Northwestern is hoping to end a five-game losing streak to its "academic school" nemesis Duke in a rare Friday night contest in Evanston.

The Wildcats (1-0) will host the Blue Devils (1-0) at 8 p.m. in the first game under the lights at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium.

After a hot and sunny day and a 13-6 win over Miami (Ohio) last weekend, the sun will set nearly an hour before kickoff, temps will hang around the low 60s and the winds will be whistling off the lake at nearly 20 miles per hour.

Duke trounced the Wildcats in Durham, 38-14, last season, but head coach David Braun has won eight of 11 games since.

The Blue Devils' head coach, Mike Elko, left for Texas A&M and their quarterback, Riley Leonard, left for Notre Dame after last season. They have been replaced by Manny Diaz, the head coach who was previously a defensive coordinator at Penn State, and Maalik Murphy, a transfer quarterback from Texas.

The Diaz-Murphy duo opened with a win of their own, 26-3, over Elon from the FCS. Murphy threw for 291 yards and two touchdowns, against one interception, and the Duke defense racked up eight sacks and 16 TFL. Something has to give in the trenches against a Northwestern offensive line that gave up zero sacks last week.

Can Braun and the Wildcats snap the streak, or will the Blue Devils continue their dominance over the guys in purple?

Our staff makes their picks.

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Northwestern's offense has a better chance of finding their sea legs on the lakeside than Duke. Two fumbles hamstrung their efforts vs. Miami (Ohio) in a game that ended up much closer than it should have been. The Wildcats found late-game lanes on the ground, finishing with 150 yards rushing to Miami's 40.

Duke put up a paltry 59 yards on the ground vs. Elon. That's fine with Murphy lighting it up with his arm, but he'll face a far stingier Wildcat defense, as well as the elements in Evanston. This could be the kind of game that Northwestern fans dreamed of, and opposing fans had nightmares about, where the lake practically suits up in purple and white.

Northwestern's staff is more experienced and their team is better suited to grind out a tight win and start 2-0.

Fearless Forecast: Northwestern 20, Duke 14

There are several reasons to like Northwestern in this one.

Duke is still working out the kinks with an entirely new coaching staff. Murphy put up some big numbers last week, but they were mostly dinks-and-dunks, and the Devils struggled running the ball against an FCS opponent. Plus, they're playing in Evanston, where Braun is now 6-1 in his career at two different venues.

I expect this to be a tight, low-scoring game. Northwestern has the better ground game to move the chains and control the clock. The key will be an offensive line that looked solid against Miami but will take a big step up in class against a Duke defensive front that has some dudes. The Wildcats' defense should be able to bottle up the Duke ground attack and then put some pressure on Murphy.

The Cats haven't won a game in this series since 2016, and they got embarrassed in Durham last season in a game that Braun blamed on himself. It's time to exact some revenge.

Fearless Forecast: Northwestern 17, Duke 14