Tulane @ Duke preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 24, 2011 ) Tulane 27, Duke 48

Duke looks to begin a season with four straight wins for the first time in 20 years when it hosts Tulane on Saturday. The Blue Devils recorded their first 3-0 start since that 1994 campaign that resulted in a Hall of Fame Bowl berth with a 41-3 pasting of Kansas last Saturday. Freshman Shaun Wilson rumbled for a school-record 245 yards with three long touchdown runs to lead an offense that ranks third among Atlantic Coast Conference teams in total yards (510) and fourth in points (42.3).

Saturday marks Duke's final non-conference tilt and precedes a daunting stretch in which head coach David Cutcliffe's squad plays four of five on the road. One of those games is against Georgia Tech, which handed Tulane a 38-21 defeat on Sept. 6 before the Green Wave rebounded to knock off FCS squad Southeastern Louisiana by a 35-20 margin last Saturday. Tulane won the first two meetings with Duke in 1964 and 1973 but the Blue Devils rolled to a 48-27 victory at home in 2011.

TV: 12:30 p.m. ET, ESPN3. LINE: Duke -17

ABOUT TULANE (1-2): The Green Wave is led by redshirt freshman quarterback Tanner Lee, who threw for 238 yards and three touchdowns in last weekend's win. Tulane raced to a 28-3 lead at halftime and held on to overcome three turnovers, a problem that has plagued coach Curtis Johnson's team all season. Lee has thrown six interceptions and the Green Wave has coughed it up eight times overall, compared to zero for Duke.

ABOUT DUKE (3-0): While Wilson and a standout passing game will bring loads of attention to the Blue Devils' offense, its defense deserves some accolades after a stifling effort against Kansas in which the Jayhawks were forced into two turnovers and held to just 297 total yards. "The flavor of the day was defense," Cutcliffe said after his team shut down a Kansas unit that scored 24 first-quarter points the previous week and hung 44 on the Blue Devils in the previous meeting in 2009. Duke is giving up an ACC-low 11 points per game.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Duke QB Aaron Boone has thrown 106 passes without an interception this year after throwing one every 24.8 passes in 2013.

2. Tulane RB Sherman Badie is averaging 9.39 yards per carry, which ranks fifth in the nation.

3. The Blue Devils are one of 25 teams in FBS play with fewer than 100 penalty yards on the year.

PREDICTION: Duke 42, Tulane 17