DURHAM, N.C. _ While David Cutcliffe's Duke teams have won nine of 11 openers since he took over the Blue Devils program, the opponent to open season No. 12 is unlike any of the previous foes.
Alabama was the winner of two of the last four College Football Playoff national championships while going 55-4. Two of those losses came in national title games where the Crimson Tide entered undefeated.
A year ago, Duke opened the season with a 34-14 win over Army, which went on to a stellar 11-2 season.
Still, Saturday's matchup with No. 2 Alabama in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium marks a serious step up in competition for the Blue Devils.
"I think they are probably the most talented team, top to bottom, in the country," Duke coach David Cutcliffe said during a press conference on Tuesday. "That's what I honestly think. Along with that they are extremely well coached. They don't have a lot of penalties They don't bust assignments. They don't make errors. They make you play their strengths."
Duke's football program is in far better shape now than it was when Cutcliffe arrived after the 2007 season. When he took the Duke coaching job, the Blue Devils had won just 10 games over the previous eight seasons.
Following his massive overhaul, Duke has played in bowl games in six of the last seven seasons _ posting winning seasons in five times this decade.
That includes going 8-5 last season and winning a bowl game for the second season in a row.
But ever since Duke's 56-27 runaway win over Temple in the Independence Bowl ended in Shreveport, Louisiana, last Dec. 27, the focus turned to the gargantuan task Alabama presents to the Blue Devils.
"It's something that we've thought about for a while now," Duke quarterback Quentin Harris said in an interview with the News & Observer last Friday. "We've put in the hard work. We're ready for the opportunity."
For Duke starting right guard Rakavius Chambers, the game against Alabama culminates not just months of preparation but a lifetime of waiting.
Chambers came to Duke from Opelika, Alabama, just outside Auburn. His father, Roderick, played football for the Auburn Tigers, Alabama's fierce rival, for four seasons from 1997-2000.
An all-state player in high school, Chambers always favored Auburn over Alabama. Now he gets to join his father in playing against the Crimson Tide.
"This is kind of like the Super Bowl for me," Chambers said during a press conference after Tuesday's practice. "This is one of the reasons why I came to Duke, for this game right here. These guys have always been the big dogs in Alabama. I think it's an opportunity to show what I have and show who I am as a person and as a player."
