Duke football's bowl projection ahead of final week of regular season
By Hugh Straine
Duke football improved to 8-3 on the season and 4-3 in ACC play after a thrilling 31-28 victory over the Virginia Tech Hokies (5-6, 3-4) in the Blue Devils' final home game of the 2024 regular season.
The program received Associated Press Poll votes for the second week in a row, this week receiving 6 after receiving 2 last week. The only programs on the outside of the poll looking in that got more votes than the Blue Devils are Kansas State, Memphis, Syracuse, Louisville, and Washington State.
Three ACC programs found themselves inside this week's poll: #8 Miami, #9 SMU, and #12 Clemson.
In CBS Sports bowl expert Jerry Palm's recent college football playoff and bowl projections, he has the Blue Devils facing off against a Big Ten opponent.
Palm predicts Duke will play Minnesota (6-5, 4-4) in the Duke's Mayo Bowl on January 3rd in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Despite the Golden Gophers sitting at just above a .500 record, they've played some quality games. Minnesota is coming off a 1-point loss against #4 Penn State, and the Gophers had the lead at halftime. Minnesota also lost to Michigan by just 3 points and boasts wins over #22 Illinois and USC.
Palm also projects two ACC clubs to make the College Football Playoff: 3-seeded Miami and 11-seeded SMU.
It's been an extremely successful rookie campaign for Duke head coach Manny Diaz, bringing the Blue Devils to a 5-0 start to a season for the first time since 1994. Duke closes out the regular season at Wake Forest this weekend. If Diaz can lead the Blue Devils to a win, he'd cement the first season Duke won 9 regular season games since 2014.