Duke Still A Bowl Team, Projections Say

Ten of 13 outlets have Duke in a bowl

Duke’s 48-14 loss to Virginia caused the Blue Devils to fall in the bowl pecking order but maybe not quite as much as fans might have feared while enduring the blowout loss.

A roundup of bowl projections by national media outlets shows that the majority of the experts still think the Blue Devils will be playing in the postseason.

Ten of the 13 prognosticators still have Duke in a bowl game this season. That’s down one from last week. The Sporting News dropped the Blue Devils after the loss. TSN already had Duke lower than most of its colleagues, having the Blue Devils slotted for the First Responders Bowl last week.

CBSSports.com’s Jerry Palm and Athlon Sports were the other outlets who don’t see Duke as a bowl team.

Two outlets have Duke exactly the same as last week. 247Sports stuck with its prediction of the Military Bowl against Navy, and College Sports Madness still has Duke playing South Carolina in the Belk Bowl.

Five other outlets have Duke in the same bowl as they predicted last week, but with new opponents. Sports Illustrated and ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura swapped Pinstripe Bowl opponents for Duke, with SI now going with Nebraska, while Bonagura believes Michigan State will play Duke.

College Football News mimicked SI, flipping Duke’s Pinstripe Bowl opponent from Michigan State to Nebraska.

Stadium’s Brett McMurphy still has Duke in the Belk Bowl, but playing Auburn instead of Florida. Banner Society switched Duke’s Birmingham Bowl opponent from SMU to UCF.

Three outlets have Duke in different bowl games from last week’s projection.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach moved Duke closer to home, from Orlando’s Camping World Bowl (against Iowa State) to Charlotte’s Belk Bowl (against Kentucky).

Bleacher Report sent Duke away from the Belk (Texas A&M) to the Music City against Missouri.

USA Today took Duke out of the Music City (A&M) and put the Blue Devils in the Military against Temple.

Here’s Duke’s history against the new projected opponents:

Temple: This would be a rematch of last season’s Independence Bowl, won by Duke, 56-27. That was the first meeting between the two schools.

Auburn: Duke last played the Tigers in 1980. Duke has lost the last two and is 2-3 all time against Auburn.

Missouri: Their only previous meeting was a Duke loss in 1947.

Kentucky: This would be the first game with the Wildcats since 1933. Duke has won all four previous meetings.

Central Florida: The two schools have never played.