The Duke Blue Devils couldn’t quite break into the top 25 in the US LBM Coaches Poll after their ninth regular-season win in Week 14, but USA TODAY Sports writer Paul Myerberg thinks head coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] is leading a top-25 team.
Myerberg released his updated ranking of all 134 college football teams on Monday, and the Blue Devils crept up two spots to 22nd after their 23-17 comeback over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, one spot below the Colorado Buffaloes.
The Blue Devils don’t have a top-25 win on their resume, but if fans include their last-minute field goal to force overtime against Northwestern, Diaz and his team have come from behind in the fourth quarter four times in 2024. Quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] completed 16 of his 20 passes in the second half, running for a touchdown before launching a 39-yard scoring throw to Jordan Moore on the final play.
With Syracuse’s upset over Miami, the ACC title game race got thrown into chaos at the buzzer. After a 9-0 start to the season, the Hurricanes won’t even make the trip to Charlotte after a pair of late losses, instead crossing their fingers for an at-large College Football Playoff berth.
Myerberg slotted Miami at No. 16 in his updated rankings, a full ten spots behind the SMU Mustangs (No. 6) at the top of the conference. The Clemson Tigers (No. 17) will head to the title game despite three regular-season losses, but no other ACC team finished above Duke on Myerberg’s list.