The dream for a college football coach is to have his team hitting its stride in November. Manny Diaz is living out that dream right now. After a 41-3 throttling of NC State in Raleigh on Saturday, Duke has now outscored its last two ACC opponents 88-5.
Duke's defense hasn't allowed a touchdown in two weeks, and the offense is clicking on all cylinders. This is a dangerous team, and they'll go to Coral Gables next week to take on Miami with more than a puncher's chance of scoring the upset.
Here are the biggest winners and one loser from Duke's 38-point win over NC State:
Winners:
Nate Sheppard
In terms of betting odds, Nate Sheppard continues to lag behind the main contenders for the Heisman Trophy. He'll get a chance in the spotlight next week against Miami, but it's a joke that he's not being seriously considered at this point.
Sheppard isn't just the best running back in college football; he's one of the best overall players, and nobody is having a better season than him.
Against NC State, Sheppard racked up 217 rushing yards on 18 carries and scored three more touchdowns. He opened the game with a 69-yard touchdown on his first touch. He never looked back from there.
THERE. GOES. NATE. SHEPPARD.#NateTrain 🚂 x @HeismanTrophy pic.twitter.com/r8sciVCGyt
— Duke Football (@DukeFOOTBALL) November 7, 2026
He leads the nation in scrimmage yards and is up to 1189 yards and 17 touchdowns as a runner this year.
Get this man to New York.
Walker Eget
Why has Duke's offense started clicking on all cylinders? Walker Eget and the passing offense have taken a major step forward. Jonathan Brewer has gotten more comfortable with letting Eget take some shots down the field, and the Blue Devils opened the game against NC State with three straight passing plays. That opened the door for Eget's 69-yard touchdown to get the rout started.
Eget finished 22-of-31 for 208 yards and a touchdown in the win. He's giving Duke exactly what it needs. He's managing the game effectively and taking care of the football. With an elite RB and a dominant defense, that's the most important part.
Andrew Pellicciotta
On a day when Sheppard rushed for over 200 yards, the most jaw-dropping moment - and the best play of the season, and arguably much longer than that - for Duke was the 109-yard kick-six by Andrew Pellicciotta.
After missing two games with an injury, the sophomore safety made a loud impact in his return. With Duke leading 24-3 right before halftime, NC State lined up for a 50-yard field goal attempt to try to gain a shred of momentum. The field goal attempt looked good, and even fooled the play-by-play guy. But it was short, and Pellicciotta snagged it near the back of the end zone and started his return.
Pellicciotta made several guys miss on his way, reversing field twice, and taking it all the way back for a touchdown in an awe-inspiring moment:
WHAT A WAY TO END THE HALF! ANDREW PELLICCIOTTA 109 YARDS!!! pic.twitter.com/ObchjXtY7C
— Duke Football (@DukeFOOTBALL) November 7, 2026
Duke's defensive line
The Duke defensive line dominated the game. They didn't rack up a ton of sacks, though they did end up with two. But they ruined any sense of NC State finding balance offensively by completely taking away the ground game.
The Wolfpack rushed for 32 yards on 25 attempts, putting the game squarely on CJ Bailey and the passing attack's shoulders. Unfortunately for them, the Blue Devils' secondary locked up the NC State receivers, too.
Loser:
The national media's preseason expectations for Duke post-Darian Mensah
The national media buried Duke after Darian Mensah departed Durham for Coral Gables. The defending ACC champions were expected to be middle of the pack or worse in the ACC, with some even projecting that the Blue Devils wouldn't garner bowl eligibility.
That was always silly, though credit to Diaz, his staff, and the locker room for beating even optimistic expectations.
Duke is 7-2. They should be in the AP Top 25 this week, and they should jump into the CFP rankings on Tuesday. This is a really good football team, and they've got a huge opportunity to prove it over the last three weeks of the season.
Duke's final three games: at Miami, vs. Clemson, at Wake Forest. Win one of those games, and 8-4 will be beyond reasonable expectations for this team. Win two of them, and it's one of the best regular seasons in program history. Win all of them, and Duke will be in Charlotte for the ACC Championship Game with a College Football Playoff bid on the line.
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