 yards. ECU's David Garrard completed 22-of-34 passes for 268 yards and two touchdowns.

The Coaches
Duke's Carl Franks is entering his second year as the head coach of the Blue Devil program. His overall record is 3-8 (same at Duke) and his mark vs. East Carolina is 0-1. Franks returned to his alma mater prior to the 1999 season after serving as an assistant coach at Florida from 1990-98 under former Duke head coach Steve Spurrier. While at Florida, he was part of a coaching staff that led the Gators to five SEC championships and the national title in 1996. Franks also worked with Spurrier at Duke from 1987-89, a three-year stint that culminated with a share of the ACC title and a bowl appearance in 1989. As a player, Franks was a three-year letterman for the Blue Devils from 1980-82. He saw action at both running back and tight end and was selected an academic All-ACC performer in 1982. Franks is a 1983 graduate of Duke with a degree in Psychology.

Steve Logan is in his ninth season as head coach of East Carolina and has a 51-40 overall and school record. Last year, he led the Pirates to a 9-3 record and an appearance in the Mobile Alabama Bowl against TCU. Logan is a 1975 graduate of Tulsa.

Duke in Openers
On September 2, Duke opens the season vs. East Carolina at Wallace Wade Stadium. Duke's all-time record in season-opening contests is 53-31-3, including a 24-6 mark in such games played in Durham. Duke and East Carolina have played each other four times previously in openers. The Pirates hold a 3-1 advantage in those contests, including a 27-9 win over the Devils in Greenville last season.

Duke vs. Conference USA
Duke has posted an all-time record of 14-14-1 vs. teams currently competing in Conference USA. The Blue Devils most common C-USA opponent has been Army (20 meetings). Duke has played just three of the nine members of Conference USA (Army: 10-9-1; East Carolina: 4-3, and Tulane: 0-2).

Earliest Home Starting Date in School History
When Duke kicks off vs. East Carolina September 2, it will mark the earliest home starting date in school history. Duke played at South Carolina on September 1, 1990 in the earliest opener in school history and has played on September 2 on two other occasions, but both were away from Durham. Prior to this game, Duke's earliest home opener came on September 3, 1994, vs. Maryland. Duke won that contest, 49-16.

Sonny Jurgensen Day at Duke
Former Duke great and NFL Hall of Famer Sonny Jurgensen will be honored at the Duke-East Carolina game on September 2. Jurgensen, who was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1983 as a quarterback, actually made more of a name for himself as a collegian at defensive back. He did not play QB for the Devils until his junior and senior seasons. Even then, he was part of a ground-based offensive attack. As a pro, Jurgensen flourished, leading the NFL in passing in 1967, 1969 and 1974. He ended his stellar pro career with 32,224 yards and 255 TD passes.

Duke Looks To Build On 1999 Success
The Blue Devils will look to build upon 1999's success. Duke's three victories last season all came against ACC teams, marking the Blue Devils' best conference record in five seasons and their second-best league mark of the 1990s. Two of Duke's three victories came against bowl teams (at Virginia and vs. Wake Forest).

Duke Plays Early-Season Games Under the Lights
Duke's first two home games of the 2000 season will take place under the lights of Wallace Wade Stadium. Duke will host East Carolina in its 2000 season opener on Sept. 2 at 6:00 PM. On Sept. 16, the Blue Devils play their first ACC game of the season at home vs. Virginia, also with a 6:00 PM start. "We have decided to go with a 6:00 PM game time in order to allow all of our fans from around the state and the region the opportunity to enjoy game day on campus and in the city and still be able to return home safely at a decent hour," said Director of Athletics Joe Alleva.

Two for 200 In Wallace Wade
After celebrating the 70th anniversary of Wallace Wade Stadium last season, Duke needs just two home victories to notch its 200th win within the friendly confines of its home stadium.

The facility, constructed in 1929, was known as Duke Stadium until 1967, when the Board of Trustees approved the renaming of the stadium to honor the legendary Wallace Wade, who coached the Blue Devils to a 110-36-7 record and two Rose Bowls.

