Wind sprints, situps and interior drills never seemed so pleasantly bearable as they did last Saturday afternoon on the practice fields just north of Ryan Field.

“It was good to get our minds off everything that was going on,” said Northwestern quarterback Zak Kustok of the practice that replaced the Wildcats’ canceled home opener against Navy.

“It made us realize that as much as we didn’t like practicing, we were lucky to be out there playing football.”

After last Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, Kustok was thankful and coach Randy Walker was “tickled” to be gripping a football in the 70-degree Saturday breeze.

“Yeah, I wish there were a bunch of people in the stands,” Walker told his players on the day they were supposed to be playing Navy. “But it’s a beautiful day and we’re out here playing ball.”

Walker has been busy instilling an ’embrace-every-snap’ attitude in his players since last Tuesday. And while sports columnists and mourning fans have been pondering the appropriateness of sporting events during a time of national crisis, Walker and his players insist the best thing they can do right now is slip back into their jerseys.

It’s that feeling of refuge on the field that has the No. 16 Cats braving a charter flight to North Carolina today. The travel arrangements may be a little nerve-wracking, but many players say it’s a small price to play to make it to Duke this weekend.

Given NU’s late opener and last weekend’s sweeping cancellations, the Duke matchup has turned into just the Cats’ second game of the season.

“I’ll be the first to say I was disappointed we didn’t play (last weekend),” said Walker, who was wearing a small pin of a pair of crossed NU and American flags on his right lapel Monday. “But every time I think that way, I have to think that’s a very selfish thought. Then I dismiss that thought pretty quickly.”

Walker’s players accepted the cancellation — and a day away from from the field for last Friday’s national day of remembrance — with a similar mix of disappointment and somber respect.

“Everyone agreed it was the right decision by the conference,” said wide receiver Jason Wright. “There’s a lot of emotional turmoil that goes with it. But football is really an outlet for all our emotions.”

Wright and several of his teammates were having breakfast and watching TV at the stadium last Tuesday when they saw the second plane crash into the south tower of the World Trade Center.

He immediately ran downstairs to call his mother, Susan, an American Airlines flight attendant.

Unsure if his mother was working that morning, Wright suffered a moment of piercing panic. But when his phone call pulled a groggy mom out of bed on the other end, he let loose a deep sigh of relief.

Growing up with a parent working in the airline industry, Wright said he is unfazed by the prospect of getting on a plane just 10 days after the attacks. And most of his teammates agree.

Walker, however, is a little less confident.

“I think about it a lot, even before this happened,” he said. “I don’t enjoy traveling. There’s something unnatural about being in the air.”

But the coach is itching to have his starters square off against a lineup other than the second stringers. With last week’s probable rankings-boosting matchup against Navy canceled — a game in which NU was listed as a 35-point favorite — the Cats can’t wait to meet 0-2 Duke.

The game will be the last nonconference tuneup before Michigan State comes to town and the Big Ten season kicks off with the new home opener on Sept. 29.

A traditional Atlantic Coast Conference doormat that finished 0-11 last season, the Blue Devils have an improved signal-caller in D. Bryant, a speedy tailback in Chris Douglas and an offensive line that averages nearly 6-foot-5 and 310 pounds.

Be it a bottom feeder or a top-ranked opponent, NU will take any competition it can get this weekend.

“Sometimes you take the little things for granted,” senior linebacker Kevin Bentley said. “We’ve been playing this game for so long, sometimes it’s routine. Then you see something like this happen. Now it’s like, Wow, we’re blessed just to be able to walk out on this field today.”