The Duke Blue Devils could cement their second nine-win season in three years on Saturday in Winston-Salem, but there’s something much more personal on the line for the team: a sweep of the state.
Under new head coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag], the Blue Devils erased a 20-point deficit against the North Carolina Tar Heels in Week 5 before handing NC State a 29-19 loss in Raleigh in Week 11. The two results gave Duke its first single-season sweep of those schools since 2013, and one more win over Wake Forest would let the Blue Devils stay undefeated within North Carolina.
“It has been discussed,” Diaz said on Monday. “The state championship is a goal of ours. Without divisions in the league and the way the schedule works, we’ll play those teams every year. We cannot pretend to go make a run at the ACC without making run at our state. That’s a big deal to us.”
“We are the only team that has a chance to win the state this year,” he continued. “Our guys are aware of that.”
The Demon Deacons have lost three straight games to fall to 4-7 on the season, and they’ve only won two of their seven ACC games to this point. However, in Miami on Saturday, Wake Forest remained within six points of the Hurricanes through three quarters, so Duke clearly cannot sleepwalk to another win.
Diaz also specified the difference between his team’s goals and their weekly preparation.
“We don’t really talk about goals,” Diaz said. “We talk about standards. Our goal wasn’t to win nine in the regular season. We didn’t set out as a goal to win 10. It was about having a standard. Usually, when you play to the standard, it’s funny how suddenly goals will become in reach.”
The Blue Devils kick off their final regular-season game at noon Eastern time on Saturday on ACC Network.