Rooting for Duke football means you get used to flying under the radar and being disrespected. Sometimes it works to the advantage, though, because the Blue Devils have certainly used preseason disrespect to fuel their 2-0 start to the season.
But how many Power Four teams in the country can go on the road and defeat a quality Big Ten opponent and not be ranked the following week?
Well, there's at least one. Duke was unranked in both the AP and Coaches' Polls on Sunday. At least in the Coaches' Poll, Duke got some votes. With 19 points, the Blue Devils were tied for 32nd. In the AP Poll, they didn't receive a single vote. Not one.
How is that possible?
Duke is 2-0, and those two wins are over a College Football Playoff team from last year (Tulane) and an Illinois team that won nine games a season ago.
Manny Diaz will continue to use Duke disrespect to his advantage
It's not all bad. The polls right now don't really mean anything. But it would be nice for this team to be noticed nationally a little more. You can bet if they were 0-2, the entire conversation would be about how they had fallen apart without Darian Mensah. But since they are 2-0, beating two teams that Mensah couldn't a year ago, there are crickets in the national media.
Maybe that's a good thing. Diaz will continue to be able to use the "nobody believes in us" mantra in the locker room. That could give this team a real mental advantage.
They were doubted all preseason long, and now that the season has started and they've earned two quality results, nothing has changed. Duke has already exceeded expectations. There weren't many who believed they were going to go on the road and knock off Illinois in Week 2.
That disrespect isn't likely to change anytime soon, even if Duke keeps winning. The next two games at home against Stanford and William & Mary should be wins. A road game at Georgia Tech isn't likely to flip the narrative with the Yellow Jackets 0-2. A home game against Bill Belichick likely wouldn't, either.
But maybe the October 23rd matchup at Virginia could. The Cavaliers look formidable. Going on the road and winning that game would force the nation to start paying attention. It's sad that it might take until Week 8 for voters to really open their eyes.
Duke is for real. They should be ranked this week. Most other teams in their position certainly would be. You can bet that Diaz is telling his team exactly that this week.
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