By Ben Tredinnick
Duke University is not known for its football program. Duke, like many colleges from North Carolina, is known more for its basketball program, which is one of the most successful programs in the sport.
Their football program has not had the same levels of success. The Blue Devils have hovered around four to eight wins a season, generally making a bowl game, but never challenging for the ACC.
But, this year, the Blue Devils are having a fair bit of success.
For the first time in 30 years, they have started the season 5-0 and could make a run for the ACC Championship game if they continue this form. But, how has this happened in such a short amount of time?
There are two main reasons for this.
The Arrival of Manny Diaz
The first one relates to an organizational change in the program.
Duke brought in former Miami Hurricanes coach Manny Diaz.
Diaz is known for his ability to create strong defenses, something he was very successful with at Miami, where the Hurricanes defense was ranked as one of the country’s best.
Duke has had a good start under Diaz, who brings a different style of football to what former coach Mike Elko did. But, Elko is now thriving with Texas A&M, meaning that while the coach was able to make some changes to the team, the good form they have shown has to have come from the addition of the right talent in important places.
The Impact of Maalik Murphy
The other reason why the Blue Devils are starting the season well relates to the change in quarterback that was made. In the off-season, former QB Riley Leonard transferred out of the program and is now leading the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. In his place, Duke brought in Maalik Murphy.
Murphy had been the backup quarterback for the Texas Longhorns. But, in 2023, he did lead the Longhorns for a few games after QB Quinn Ewers was injured. In those games, Murphy threw for 477 yards and three touchdowns, as he helped Texas to continue what became a conference winning season for them.
But, in a program that has Quinn Ewers and Arch Manning, there was never going to be room for Murphy to make a real impact. So, he transferred over to Duke and immediately became QB1.
In the five games that he’s played this season, Murphy has thrown for 1,226 yards and 12 touchdowns. He is consistently performing well, throwing for around 200 yards a game, and this can be seen in the results.
The Duke offense has been rejuvenated with the addition of Murphy. This has been needed, as all of Duke’s game this season has been decided in the final quarter, where the Blue Devils have trailed coming into it, only to record a comeback victory.
Why Have Duke Not Been Ranked?
Despite their 5-0 record, they have not been ranked, nor has anyone considered them to be worthy of the top 25. This is not unique to Duke, as Army, and Rutgers are among two other unbeaten programs to not be seen in the top 25.
But, to understand why this is the case, we need to look at the teams they have played.
Duke has defeated the likes of UConn, Middle Tennessee, and rivals, North Carolina. Hardly any of them could be seen as top teams, and most of these would struggle against many of the programs who are actually ranked in the top 25.
Throw in the fact that these games have not been convincing wins, and this could be an explanation to why no one is considering the Blue Devils to be a top program.
Can Duke Remain Unbeaten?
However, this may change soon.
After a generous non-conference schedule and narrowly defeating the Tar Heels last week, week six is when Duke’s schedule begins to get serious.
This week, they face their first test of the season in Georgia Tech, who have already played two ranked teams this season (Florida State and Louisville). If Duke defeats them, then there could be an argument to suggest that they are a good team.
However, if the Yellow Jackets easily overcome them, and then they struggle the following week against the severely weakened Florida State Seminoles, this impressive start to the season would only been hiding what is a average team.
