First time attempting to pick a game so here goes nothing. I picked Duke to win by 7-13. Why? Well a few reasons.
(1. As someone else on the board pointed out, we haven't won in Durham the past few tries. In fact, 2013 was the last time we beat the Dookies at their home field. Something about that place just bogs us down.
(2. Will Kenny Cooper play? If not, we may see the same mess out of our O-line that we saw last week. At least with Cooper playing the line looked somewhat competent.
@ilovetheoption has done a fantastic job breaking down our O-line this year, and showed how we really struggled without Cooper last week, especially with stunts.
(3. Can we shut down Mataeo Durant? He has quite literally been the Duke offense this year. We have done a fairly good job shutting down opposing running backs, but he will be the best one we have seen to this point. If we shut him down, I think we have a good chance of winning.
(4. We have to establish our running backs early and often. It was nice to see Sims throw for 300+ yards on Saturday, but we are a much better running team. We thrive when our backs are getting 3-4 yards a carry. There should never be a universe where Gibbs has a negative rushing total at the end of the game. Make some holes, and let our backs feast on linebackers and DB's. If our running backs get shut down, it could be another long afternoon.
If all these things break in our favor, we could be looking at a 45-17 victory for the good guys. If not, I see more of a 31-21 loss that dashes any remaining hope for the rest of the season.