Let's take a look at Duke football.
Best / Worst Case Record for :
Louisville | Virginia | Miami | Georgia Tech | Boston College | Pittsburgh | Florida State | Virginia Tech | NC State | Clemson | Syracuse | North Carolina | Wake Forest
Duke
Duke head football coach Mike Elko did one of the finest first-year ACC coaching jobs we’ve seen in recent memory. Elko took a team many thought would be the ACC’s worst, won 9 games, a bowl, and should have finished the season in the top 25 if voters were paying attention. You simply can’t say enough about the job Elko did. Where does Duke go from here? Could they possibly exceed last year’s results? Could they actually be better and end up with a worse record? What we know for certain is Duke won’t sneak up on anyone this season.
Will Go 9-3 (5-3) if:
Duke can manage a more difficult schedule. I don’t expect Duke to drop off as a team. Riley Leonard is solid at QB, and there’s NFL talent here and there across the roster. We know Elko will have them well coached, but with a schedule that features home games with Clemson, and Notre Dame as well as road games with Florida State and North Carolina it is tough to see Duke stealing for more than 1 or 2 of those games. That means Duke can’t lose any of the rest of their toss-up or games they will favored in. It’s not out of the question to win 9 games, but that would be the ceiling for this Duke team.
Will Go 5-7 (2-6) if:
The schedule is too much for Duke to handle. As I said previously, I don’t expect Duke to regress much if at all as a program, but it’s the schedule that could get the Blue Devils. Clemson, Notre Dame, and Florida State are all top 15 pre-season teams. Then NC State, UNC, at Louisville, at North Carolina, and Pittsburgh are on the schedule too. I can see a scenario where Duke only wins one of those games. Even Virginia is on the road. Duke’s defense had 26 takeaways last season. A reduction in that total by any significant amount and the Blue Devils could be fighting to get into a bowl game.