Wallace Wade Stadium has been the home of 198 Duke victories, with 58 of those coming by shutout.

Duke will have ample opportunity to try for the 200th win in September, as three of the Devils' first five games will come in Wallace Wade Stadium.

Four Captains Selected
Last spring, the Duke squad elected four team captains -- two on offense and two on defense. On offense, seniors Spencer Romine and Troy Andrew were named captains. Defensively, senior DL Troy Austin and junior LB Todd DeLamielleure were elected by their teammates.

Airborne Again
Duke will employ its "Airborne" offensive attack again in 2000. After struggling to score points in its first three games in 1999, Duke scored 23 or more points in six of its final eight games. In its last three home games a year ago, Duke averaged 34.3 points. Included in that was a season-high outburst of 48 points against bowl-bound Wake Forest on November 13. The Blue Devils averaged 234.9 yards through the air last season, the highest figure for the team since 1995.

Accolades For Andrew
Center Troy Andrew is certainly a candidate for All-ACC honors heading into the 2000 campaign. The senior is beginning his third season as a starter, and has shown strong and consistent play over the last few years. A durable player, he has 33 consecutive games played and 22 consecutive starts entering the 2000 season.

Andrew, who hails from Klein, Texas, remained in Durham this summer to train in addition to working with the Durham County Sheriff's Department. Andrew eventually wants to pursue a career in law enforcement, preferably with the Secret Service or D.E.A. His father, Larry, serves in Texas in the county sheriff's office as a detective on the warrant squad.

Romine Climbing The Career Charts
As he begins his senior season, starting quarterback Spencer Romine has etched his name on Duke's career lists, and is poised to climb those charts as he puts up numbers this season.

He already ranks 10th on career pass attempts with 455, just behind teammate Bobby Campbell, who has 478. Romine is also ninth all-time with 228 career completions and his 2,932 career yards is 10th. His 404 yards passing last season against Maryland was the ninth-best single-game passing performance in Duke history.

Romine's position coach and former Blue Devil quarterback, Ben Bennett, is Duke's and the ACC's all-time passing leader with 9,614 yards (820-of-1,375).

Here is a look at Romine's place among the Duke all-time leaders:
Passing Yards

Ben Bennett - 9,614
Spence Fisher - 9,021
Steve Slayden - 8,004
Leo Hart - 6,116
Dave Brown - 5,717
Anthony Dilweg - 4,557
Mike Dunn - 3,511
Billy Ray - 3,282
Scotty Glacken - 3,170
Spencer Romine - 2,932

Pass Completions

Ben Bennett - 820
Spence Fisher - 788
Steve Slayden - 699
Leo Hart - 487
Dave Brown - 463
Anthony Dilweg - 342
Mike Dunn - 288
Scotty Glacken - 255
Spencer Romine - 228
Bobby Campbell - 223

Pass Attempts

Ben Bennett - 1,375
Spence Fisher - 1,369
Steve Slayden - 1,204
Leo Hart - 872
Dave Brown - 845
Anthony Dilweg - 594
Mike Dunn - 570
Scotty Glacken - 480
Bobby Campbell - 478
Spencer Romine - 455

QBs Trying To Continue Legacy
Duke's group of quarterbacks will try to follow in the footsteps of several standout signal callers who have donned the Royal Blue and White. Spencer Romine, the projected starter, Bobby Campbell and D. Bryant are the three quarterbacks looking to uphold the tradition.

Through the years, Duke has produced several standout QBs, including Leo Hart, Ben Bennett, Steve Slayden, Anthony Dilweg, Dave Brown and Spence Fischer. In fact, Bennett (1), Fischer (3) and Slayden (7) rank among the top seven in ACC history in terms of passing yardage.

O-Line Big And Experienced
Duke's projected starting offensive line has size and experience entering the 2000 season. The Devils' projected starting line stands at 6-5 and weighs 304 pounds on average, making it one of the biggest units in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The group, featuring three seniors, also has 11 letters won among them. Last year's Duke starting unit averaged 6-5, 276 pounds.

