The Duke football team entered Week 11 already eligible for the college football postseason with six wins, but that’s just a starting point. After the Blue Devils took down the NC State Wolfpack, they will enter the final stretch of the season with seven wins and counting on their resume.
As a result, CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm updated his bowl projections to have the Blue Devils facing the California Golden Bears, a new member of the ACC, in the Sun Bowl on December 31. The game would take place in El Paso, Texas.
With a 1-4 record in conference play, the Golden Bears currently sit just 15th in the ACC standings ahead of the Florida State Seminoles and Stanford Cardinals. However, four non-conference wins have California 5-4 for the season as a whole.
Cal started the season 3-0 before losing four in a row, losing one-score games against the Seminoles, Wolfpack, Pittsburgh Panthers, and Miami Hurricanes. The Golden Bears have, however, gotten back on track in the last two weeks by taking down Oregon State and Wake Forest to keep their bowl hopes alive.
For Cal to become bowl-eligible, they need to win one of their last three games against Syracuse, Stanford, and SMU. The Mustangs, the last team left without a conference loss in the ACC, would be the toughest of those three, but the 2-7 Cardinal provide a reasonable task.