Duke's Mike Elko, NC State’s Dave Doeren in agreement their programs should play on a routine basis

Duke and NC State’s football stadiums are separated by just over 22 miles from one another. But this weekend’s game will mark the sixth meeting between the two programs in the last 20 years and the first in Durham since 2013. 

Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren, who is in his 11th year in Raleigh, has only played the Blue Devils twice — a 38-20 loss in Durham during his first season at the helm and a 31-20 win at home during the COVID-19 impacted 2020 season. 

Although the two teams are so close together, the ACC’s divisions limited the number of times the Blue Devils and Wolfpack met on the gridiron. But since the league did away with divisions this fall, these two programs are protected opponents in the new format. 

While that’s the case, it could change again with the addition of Cal, Stanford and SMU next fall. 

But both coaches, Duke’s Mike Elko and Doeren, think that a game between their programs should be played on a routine basis.

“I think having a team 30 minutes from your campus that you never face is kind of strange,” Doeren said Monday afternoon. “I’ve said this before, it’s not just for our school, it’s for all the kids that play in the ACC, it’s great to have more variety of who you’re playing in the league. … Getting the chance to play Duke in the rotation where it’s every year, or at least every two years home and away, would be outstanding.”

Elko, who held his weekly press conference two hours after Doeren, almost echoed his counterpart down the road. 

“It’s crazy there’s a school that close that hasn’t been to Durham since 2013,” Elko said. “The part of going away from divisions I think we all agreed on was creating more of these opportunities. … You factor in that we haven’t played them, a lot of our older kids, this is their last year, won’t ever play them again and this is kind of a one shot deal, it kind of creates a little more urgency and importance to the game.”

This weekend’s game will mark NC State’s second against a ranked opponent this season — it lost to then-No. 10 Notre Dame on Sept. 9. The Blue Devils checked in at No. 17 in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 poll, which would already make this contest a big deal. 

But with the juxtaposition of the two programs there’s some added fire to the contest. Add the ACC league play component on top of that, and it sets up a high-stakes game, which is slated for primetime at 8 p.m. on the ACC Network. 

Elko noted the added meaning of playing a nearby university — Duke and UNC are rivals, so are NC State and UNC, and this could birth a new rivalry between the Blue Devils and Wolfpack. 

“I think proximity creates rivalry because there’s such a familiarity,” Elko said. “Our guys know their guys. There’s a connection through recruiting, there’s a connection through playing each other in high school.”

Saturday night’s game will be a first for most players on either side of the contest, and it creates even more excitement for the programs. 

For Doeren, the chance to play an away game nearby is nice, and it allows NC State the opportunity to stay in its usual hotel for games at Carter-Finley Stadium. He’s excited for the short bus ride to Wallace Wade Stadium, and an opportunity to play a quality Duke team.

“This team is a fun group of guys, they really are, and I know they’re excited about going to play at Duke,” said Doeren, who is 1-1 against the Blue Devils in his career with the Wolfpack. “Nobody in the locker room has had that opportunity yet. It’s a team that’s gotten a lot of deserved notoriety this year with their win over Clemson and the way they played Notre Dame. … Look forward to playing them in their stadium.”

It’s unclear whether or not Duke star quarterback Riley Leonard will be available after he sustained a reported high-ankle sprain in the Blue Devils’ 21-14 loss to Notre Dame. Elko called his signal-caller “day-to-day” on Monday and is not sure if he’d be able to play against the Wolfpack. 

If he does not, it will be Duke backup quarterback Henry Belin IV, who would be set to make his first-career start. 

But no matter which quarterback suits up for the Blue Devils, Elko took the opportunity to talk about a hotly-debated topic across college football this season: conference realignment. 

As leagues continue to grow nationally, the ACC included, Elko wanted to remind the conference that geographical matchups belong in college football. 

Duke and NC State hope to be the next rivalry, not the next matchup that gets hurt from playing in larger, expanded conferences.

“Keeping the conferences a little more regional, making sure we keep in mind this part of football a little bit,” Elko said. “These games are a lot of fun for the kids when they play the schools that are right down the road. … Those things matter. Anytime you have proximity, I think you add a little bit to the game, for sure.”