Let's take a look at Duke football.
Best / Worse Case Record for :
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Duke
From 2013-2015 Duke football averaged 9 wins a season. Since then they haven’t won 9 games in a season. In addition three of the last five seasons were losing ones. Of Duke’s 9 losses last year only 1 was even a single digit one. Nobody doubts David Cutcliffe’s ability to coach. He elevated Duke in a way very few could, but it sure does seem like his best days at Duke are behind him. 2021 is a critical year to show he can get Duke back into the top half of the ACC.
Will Go 8-4 (4-4) if:
Duke can considerably cutdown on their turnovers. The Blue Devils had a whopping 39 turnovers in just 11 games last season. That was 125th in the country with a -19 Turnover margin. You aren’t beating teams turning it over that often. That’s the first step for Duke rebound off last year. Duke needs new QB Gunnar Holmberg to protect the much better than Chase Brice. If he can, then he has one of the best ACC RBs in Mateo Durant to work with. With games at Charlotte, NC A&T, Northwestwern, and Kansas, Duke could start the year 4-0. Do that and the scheduled is manageable enough to finish 4-4.
Will Go 4-8 (2-6) if:
Duke isn’t better across the board. Duke was 80th in offense, 98th in defense, and 125th in turnovers. That’s a lot improvement that needs to be made for Duke to not finish near the bottom of the ACC. Duke lost a lot of talent including stud DE’s Chris Rumph and Victor Dimukeje. There are so many holes to fill on this team, I’m not sure if they all can be plugged. If I’m guessing 8-4 or 4-8, I ‘d lean towards the 4-8.
