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Duke Blue Devils: Five Key Games for the Season

By John Woodcock

Oct 24, 2015; Blacksburg, VA, USA; Duke Blue Devils quarterback Thomas Sirk (1) throws a pass as Duke Blue Devils wide receiver Johnell Barnes (4) chases in the fourth quarter at Lane Stadium. The Blue Devils won 45-43 in quadruple overtime. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 24, 2015; Blacksburg, VA, USA; Duke Blue Devils quarterback Thomas Sirk (1) throws a pass as Duke Blue Devils wide receiver Johnell Barnes (4) chases in the fourth quarter at Lane Stadium. The Blue Devils won 45-43 in quadruple overtime. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Duke Blue Devils have a key season coming up in football and they are trying to get back to the winning ways of 2012. Here are the most important five games for them.

When dealing with the Duke Blue Devils, it is easy to get sucked into the basketball scene. With Coach Mike Krzyzewski and Kyrie Irving down in Rio and the new Duke basketball freshmen coming in, the hype is getting pretty large. However something happens before basketball season and that is football season.

The Duke Blue Devils football team is coming off a season that started strong but kind of whimpered out at the end. Duke was still a bowl team, but their grasp of the Coastal Division was weakened. At the same time they saw more leadership from the Duke team of 2012 depart in the form of a graduating Jeremy Cash.

This season will find Duke looking to reestablish itself within the Coastal Division. Therefore the five most important games for Duke mostly have to do with that agenda item. They are one of the schools in the division that did not change their head coach over the winter. That continuity has to used to full advantage.

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Here are the five Duke games that will decide the season is order of appearance. Since they are all together here they are at once:

At Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets – October 29

Virginia Tech Hokies – November 5

North Carolina Tar Heels – November 10

At Pitt Panthers – November 19

At Miami Hurricanes – November 26

The common thread is obvious – these are the Coastal Division games that Duke needs to return to Charlotte. Their out of division games are Wake Forest (not hard) and Louisville (very hard), so most of the real work has to be done here.

Georgia Tech was not very good last year after being picked to finish high in the division. The Jackets have a fairly consistent record of being good when they are not supposed to be and being not so good under the weight of expectations. They have no expectations this year so Duke needs to watch out.

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Virginia Tech has a new coach, Justin Fuente, but that is not the most important feature of this game. The most important feature is that Duke plays the Tar Heels on a short week after it. Duke cannot afford to overlook the Hokies in anticipation of getting the Heels at home.

North Carolina is the divisional favorite, making that game the biggest one of the bunch and the game that will determine the importance of the two games that follow it. Pitt and Miami both want to rise themselves and so Duke will most likely get their best shots in the following games.

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So that is the game. If Duke can win the key divisional matchups then the road to Charlotte is open. However losing those games might make bowl eligibility an open question.

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