Duke football had an exciting winter portion of the offseason, finishing with the #28 ranked transfer class by On3 headlined by guys like quarterback Darian Mensah and safety Caleb Weaver.
Blue Devil football is coming off of a fantastic rookie year for head coach Manny Diaz, finishing the 2024-25 campaign with a 9-3 record overall in the regular season and 5-3 record in ACC play. The season was capped off with a berth to the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl against Ole Miss, where the Blue Devils fell 52-20.
But despite a great offseason and now a year at the helm for Diaz under his belt, this expert still predicts Duke will finish the 2025-26 season with a worse record than this past season.
247sports college football analyst Brad Crawford recently released his early record predictions for every ACC team. Crawford slotted the Blue Devils at 8-4 overall and 5-3 in the ACC, ranking the Blue Devils 5th in the conference based on his predictions.
Top 5 ACC teams in 2025-26 per Crawford:
1. Clemson (10-2, 8-0 ACC)
2. Miami (10-2, 7-1 ACC)
3. SMU (10-2, 7-1 ACC)
4. Georgia Tech (9-3, 5-3 ACC)
5. Duke (8-4, 5-3 ACC)
The Blue Devils are predicted to be a top-five team in the ACC next season, but with a worse overall record and the same conference record that the program finished with last season. Duke finished last season tied with Syracuse, Louisville, and Georgia Tech for the fourth-best record in the ACC at 5-3.
With the record prediction, Crawford predicts the Blue Devils to lose these games: vs. Illinois, vs. Syracuse, at Clemson, at North Carolina.
Duke will host the Fighting Illini, who came in at #7 in On3's way-too-early 2025-26 rankings, in the second week of next season on September 6th. A win over a presumed top ten team in the nation in week two has the potential to propel the Blue Devils into the AP Poll and atop the ACC.
"If Duke finds a way to navigate its non-conference trio and beat a nationally-ranked Illinois team at home in Week 2, darkhorse league title buzz may commence," Crawford said.
The Blue Devils will likely be one of the most popular under-the-radar picks to win the ACC with its new additions mixed with how much success Diaz had in year one running the program.
And maybe the best part of these projections for Blue Devil football fans is that Duke football has gotten back to a point where a top-five finish in the ACC isn't good enough on its own.