Top 6 Duke Football Games of the 2024 Season

The ACC Kickoff is less than 2 weeks away.  I will be heading down to Charlotte for the event and will be there for all of Duke Football’s coverage on Wednesday. 

Check back here at the blog or on Twitter @DukeReport as well as the YouTube channel @Skeelow22 for more content from the ACC Kickoff.  You might even see a way too early preseason bowl projection from Brian of Duke Football Talk and myself of Duke Report.  

With that said we are just over 6 weeks away from the start of the college football season for Duke.  Duke Football will kick off its season on Friday night August 30th of Labor Day weekend with a home game in Wallace Wade Stadium vs Elon.   

Duke once again has a tough schedule that includes home games against North Carolina, Florida State, SMU, and Virginia Tech as well as road games at Georgia Tech, Miami and NC State. 

Below is Duke Report’s Top 6 Duke Football games (in order of when they are played) we are looking forward to this season. 


#1 - Duke vs North Carolina - 9/28/24 at Wallace Wade Stadium 

Looking at the schedule, Duke Football has the ‘potential’ to be 4 - 0 heading into the rivalry game with North Carolina and the battle for the Victory Bell.  Drake Maye is gone to the NFL and Unc (just like Duke) will have a new look.  As of this writing, we don’t know the time for this game but I am hoping for another night game.  North Carolina has a 5 game winning streak dating back to October 26, 2019.  Duke Football fans are more than ready to finally bring the Victory Bell back home to Durham.  The last two  games in this series were very close games with Duke only losing by 3 points in Durham in 2022 and losing after 2 overtimes in Chapel Hill in 2023.  I expect another epic matchup in this rivalry.  


#2 - Duke vs Florida State - 10/18/24 at Wallace Wade Stadium 

Duke will play Florida State at home in a Friday night game with a 7 PM kickoff that will be on ESPN 2.  You already know this game easily makes the top 6.   

Florida State has the potential to be a college football playoff contender.  If you follow college football, you definitely saw all the drama when an undefeated FSU got left out of the playoff last year.  With the expansion of the playoff to 12 teams now,  I expect FSU to be one of the top ACC contenders.  
A Friday night game in October against FSU who is looking to make the playoff will be a battle in Wallace Wade Stadium.  FSU will be coming off a home game against Clemson with an away game at Miami after the away Duke game.  Could FSU get caught up looking ahead...?  Let’s look back real quick to Labor Day last season and we all remember Duke pulling off the upset or beat down over Clemson...  well this game could have potential to be an upset, but Duke Football will have to be firing on all cylinders when FSU comes to Durham for that to be a possibility. 

Side note - this is a big game that’s also landing on a Friday night.  Here’s to hoping Duke University gets creative and say cancels classes this day or at minimum have an early release which will help with the parking and help fans to be able to get to the game on time and also have the option to tailgate before for what will be a epic matchup against FSU.   


#3 - Duke vs SMU - 10/26/24 at Wallace Wade Stadium 

With the All Coast Conference (I mean Atlantic Coast Conference) recent expansion we now have Cal, Stanford, and SMU in the ACC.  

SMU will travel to Durham to play Duke for the last Saturday in October.  I can easily see SMU fans traveling well for this game.  SMU will be on a mission to show they belong in the Atlantic Coast Conference.  I believe this will be a tough matchup for Duke but has the potential be a quality win as well. 


#4 - Duke at Miami - 11/2/24 at Hard Rock Stadium 

Duke will travel to Coral Gables, Florida in early November for a matchup with Miami.  

This has the potential to be a tough road game for Duke.  This game will also spark the interest of both fan bases as Duke Football head coach Manny Diaz will be in the middle of his first year coaching Duke Football while heading down South to play  Miami where he was the head coach from 2019 - 2021.  

As of this writing, I think Miami (along with FSU and Clemson) are top contenders to win the ACC this upcoming season.  With that said, I would love to see Duke pull off  the upset on the road or at the very least  play a very competitive game. 


#5 - Duke at NC State - 11/9/24 at Carter-Finley Stadium 

Look college football aside… I’d go to this game as a sports fan just for the tailgating.  I’ve been to a few tailgates for Carolina Hurricanes games and I’d imagine it’s just as good for Wolfpack games.  

One would think NC State has not forgotten about the blow out loss to Duke (24 - 3) last season at Wallace Wade Stadium.  NC State will be looking to get revenge on Duke Football with a home game at Carter-Finley Stadium the second weekend in November.

Side note - In a conference that now expands from sea to shining sea… it is nice for Duke Football to have a road game that is very close for fans in Durham and the surrounding areas to travel to in Raleigh.  Day game or night game… this is a road game local Duke fans around the areas of Durham can easily travel to and still get back home saving money on hotels and travel.  


#6 - Duke vs Virginia Tech - 11/23/24 at Wallace Wade Stadium 

I believe this will be a very tough game for Duke.  I also think Duke can pull off this win at home.  Virginia Tech is one of my surprise teams this coming season and I think coach Brent Pry will have the Hokies ready.  I could easily see Virginia Tech with 8 possibly 9 wins heading into this game with Duke and hungry to secure a top tier bowl.   I know the times are not set for this game yet, but I would love for it to be a night game as this game has the potential to be a good one. 

Be sure to check back here at Blue Devils Blog and Twitter @DukeReport as well as the Youtube Channel @Skeelow22 in the near future for our season record prediction as well as our first  bowl projection of the season.  For many of you that are reading this… I know it’s been a brutally hot summer but rest assured college football and fall nights will be here soon.  

Duke Report Twitter

Duke Report Youtube Channel

Blue Devils Blog