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GAME NOTES: The 22nd-ranked Kansas Jayhawks play the first of three straight home games this weekend, as they host the Duke Blue Devils in non-conference play at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence.

The Jayhawks took to the road for the first time last weekend and came away with a convincing 34-7 victory over at Texas-El Paso. It was a nice follow up for Kansas, which opened the season with a 49-3 drumming of Northern Colorado in Lawrence. The Jayhawks, now 2-0 for the seventh straight season, are 18-2 in their last 20 non-conference games and will look to improve upon that mark this weekend.

As for Duke, it rebounded nicely last weekend and used a strong second half to pick up a 35-19 triumph against Army at West Point.

"I always like coming from behind at halftime and winning a game, I don't care what the circumstance is," said head coach David Cutcliffe. "We came up with enough plays to win, but the reason we won was pretty consistent defense, winning kicking game, and timely play by our offense."

It was certainly a much better performance by the Blue Devils, who were tripped up by FCS member Richmond, 24-16, in their season and home opener on September 5th.

This weekend's game represents the first-ever meeting between Kansas and Duke on the gridiron.

After trailing Army 10-7 at the break, the Blue Devils responded with 28 points in the second half, with two touchdowns coming courtesy of the offense. Redshirt freshman quarterback Sean Renfree came off the bench to throw both touchdowns and he finished 7-of-8 for 106 yards. Thaddeus Lewis started the game under center and he passed for 60 yards and his 50th career touchdown. Lewis threw for 350 yards and a pair of scores in the opener versus Richmond, so it was a surprise to see Renfree step in for the veteran this past weekend.

"(Duke) is not that kind of team (to have a quarterback controversy), we just have so much improving to do, and so much to look at: what we're doing; what's not quite right," stated coach Cutcliffe when asked about who might play at quarterback this weekend.

While the Blue Devils have some options at quarterback, they have yet to find an answer to their inept ground attack, which was held to 70 yards last weekend. In the team's opener, Duke was limited to only 19 yards on the ground and after two games Re'quan Boyette is the squad's leading rusher with just 63 yards.

Duke failed to force a single turnover in its opening loss to Richmond, but the defense bounced back with four takeaways in the win against Army. Leon Wright made two key plays in the fourth quarter for the Blue Devils, as he return a pair of interceptions for touchdowns in an 16-second span.

"He's such a fine cover-corner," stated Cutcliffe. "He's a guy that can make plays, and plays, and plays -he does it every day in practice."

Wright also came up with a fumble recovery for the defense, which did nice job holding Army to just 119 yards through the air on only 10-of-24 pass attempts. The unit, though, was torched for 266 yards on the ground and they will need to tighten things up against the Jayhawks this weekend.

Kansas churned out over 500 yards of offense for the second week in a row, as it racked up 576 yards, including 255 rushing, in a win over UTEP this past weekend. It was a similar performance to the opener against Northern Colorado, when the Jayhawks totaled 547 yards, with 328 coming on the ground. Jake Sharp led the charge with 104 yards and a two scores on 16 carries and he also had six receptions for 29 yards and a third touchdown versus UTEP.

"The O-line, for the second week in a row, did real well," Sharp said. "I'm really happy to be running behind those guys.

Sharp went for 123 yards and a touchdown in the opener and he had a receiving touchdown in that one as well.

Quarterback Todd Reesing had a decent performance last weekend as well, finishing with 260 yards and a touchdown on 25-of-41 pass attempts. Reesing, who passed for 208 yards and a pair of scores in the opener, has now thrown a touchdown in 20 straight games.

Dezmon Briscoe was his main target last week, as he finished with eight receptions for 154 yards. It was a solid 2009 debut for Briscoe, who was suspended for the opening game.

The Jayhawks' defense has been superb thus far, allowing just 10 points and 454 total yards through the first two games. Last weekend, Kansas held UTEP to just 208 total yards, including only four rushing, and 75 of those yards came on a touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. The defense was obviously dominant and even came up with six sacks. Maxwell Onyegbule accounted for two of those sacks and the defensive end is just one piece to a frontline that appears to have improved greatly from a year ago.

"The front four have worked really hard in training camp on fundamentals of pass rush," stated head coach Mark Mangino. "I've been down there chasing the defensive linemen around for a few weeks myself, and those kids are starting to come around."

The Jayhawks had three sacks in the opener, so this unit has shown it can certainly get to the quarterback.

Behind their electric offense and improving defense, expect the Jayhawks to have their way with Duke and coast to victory this weekend.

Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Kansas 38, Duke 13