ELON, N.C. -- The 2010 Elon football season gets underway at 7 p.m. on Saturday night as the Phoenix takes the short trip to Durham, N.C. to battle the Duke Blue Devils.

Site: Durham, N.C.
Stadium: Wallace Wade Stadium
Surface: Natural Grass
Capacity: 33,941
Radio: WPCM 920 AM – David Hibbard (play-by-play) and Taylor Durham (color)
TV/Video: ESPN3 – Dave Weekley (play-by-play) and Derek Rackley (color)
Series: Duke leads 6-0-1

Live Audio
Live Stats
Live Video
Game Notes

Noteworthy
• Elon will open the season on the road for the third time in head coach Pete Lembo's five seasons.
• The Phoenix is 2-2 in season-openers, including a 1-1 record when opening on the road, under Lembo.
• Since its move to Division I play in 1999, Elon is 4-7 in season-openers.
• Duke is the third FBS opponent that the Phoenix has faced.  The others were South Florida (L, 28-13 in 2007) and Wake Forest (L, 35-7 in 2009).
• Elon quarterback Scott Riddle is one of 20 players on the Watch List for the 2010 Walter Payton Award which is presented to the top offensive player at the FCS level.

The Coaches
Elon: Pete Lembo (Georgetown '92) is 78-31 heading into his 10th season as a head coach.  He is 29-17 in his first four years at Elon.
Duke: David Cutcliffe (Alabama '76) is 53-45 in eight seasons as a head coach.  In two seasons at Duke, Cutcliffe is 9-15.

SoCon Showing Support for the Gulf Coast
Southern Conference football teams will show their support for those being impacted along the Gulf Coast by wearing helmet decals with the initials “GC” during the 2010 football season. More than 170 SoCon football players come from states that share a coastline being affected by the oil spill. The nine institutions that play SoCon football agreed to display the decals to express their support and encouragement for the people living in the region.

“Pete Lembo of Elon approached me with the idea while we were at our annual coaches’ meetings in June,” noted Southern Conference Commissioner John Iamarino. “I lived in Louisiana for six years and my son was born there, so when Pete mentioned it, the concept really resonated with me.”

Use of the decal was approved by the NCAA’s rules committee and supervisory officiating organization upon request by the conference.

Consistently Ranked
Checking in at number seven in both The Sports Newtork and FCS Coaches polls, the Elon football team has now been ranked in every poll issued by The Sports Network since Oct. 18, 2007 – a span of 34 polls.