Despite Hot Start, ESPN Isn't Very High on Duke Football?
· Yahoo Sports
The Duke Blue Devils are off to a perfect start to the college football season. Through the first three weeks, Duke is 3-0 and has two non-conference wins as well as their first Atlantic Coast Conference game.
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Sitting unbeaten, the Blue Devils will welcome in William & Mary to Durham for a battle in Week 4. It's a game that Duke is a big favorite in and will likely come away with the win and a 4-0 record. But for now, they are one of 35 teams that are unbeaten to start the season.
Earlier this week, ESPN's Bill Connelly ranked all 35 unbeaten teams going into this week of the season. For Duke, they were ranked pretty low as they checked in at No. 26 on the list.
With Duke's SP+ and FPI rankings sitting at 46th and 35th, it signals that they haven't had a tough schedule and haven't looked super impressive either.
Connelly notes that he doesn't trust the Blue Devils' offense right because it's basically give the ball to Nate Sheppard. However, the play of Walker Eget the past few weeks should be noted as it's been a lot better. Sheppard is one of the best running backs in the country, and if Duke can play well at quarterback and elsewhere, this offense could be even better.
Duke will face the meet of their ACC schedule in the coming weeks and will be tested throughout. But the only ranked game they have left at the moment is Miami. Games vs North Carolina and at NC State could be tricky, too.
ESPN put Duke's odds of going 12-0 this season at 1.1 %.
Duke's updated bowl projectionESPN's Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach updated their bowl projections after the Week 3 games. For Duke, Bonagura has Duke facing off against Northwestern in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl. That game is set for Saturday, December 26th.
Schlabach has Duke facing Navy in the Freedom Mortgage Military Bowl on Monday, December 28th.
Both of these games have ACC Bowl tie-ins, so it would make sense to see Duke in these games. But the Blue Devils have higher aspirations, which include repeating as ACC Champions.
The next time we see this Duke team on the field will be Saturday as they face off against William & Mary in Durham. That game will lead into their first bye week of the season.