Duke football is set to take on #14 Ole Miss in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, FL. Kickoff is set for 8:05pm ET on January 2nd and the game will be broadcasted on ESPN.
This is the first Gator Bowl appearance for Duke all-time and Ole Miss will be making its fourth appearance in the game.
The Blue Devils sit as 17.5-point underdogs against the Rebels per ESPNBET with third-string quarterback Henry Belin IV set to start tonight.
But despite being such heavy underdogs, the Duke football program has had lots of success in bowl games over recent history. Let's take a look back at the success the Blue Devils have had.
The Blue Devils are 8-8 all-time in bowl games but have won their last five. The program's last bowl game loss came in 2014 when Duke fell to #15 Arizona State 36-31 in the Hyundai Sun Bowl.
Since 2015, Duke has won all five of its bowl game appearances. If the Blue Devils can come up with an upset victory tonight against the Rebels, they will tie Florida State for the longest consecutive bowl game win streak in the history of the ACC.
The Seminoles won all of their bowl game appearances from 2008-14.
Belin has completed one pass for 7 yards on the season and will face off against Jaxson Dart who's thrown for 3,875 yards this season and is projected to be a mid-round selection in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft.
Through this five-game bowl win streak, the Blue Devils are averaging 30.5 points scored per game and have won these games by an average of 15.6 points.
This is Duke's third 9-win season since 2014. The Blue Devils finished the regular season 9-3 in both 2014 and 2022.
Ole Miss is also the first ranked team Duke has faced in a bowl game since the loss to Arizona State in 2014.
No Duke head coach has achieved 10 wins in a season in their first year, and Diaz has the opportunity to reach that mark tonight.
A win tonight would also give Duke its first 10-win season since 2013 under David Cutcliffe and would be the second season all-time the Blue Devils reach double-digit victories.
Duke made the ACC Championship game that year but fell to then #1-ranked Florida State 45-7.
The Blue Devils then went on to play Johnny Manziel and #21 Texas A&M in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl that year but lost 52-48.
Duke walks into EverBank Stadium looking for the massive upset over Dart and the ranked Rebels. Tune into ESPN at 8:05pm ET.