Duke football to permanently renew all historic rivalries

A newly revamped Duke football schedule will be coming to Wallace Wade Stadium shortly. 

The Duke football team will finally have its rivalries renewed with NC State and other ACC teams.

Longtime broadcaster Gary Thorne’s signature call in baseball has always been “Goodbye, home run!”

In 2023, he might as well say “Goodbye, ACC football divisions!”

On Tuesday, the Atlantic Coast Conference announced a new scheduling model for football that will take place starting next year.

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Conference play for football will revert to a 3-5-5 set-up in which all 14 teams will play three teams annually and face the other 10 teams twice during a four-year span, once at home and once on the road.

For Duke, its three permanent opponents will be North Carolina, Wake Forest and NC State.

This decision will eliminate the controversial Atlantic and Coastal Divisions, which has been in place since 2005.

Duke football fans thrilled about scheduling news

This is tremendous news for Duke, as fans, players, and coaches have stated over the years a strong desire to play all of its ‘Big Four’ rivals in a single season.

In addition, they will also have more opportunities to face other teams such as Clemson, something that the Blue Devils did for decades until the creation of the divisions.

This will also renew the rivalry with NC State, which ended during the divisional era, Duke played the Tar Heels and Wake Forest, but not the Wolfpack.

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The two teams have faced each other only four times since the divisions were established, with each team winning twice.

Simply put, with the ‘Pack being only 30 minutes from the Duke campus, the Blue Devils should be able to play them every year, rather than face them every five years.

Duke’s game at Carter-Finley Stadium in 2020, a loss, was its first visit to the North Carolina capitol since 2009 and the last game between the two teams in Durham was in 2013, a Blue Devil victory.