Freddie and Brian's Duke Football Bowl Projections: The Road Ahead - Week 10

We are back with Week 10 Duke Football Bowl Projections from Brian of Duke Football Talk and Freddie of Duke Report.  Check out where we think Duke Football is headed.

Brian Kennedy of Duke Football Talk


Duke fans, these heartbreaking losses are getting tougher and tougher to swallow. Duke SHOULD have defeated SMU and gone 7-1, but as the saying goes, "Close, but no cigar" Even with the loss this past Saturday night, I am somewhat optimistic that Duke will hang with Miami in Coral Gables this weekend. Will we see a 3rd straight Duke win in Miami? Only time will tell. Speaking of last Saturday, Duke welcomed the Sun Bowl reps to the game. While I am happy to see all these bowls at Duke games, the Sun Bowl, along with the Holiday Bowl are 2 cannot go to bowl games for ol BK.

With that being said, even with the loss, Duke is still 6-2, and only 1 of 5 ACC teams who has already punched their ticket to bowl season. Coastal Chaos is still around, and 10 ACC teams still have a chance to become bowl eligible. So while these 10 teams continue to fight to keep their postseason chances alive, I still have Duke solidly grounded in Charlotte in the Duke's Mayo Bowl.

Things can always change, and if Duke were able to pull off a huge upset of Miami, they could be moving destinations.

Freddie Hodges of Duke Report ​

The game against SMU last Saturday is another one of those losses that won’t soon be forgotten. Now if Duke can upset Miami this week, then that SMU loss might fade out of Duke fans memories a little easier possibly.

Even though the loss was a gut punch with the way it went down, Duke football is still bowl eligible at 6-2 with the potential to win more games this season. In my opinion, I think at NC State and vs Wake Forest are very winnable games with at Miami and vs Virginia Tech being games that Duke will need to find a way to be firing on all cylinders to win

The Duke defense is playing like a playoff team while the offense and special teams still need to find a rhythm as this season is getting ready to wind down.
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As for my bowl projection, I am sticking with Duke heading to the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte for the fourth week running. The close game with SMU makes me think Duke can hold their own against a very tough Miami team and possibly shake things up in this Coastal… I mean “ACC Chaos”.

Be sure to check back here at Blue Devils Blog every week for our latest bowl projections.  With Duke travelling to Coral Gables to take on #5 ranked Miami this weekend there’s plenty of potential for these projections to shift either with Duke pulling off the upset over Miami or Duke losing back to back games.  We’ll keep you updated as the season unfolds!