The Blue Raiders are coming off a lackluster showing at home against the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky. MTSU now looks to turn the page and get on the winning track against the Duke Blue Devils.

Duke is 3-0, after thumping Elon, and barely defeating Northwestern and UCONN. Middle Tennessee will square off with Duke inside Floyd Stadium this Saturday.

it is time for another behind the enemy lines piece. We at GoMiddle caught up with Devils Illustrated insider Conor O'neill.

Let's get this show on the road!

The line is -14 in favor of Duke. Agree with this line? Too high? Too low? About right?

It seems about right to me. There are 43 unbeaten teams in college football and I’m not sure anybody has toed the line with a loss in each of its three games as the Blue Devils have. It took them until the second half to pull away from FCS-level Elon in the opener, and the last two wins have featured fourth-quarter comebacks against Northwestern and Connecticut — hardly perennial powers.

Group of 5 (or is it 6 now?) road games tend to be tricky, so I wouldn’t be too confident about Duke running away with this game.

Give me 3-5 Duke players MT fans might be aware of…

Quarterback Maalik Murphy has a rocket launcher for a right arm. He was a high-4-star recruit who spent two years at Texas, starting two games in place of Quinn Ewers last year on the way to the CFP. He’s erratic at times but when he finds his rhythm, I’m not sure there’s a QB in the country with more arm talent.

You’ll want to know two of his receivers: Jordan Moore is among the best in the ACC, with 23 catches for 306 yards already. And Que’Sean Brown is a redshirt freshman coming off his breakout game, a diminutive slot receiver who had 11 catches for 87 yards and the game-winning score against UConn.

Defensively, Vincent Anthony Jr. has come into his own. He’s a junior who had 2.5 sacks in his first two seasons and already has that many through three games.

Any vulnerabilities or weaknesses MT can exploit?

Duke’s rushing offense has been improving with each game but I still don’t know if I’d call it a strength. The high-water mark was rushing for 142 yards and 3.6 yards/carry last week against UConn.

So, if Middle Tennessee can turn Duke’s offense one-dimensional, Murphy is bound to get a little erratic.

Also, Duke’s defense prioritizes TFLs and playing in your backfield — sometimes at the expense of giving up chunk plays.

Thoughts on Duke so far? Have they lived up to expectations?

I just … I don’t know, honestly.

My expectations weren’t that high to begin with. New coach, new systems, lost a ton on the offensive and defensive lines. I went into this season saying that realistically, a successful first year for Manny Diaz would be six or seven wins and a bowl berth to maintain the program’s trajectory.

A 3-0 start hasn’t really swayed my thoughts. Nobody is looking at this team as an ACC contender or anything. If that’s where things wind up, more power to the new coaching staff — and I’ll eat some crow.

How does the game go? Score prediction?

Well, Duke only ever scores 26 points, so I know that’s what they’ll have in the end. I joke. But only kinda. If Duke needs another fourth-quarter comeback in this one, things will have gone awry at some point — all due respect. Middle Tennessee having allowed 19 TFLs this season and Duke being second in the country in them (34) makes me think Duke’s defense will create a decent amount of havoc in the backfield.

I’ll go Duke 26, Middle Tennessee 6.