Can 2023 Blue Devils football outshine the iconic MBB program?
By Austin Lloyd
How kind will the Atlantic Coast be to the Blue Devils?
The first name up is Clemson. The Tigers, who have won seven of the last eight ACC titles, will be visiting Durham to open both colleges’ seasons. While Week 1 has a case for being the best week to face them, I nonetheless see a team their size being too large of an obstacle for Duke, so we’ll pencil that game in as its first loss.
After that, we have NC State. Due to factors like the Blue Devils hosting and coming off of a bye week, the Wolfpack could hand them their first statement win in league competition. The celebration won’t last long, though, as they will then have to travel to Tallahassee to face Florida State—a 10-win team that they have never beaten.
Luckily for Duke, that upsetting loss could be followed by an outstanding 4-1 stretch. But how?
For starters, Louisville is a shell of its former self without head coach Scott Satterfield and quarterback Malik Cunningham. Then it will be another weakened power in Wake Forest (the Deacs stand out for having already lost their win streak against the Blue Devils in 2022). Nothing about either of those descriptions makes them out to be anything more than inevitable victims of Duke’s wrath.
Shortly after an expected road loss to Drake Maye and the Tar Heels, momentum will pick right back up with wins over a horrendous Virginia and a Pittsburgh squad that came within a field goal of suffering the same fate as Wake Forest.
Assuming that my assessments are accurate, Duke could be entering its bowl game with a 9-3 record. As we disclosed earlier, that means we will automatically throw in a bowl victory as well, which brings its potential win percentage for 2023 up to approximately .769—better than the MBB team’s from March.
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Obviously, many things have to go right for all of this to unfold as described, so nothing about these takes on 2023 Duke football is guaranteed. But, the fact that an argument like today’s can even be made says a lot. Look out for the Duke Blue Devils, as they just might have one of college football’s brightest futures ahead of them.