Franks Hopes Stability Pays Off
Second-year head coach Carl Franks hopes that stability pays off this season for the Blue Devils. The 2000 season marks the first year since 1992 that the Duke coaching staff returns intact for two consecutive years. In addition, it is the first time for any current Duke player that the offensive system has remained the same for consecutive seasons.

Morton Ready For Big Year
Senior punter Brian Morton, who has held the starting job since his first day on campus his freshman year, looks to improve upon an excellent junior campaign. Morton closed out 1999 with a career-best 42.8 average, the fifth-best season mark in school history. His career average of 41.6 yards currently ranks third at Duke. Morton also broke a 56-year-old school record last season when he booted an 80-yard punt against Clemson. He has been nominated for the Ray Guy Award, given to the nation's best punter.

A Devils' Welcome to a Large Freshman Class
Coach Carl Franks and his staff signed one of the largest recruiting classes at Duke in recent history last February, as 24 student-athletes signed letters-of-intent to play for the Devils.

With the second recruiting class of his head coaching career, Franks continues to build the offense, as he signed two quarterbacks and five receivers.

The Michigan Connection
Duke has 13 players on its roster who hail from the state of Michigan, more than any other state except for North Carolina (17). The Detroit area has produced several Blue Devils in recent years, including D. Bryant, Kyle Denham, and Tyran Grissom, as well as Renaissance High School teammates B.J. Hill, Kyle Moore and D'Juan O'Donald. Newcomer Kenneth Stanford, also from Renaissance, joined the team this fall.

Receiver Hartofilis Not Re-Laxing
Senior WR Nick Hartofilis has endured a busy athletic career at Duke. In addition to earning two football letters, the Huntington, N.Y. native was a two-time All-America lacrosse player for the Devils. He helped lead Duke to the 1997 Final Four and the NCAA semifinals in each of the past three seasons as one of the nation's premier midfielders.

All in the Family
Junior defensive co-captain, LB Todd DeLamielleure, doesn't have to look far for fatherly advice. His father, Joe, is a coach on the Duke staff (tight ends). The younger DeLamielleure is the Blue Devils' leading returing tackler (178 career stops) and a starter in 20 of his 22 college games entering 2000. The elder DeLamielleure was an All-America lineman at Michigan State and an All-Pro for the Buffalo Bills.

Oh, Brother
Speaking of family ties, Duke freshman WR Jeremy Battier has made a name for himself on the Durham campus with a solid preseason camp. But, inevitably, Battier draws comparisons to his older brother, Duke basketball All-America Shane Battier. The two played basketball together at Country Day High School in Birmingham, Mich., for one season.

Defense Has New Faces
Program sales will be up at Wallace Wade Stadium this year as fans will need to learn several new faces on defense. The defensive unit lost eight starters, including All-ACC defensive tackle Chris Combs, who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Big Shoes to Fill
Replacing the all-time leading scorer is tough enough for Duke. Sims Lenhardt, a placekicker, became the Blue Devils' all-time leading scorer last season (240 points). He graduated last May. Brent Garber, a redshirt freshman from Thomasville, Ga., will replace Lenhardt as Duke's kicker this season. Garber has a strong leg and is continuing to work on his consistency. In one preseason scrimmage, he drilled a 54-yard field goal.

Young Devils
Forty-three members of Duke's 2000 football roster are either true or redshirt freshmen. By contrast, there are just 10 fifth-year seniors on the squad and seven fourth-year seniors.

Duke Used to Overtime
Duke is hoping to avoid a repeat of last season when it played three overtime contests, a total that matched Fresno State for the most OT games in the nation. In the four years since overtime was introduced to college football, Duke has played in five such contests. Only Oregon and Mississippi have played more overtime games than Duke (six apiece). Duke is 1-4 in its five OT contests.

