Who’s Left? Ranking the Power 5 Teams Duke Has Yet to Face
Over its history, Duke has played 49 of the other 64 teams in Power Five football conferences. Arizona State, Duke’s opponent in the 2014 Sun Bowl, was the last team to be added to that list.
Duke has no plans to play any of the remaining 15 teams in the next eight seasons, although bowl matchups or last-minute scheduling changes could obviously change that. However, we decided to rank the 14 teams based on which matchups would be most interesting to Blue Devil followers.
Here, then, in ascending order of interest, are the 15 teams Duke has never played.
15. Iowa: One of three Big Ten teams on the list.
14. Minnesota.
13. Iowa State: Five of Duke’s non-opponents hail from the Big 12, tying the Pac-12 for most teams on the list.
12. Washington State: One of two teams Mike Leach has coached that is on the list. Duke did face Texas Tech (later coached by Leach) in the 1989 All-American Bowl.
11. TCU: Assuming things remain as contracted, the Horned Frogs will be the next new Power Five team Duke faces. A home-and-home series is scheduled to start at Wallace Wade Stadium on Sept. 9, 2028.
10. Utah.
9. Michigan State: The Spartans are the highest-ranked Big Ten team. Duke has played their cross-state rival, Michigan, six times, most recently in 1978.
8. Mississippi State: Leach’s new team is one of two SEC teams Duke has never played.
7. Oklahoma State: Duke played the Oklahoma Sooners in the 1957 Orange Bowl but has never faced their cross-state rival, the Cowboys.
6. Kansas State: The Blue Devils are 1-1 against Kansas, last playing the Jayhawks in 2014, but they’ve never faced the Wildcats.
5. Arizona: The Sun Bowl loss to the Sun Devils in 2014 was Duke’s only game against an Arizona team, and the Blue Devils have never played in the state of Arizona. Nor have they faced Desert Swarm.
4. Colorado: Not only hasn’t Duke ever played the Buffaloes, the Blue Devils also have never faced Colorado State, Air Force or any team from the state.
3. Oregon: Duke faced Oregon State in the 1941 Rose Bowl—the one held in Durham—but the Blue Devils have never played the Ducks and their neon green uniforms.
2. Texas: Duke has played A&M and Texas Tech, as well as SMU twice. The Blue Devils have also played in the Cotton Bowl and Sun Bowl in Texas, but they’ve never faced the Lone State’s best-known team.
1. Ole Miss: The school David Cutcliffe used to coach tops the list of potential first-time Duke opponents.
