Could a trip to the Duke’s Mayo Bowl be in store for the Blue Devils?
ESPN college football analysts Mark Schlabach and Kyle Bonagura teamed up to share their bowl projections on Sunday, and each of their projected Duke football matchups contained plenty of intrigue.
Schlabach pitted first-year head coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] against the Navy Midshipmen, also led by a relatively new coach. Brian Newberry, in his second season at the helm, has the Midshipmen rolling with a 5-0 record. Navy beat Memphis 56-44 in Week 4, one week after the Tigers took down the Florida State Seminoles in Tallahassee, and battered Air Force for a 34-7 win on Saturday.
Bonagura’s projected battle for the Blue Devils sounds even more fun. He dropped Duke into the Duke’s Mayo Bowl against the Nebraska Cornhuskers and true freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola.
Through his first six games of collegiate football, the former five-star prospect has thrown for 1,358 yards and nine touchdowns, completing 66.9% of his passes and averaging 8.0 yards per attempt.
Both Schlabach and Bonagura had the Miami Hurricanes earning the first-round bye in the College Football Playoffs as ACC champions, fitting in as the No. 3 seed in both brackets, and both had the Clemson Tigers earning an at-large bid.