Duke Blue Devils vs Kansas Jayhawks Predictions: Shootout or blowout?
The Kansas Jayhawks are 3-0 for the first time since 2009, and they are ready to come home and play in front of a sellout crowd. No one has been able to slow down the offense led by Jalon Daniels, but can the Duke Blue Devils keep up with their own offense?
Duke has been a pleasant surprise under first year head coach Mike Elko, and they are looking to score a big win in the first game that would truly be a surprise for them to win. Can they do enough to sneak out with the victory?
Do you disagree with our assessment? Make sure you read them all and then hop over to the Discord or on Twitter to share your own thoughts.
Kyle Davis
Check out our Duke Preview for Kyle's full breakdown and prediction.
Brendan Dzwierzynski
To me, the reason why I think Kansas is going to win this game is as simple as it is obvious: I don’t know how Duke is going to stop Jalon Daniels. KU might give up some points, sure, but nothing about Duke’s start to the season against an impressively weak schedule makes me quake with fear about its ability to slow down the Jayhawks’ offense. None of the Blue Devils’ first three opponents have an athlete like Daniels at quarterback, and none of them have an offensive coaching staff that’s dialing up gem after gem like the KU staff has been the last three weeks. Mix the running back quartet in effectively, record a takeaway or two and hopefully we can reignite the College GameDay talk going into Week 5.
Kansas 45, Duke 21
Derek Noll
I’m staying all in with this group. Why not as we’ve come so far already? I don’t know anything about why Duke is good, but I do know that KU is good because of its new star QB Jalon Daniels and some sweet offensive play calling. I’m looking for that to continue (as well as timely defensive effectiveness) and for Kansas to start the season 4-0. The Kool-Aid has been chugged and we’re busting through brick walls.
Kansas 45, Duke 28.
Lucas Murphy
he Kansas Jayhawks are 3-0 this season and it’s such an incredible feeling, but what makes this even more exciting is they can be 4-0. The Jayhawks will be taking on the Duke Blue Devils inside what should be one of the best crowds at Kansas Memorial David Booth Stadium. The Jayhawks have been an absolute force on the offensive side of the football and I anticipate another amazing performance from quarterback Jalon Daniels. His ability to read defenses has been next level. I am also excited to see the combo of Devin Neal and Daniel Hishaw run the football. If Kansas can be the aggressor on both sides of the football and avoid mistakes then they will win this football game and that would mean they only need two more wins to be bowl eligible.
Kansas 38, Duke 31
Andy Mitts
I'm not surprised anymore to see the rest of the group picking a Kansas victory, although it will be interesting to see how that translates into the next few weeks. But everyone here is spot on. Kansas is by far the best team that Duke has played to date. Jalon Daniels will be the best player on the field on Saturday. The sold-out crowd will be absolutely electric. There is a lot of reasons to expect a blowout.
The main question for me is if the Kansas defense will be able to limit Duke. Despite the great middle stretches of the last few weeks, the defense has been slow to get ramped up. Duke has the ability to strike quick, and I think they are stronger offensively than both West Virginia and Houston were, so it may be a lot harder to flip that switch in the middle of the game.
Ultimately though, Kansas feeds off the energy of the crowd and gets hyped up early. Duke gets forced into some turnovers, while Kansas keeps their trend of solid play going, and Kansas gets a big win to ramp up even more pressure to bring College Gameday to Lawrence.
Kansas 52, Duke 27
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