Blue Blood Battle Takes to the Gridiron

Kansas and Duke will face off in a matchup of undefeated teams Saturday. The classic blue blood battle that we typically see as one of the best games of the college basketball season, however, will be taking place on the football field.

The college basketball rivalry has faced off 13 times, six of which have come in the NCAA Tournament. Kansas leads the series 8-5.

On the gridiron, however, the Blue Devils and Jayhawks face each other for just the fourth time in these programs’ histories, with only one team set to remain undefeated. Duke leads the all-time series 2-1.

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Joyous Jayhawks

The Kansas Jayhawks have been one of the biggest surprises of the early college football season. They enter the matchup at 3-0 and received 23 AP Top 25 votes. If the Jayhawks escape Saturday with a win, they could find themselves in the Top 25 for the first time since 2009.

The story for Kansas so far has been the dual-attack of quarterback Jalon Daniels, who not only leads the team in passing but is also the Jayhawks’ leading rusher. Through three games, Daniels has completed 47-70 for 566 yards, 237 rushing yards and 10 total touchdowns.

With only one interception across those first three games, Duke will need to find another way to rattle the junior quarterback who has turned heads early in the season.

Jalon Daniels is the first Jayhawk QB with multiple passing and rushing TD’s in a game since Todd Reesing in 2009. pic.twitter.com/QOW2ObqBMY

— Kansas Football (@KU_Football) September 17, 2022

Kansas hasn’t seen this type of start in over a decade, as they haven’t totaled more than three wins over the course of a season since 2009 and have not had a winning season since 2008.

Determined Duke

While the Blue Devils haven’t quite gained enough attention to draw in AP Top 25 votes, they have still had an impressive start to their 2022 campaign.

With a season-opening shutout against Temple followed by a victory against B1G Northwestern, the basketball blue blood has shown some strong signs, with hopes of finding themselves ranked for the first time since 2018.

It’s been the Riley Leonard show for the most part in Durham, as the sophomore quarterback has found the endzone seven times already, including four times in Week 3 against North Carolina A&T.

An experienced and balanced wide receiver core has paved the way for Leonard’s success. The Blue Devils have four receivers over the 100 yard receiving mark on the season. One of those receivers, Jordan Moore, is listed on the roster as a quarterback but has scored a receiving touchdown in each game to go along with 128 yards.

Jordan Moore!! 52 yard catch & run, helped set up a 1 yard Duke TD! #Duke #Temple pic.twitter.com/RcUqFkfDiw

— Sideline CFB (@SidelineCFB) September 2, 2022

What to Expect

Despite this basketball rivalry taking to the gridiron, don’t be surprised if the score comes close to that of a basketball game.

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Both teams have struggled to keep their opponents out of the endzone early on this season. Kansas has given up 382.3 yards per game, and Duke has not fared much better, giving up 348.0 yards per game.

When all is said and done, only one of these teams will move into Week 5 undefeated as they both head towards the bulk of their conference schedules.

The blue blood battle between Duke and Kansas will kick off from David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium at 12 PM Saturday on Fox Sports 1.