When the Duke Blue Devils didn’t appear among the top 25 teams in this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll, the easiest explanation was the team’s strength of schedule.
Through the first five games of the season, first-year head coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] and his team have played opponents like Elon, Connecticut, and Middle Tennessee. Even the Northwestern Wildcats, their non-conference Power Four opponent, have a 2-2 record through four games.
However, according to ESPN’s Strength of Record calculations, undefeated is still undefeated. The metric measures how impressive a team’s resume looks given the expected number of wins for an average team, and the Blue Devils sit 18th in the statistic through five weeks.
The four teams directly below the Blue Devils, in order, include the Missouri Tigers, LSU Tigers, Ohio State Buckeyes, and Notre Dame Fighting Irish. All four of those teams sit within the top 13 in the coaches poll.
With six expected wins before the season, expectations remained mild for the first year of the Diaz era. Voters looking to keep that pessimism can build a case around the Blue Devils giving up a 17-point lead against the Huskies and falling behind 20-0 against the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Viewing the team through that lens undersells how impressive Duke has been in the fourth quarter, not allowing a touchdown over the final 15 minutes all season as the Blue Devils refuse to lose close games. Diaz said the votes don’t bother him in a Yahoo Sports story on Wednesday, but his team has another chance to make their case against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets this Saturday.