Duke @ Syracuse preview

No. 20 Duke has quietly built one of the top football programs in the ACC and will take aim at its fourth straight win Saturday when it visits Syracuse. The Blue Devils' last three victories have come by a total of 16 points, including last week's thrilling 51-48 double-overtime triumph against Pittsburgh in which Duke admittedly got lucky when the Pitt kicker missed a 26-yard field goal at the end of regulation. “We were resilient, continued to fight and believed down to the very end,” said Blue Devils coach David Cutcliffe, whose team sits in first place in the ACC Coastal Division.

The Blue Devils have won 15 of their last 16 regular-season games and still own the 13th-best scoring defense in the nation (19.3 points) despite allowing Pittsburgh to score 48 points - 23 more than Duke's previous season high. Cutcliffe's bunch could have a resurgent effort against an Orange team that has lost six of seven games, including last Saturday's 24-17 defeat against a North Carolina State team which had dropped 12 straight ACC contests. "There's still a chance," Syracuse coach Scott Shafer told reporters when asked about making a bowl game. "We've got to win out and pull off a miracle, but let's do it, man. Let's go out there and do it."

TV: 12:30 p.m. ET, ESPN3. LINE: Duke -3.5

ABOUT DUKE (7-1, 3-1 ACC): Anthony Boone runs the show for the Blue Devils and is coming off a terrific performance in which he went 23-of-31 for 266 yards with three touchdowns and also led the team with 47 rushing yards and a score. Jamison Crowder, the second leading receiver in ACC history, had nine catches for 165 yards and two scores against the Panthers and has been held below seven receptions only three times all season. One area where Duke generally thrives is team discipline, as evidenced by its turnover-free performance against Pitt combined with only three penalties for 20 yards in a double-overtime contest.

ABOUT SYRACUSE (3-6, 1-4): The Orange are currently playing without quarterback Terrel Hunt (leg fracture), but their offense has been woeful all season, ranking 108th in the nation in points per game (20.1). Syracuse has been held to 20 points or less in six of its last seven contests and struggled mightily on the ground against the Wolfpack, who held the Orange to 38 yards on 37 carries. Freshman AJ Long has been up and down at the quarterback position while Hunt recovers from his injury, but Jarrod West caught seven balls for a career-high 161 yards against NC State and will certainly be a focus of the Duke defense.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Duke and Syracuse have not met in football since shortly after World War II began - on Oct. 21, 1939. The Blue Devils won that matchup 33-6 and also defeated the Orange 21-0 the previous season, but those are the only two meetings between the schools.

2. Blue Devils QB Thomas Sirk is strictly a running threat, but he had two rushing scores against Pitt - including the game-winner - and has seven TDs on the ground this season.

3. The running game will be key for the Orange, who are 3-1 when someone rushes for 100-plus yards and 0-5 when none of their ballcarriers reach that mark.

PREDICTION: Duke 44, Syracuse 19