Duke Football are off this weekend so we’ll take some time to recap the season so far and look at what’s ahead for the Blue Devils. The team is 5-1 so far this season and 2-0 in the conference, which is currently tied for the lead in the ACC Coastal Division standings with Pittsburgh who is also 2-0 in the ACC. Rival UNC is also undefeated in conference play at 1-0.
Canes Warning
The Coastal Division has been wide open the past few years and with preseason favorite Georgia Tech in the midst of a 4-game losing streak and 0-3 in the ACC. it looks like the conference will be up for grabs again. Duke was projected to finish 4th in the division this year, which Jeremy Cash admits that he and his teammates used for motivation heading into the season and the team has exceeded expectations so far joining Clemson and Florida State as the only ranked teams in the conference. After the Blue Devils’ upset of then-#20 GT, Cash was quoted as saying “the Coastal Division now runs through Durham“. Duke won the division title in 2013 and finished in second last year behind the Yellow Jackets.
The Blue Devils have played well up to this point in the season and, even though the offense could use some improvement, they have shown they can be an explosive offensive team, have one of the top defenses in the country, in addition to an excellent special teams unit with one of the top kickers in the nation.
Their only loss came against Northwestern in a tight game against a tough, ranked opponent that Duke should have won if it weren’t for turnovers. Other than Northwestern and a scare against Boston College, Duke Football has dominated their opponents so far this year taking care of Tulane, North Carolina Central, Army, and holding off Georgia Tech’s comeback attempt.
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Even though Duke has what is considered an easy schedule this year and could finish with 11 wins for the first time in school history, we hope the team can sustain their success for the remainder of the season with the added pressure of competing for an ACC Coastal Division title. The Blue Devils were in a similar situation last year leading the division with 3 games to go, but then lost consecutive games against Virginia Tech and UNC to fall a game behind Georgia Tech in the final standings.
The remainder of their games will be against division opponents except the final game at Wake Forest over Thanksgiving weekend. Duke will return to action with very important match-up against the 3-3 (1-1 ACC) Hokies next week in Blacksburg, then return to host Miami (3-2, 0-1), travel to Chapel Hill (4-1, 1-0), host Pitt (4-1, 2-0) for senior night, then play at Virginia (1-4, 0-1) before ending the season in Winston Salem.
Duke has come a long way from preseason projections from being picked to finish 4th in the division and projected to only win 7 games to leading the ACC Coastal Division and picked as a sleeper team in the NCAA College Football Playoff discussion. Be sure to check out the Blue Devils as they compete for their second Coastal Division championship in 3 years and stay tuned for more Duke Football news, updates, analysis and more here on Ball Durham.