The Duke football program is poised for a highly successful season coming off a 9-4 campaign in the first year under Manny Diaz, just the fourth season of nine or more wins in program history. However, despite a surging program that got better from a roster-building perspective this offseason, the Blue Devils are still being disregarded as true contenders, both in the ACC and on a national scale. For many programs, that would cause a lot of frustration over the lack of media attention, but not for Diaz and his squad.
The Blue Devils' head man made an appearance on The Adam Gold Show on ESPN 99.9 The Fan, and let the world know he doesn't care at all what attention his program gets in the preseason, or lack thereof.
"I hope it doesn't bother our players, it for sure doesn't bother me...We're not worried about respect, because ultimately that's outside of our control," Diaz said. "We're just worried about collecting wins, and sooner or later if you wait enough games and people start saying nice things about you and ranking you and doing all that, then you got to deal with that."
"Plus, criticism is, you know, they're really the same poison. So, I think we have a mature football team, as you [Gold] mentioned...I'm more concerned, to be honest, about their hearts and minds and what they believe. And, what excites me is that they believe we can be really good."
Although the Duke program has continuously flown under the radar throughout the summer, the Blue Devils are set up for success, and 2025 might be the best shot the program's ever had to make a College Football Playoff appearance.
Darian Mensah, one of the top quarterbacks in the Transfer Portal, is viewed as one of the best QBs in college football heading into the season. Diaz also brought back veteran running backs Jaquez Moore and Peyton Jones, while bringing in talented wide receivers via the portal in Cooper Barkate and Andrel Anthony to replace the team's top two wideouts from a season ago, Eli Pancol and Jordan Moore.
The Blue Devils look to lead with their defense again in 2025, coming off a season where Duke boasted one of the top defensive units in all of college football. The team finished second in the nation in tackles for loss (116), fourth in the nation in sacks (43), and 26th nationally in third-down conversion percentage (33.8), and is bringing back two future pros in Chandler Rivers and Terry Moore. Moore will miss at least the first part of the season after suffering a torn ACL in Duke's bowl game at the end of last season, but with talented transfers and several other key returners on the defensive side of the ball, the Blue Devils have a legitimate chance to have the best defense in the ACC.
While most insiders and analysts continue to leave the Blue Devils in the dust, Diaz and his group are ready to prove people wrong in 2025.