Duke rubs salt in the Illinois wound with hilarious troll job after road win

Duke couldn't help but troll Illinois a little bit in the aftermath of Saturday's impressive road win over the Illini. It's all in good fun. There's a lot of mutual respect between the programs, with Manny Diaz and Bret Bielema building their programs in a similar fashion.

But when you go on the road and take down an opponent, especially one that beat you a season ago, you get to talk a little bit of trash.

Duke pulled off the 31-27 upset on Illinois' home field, the sight of a fancy new scoreboard. Illinois unveiled the scoreboard, billed as the largest in college football, in their season-opener against UAB a week ago.

Illinois fans get a nice view of the game/replays from it. But you know what looks even better on it? Highlights of Duke beating Illinois. The official Duke football X account sure thought so, sharing a video of the highlights transposed onto the giant scoreboard:

That's an effective troll job.

Duke is winning on and off the football field to open 2026

The only thing more impressive than the Duke football social media account is the actual Duke football team. The Blue Devils are off to an impressive start. Not only have they begun 2-0, but both wins were earned over opponents they lost to a season ago.

Don't think that matters? Read what Manny Diaz said about it in the aftermath of the win over the Illini:

"The fact that we've already beaten two programs who last year's team couldn't beat, I think that means a lot to the guys in the locker room, even the guys who were on that team," Diaz said. "What it shows them is the program is still developing, still elevating."

Duke entered the season with zero expectations. They still aren't garnering any attention nationally despite the 2-0 start. But that's just fine. In fact, I think Diaz might prefer it that way. He can continue to motivate his locker room with the mantra that nobody believes in this team.

They were left for dead in the offseason. Nobody thought this team could possibly measure up to last season's squad that captured the program's first outright ACC Championship since 1962.

But you know what? There's a pretty easy argument to make after two weeks that this team doesn't just measure up. They might be even better. Maybe Walker Eget isn't what Darian Mensah was, but the ground game is better, the defense is better, and this team is playing with even more of an edge.

Keep doubting them. Duke will keep winning ballgames, and the social media team will keep winning the internet.

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