The Replacements
The popularity of the new movie, The Replacements starring Keanu Reeves, might bring back memories for two Duke assistant coaches. Both Ben Bennett (quarterbacks) and Joe DeForest (outside linebackers/special teams) were replacement players during the 1987 NFL strike. Bennett played for the Dallas Cowboys and Cincinnati Bengals, while DeForest competed for the New Orleans Saints.

Tough Schedule Again
Duke, which had one of the toughest schedules in the nation in 1999, will have another challenging slate this season. The Blue Devils will face six teams in its 2000 schedule that played in bowls last year. Starting with the East Carolina game September 2, five of Duke's first seven games in 2000 are against teams that competed in bowls a year ago.

Duke Players in the NFL
As of August 28, nine Duke players remained on NFL rosters. They were:

Dave Brown (Arizona)
Patrick Mannelly (Chicago)
Billy Granville (Cincinnati)
Darius Clark (Denver)
Lennie Friedman (Denver)
Bernard Holsey (Indianapolis)
Kevin Lewis (N.Y. Giants)
Chris Combs (Pittsburgh)
Terrence Dupree (San Francisco, IR List)

Duke Excels In The Classroom
The Duke football program has been bestowed with the nation's highest academic honor in six of the last eight academic years -- the AFCA Academic Achievement Award. In 1999, Duke won the award for a record 10th time with a perfect 100 percent graduation rate. Duke has always had a high rate of graduation success but the last 20 years has been an unprecedented era in all of college football. Since 1988 an amazing 268 of Duke's 281 scholarship football players have graduated within a five-year period. That group has also attended two postseason bowl games and won the 1989 ACC championship.

Facility Improvements On The Way
Duke has made an 18 million dollar commitment to its football program with a planned 70,000 square foot building to house coaches' offices, meeting and recruiting rooms, a new locker room, a weight/training complex, and a trophy room to showcase Duke's football legacy. A majority of the 18 million dollar goal has been raised. Duke officials are hoping to break ground on the project this fall.

Duke Excellence Again in 2000
Duke enjoyed another stellar athletic season in 1999-2000. The Blue Devils finished 24th in the Sears Directors' Cup standings, third-best among ACC schools and fifth-best nationally among private schools. Duke also tied a league high with with a school record six conference championships. Duke sent 13 teams and 13 individuals to championship competition. Individually, 21 Blue Devil student-athletes earned All-America honors, while 11 were named Academic All-America.

Silver Anniversary For Duke Broadcaster
Bob Harris, the voice of the Blue Devils, is in his 25th year as a broadcaster for the school. Harris is a two-time North Carolina Broadcaster of the Year. Harris handles play-by-play duties for Duke football and men's basketball games and hosts the popular Duke Football Show with Carl Franks television show again this season.

What's Ahead
Following the East Carolina game, Duke will travel to Northwestern for a September 9 showdown with the Wildcats. On September 16, Duke opens ACC play with a home game vs. Virginia. Kickoff at Wallace Wade Stadium is set for 6:00 PM.

Devil Tales
East Carolina assistant coach Cliff Yoshida is a former Duke assistant coach from 1978-80 under Mike McGee and Red Wilson. One of his recruits during his Duke stint was current Blue Devil head coach Carl Franks...Duke has produced 55 All-Americas. That total ranks fourth among all ACC institutions...Duke is one of the few schools in the country that has played in four of the major bowls games (Rose, Sugar, Orange and Cotton Bowls)...Duke has won 17 league championships as a member of the Southern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference...Duke received one top 25 vote in the preseason ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll...Did you know that Duke (then Trinity College) played the first college football game below the Mason-Dixon line on November 29, 1888? Trinity defeated North Carolina, 16-0, that day...Duke has 11 players enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame.

Duke Injury Report
Freshman TB Brian Clemmons (knee) and freshman CB Temo George (knee) are likely out for the season. Senior DT Nate Krill (shoulders, back) and junior SS B.J. Hill (knee) are out for the East Carolina game.

Blue Devils And Pirates To Battle In Opener

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