Duke Football: Three ranked teams await on Blue Devils’ schedule

The Duke football team’s schedule includes three teams that are ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 that was released on Monday.

The path for the Duke football program to return to its first ACC Championship Game since 2013 could have included even more difficult opponents than it already does. As it stands, though, the schedule is certainly no cakewalk.

Three teams in the first Associated Press Top 25 Poll are slated to take on the Blue Devils in the 2018 season, which begins for Duke on Aug. 31 at home against Army. And two of those three opponents are in the top 10 — in both of those games, the Blue Devils will be the visiting squad.

Alabama will begin the season in the poll’s top spot, followed by Clemson, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Ohio State. The poll includes four ACC teams: Clemson at No. 2, Miami at No. 8, Florida St. at No. 19, and Virginia Tech at No. 20.

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Duke, however, did not receive a single vote. It’s too bad nobody asked former Duke head coach Steve Spurrier, who used to always include the Blue Devils at No. 25 on his Coaches Poll ballot — regardless of how dismal the Blue Devils were expected to be — when he was coaching at Florida.

Current head coach David Cutcliffe has his Duke Blue Devils entering the 2018 season fresh off a 7-6 record in 2017 and riding a three-game win streak, including a 36-14 victory over Northern Illinois in the Quick Lane Bowl.

After the Blue Devils open with Army, they will play three more non-conference opponents — Northwestern, Baylor, and North Carolina Central — before beginning conference play at home against their first ranked opponent, No. 20 Virginia Tech.

From there, the team faces Georgia Tech, Virginia, and Pitt before reaching the most daunting part of the schedule. In the month of November, the Blue Devils face a road game against No. 8 Miami, a home game against rival UNC, another road game at No. 2 Clemson, and a regular-season finale at home against Wake Forest on Nov. 24.

Although the schedule is tough, it does give Duke plenty of chances to gain national recognition if it can pull off an upset or two against a ranked opponent. If the Blue Devils win enough games, they will have the opportunity to represent the Coastal Division in the ACC Championship Game on Dec. 1 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.