Duke College Football Preview 2021: What Will Happen, Season Prediction
Duke has to pull up out of the nosedive.
It’s a program that’s usually good enough to beat all the bottom-feeders on the schedule, come up with at least one 50/50 game win, and then pull off a shocker to make a push for bowl eligibility, but last year nothing seemed to work in a 2-9 campaign that was the worst season since going 1-11 in 2007.
Duke went from eight wins in 2018, to five in 2019, to the two of last year, and unless there’s something special and surprising happening, there doesn’t appear to be too much to suggest that a big change is coming.
But it’ll be a better season than 2020.
Set The Duke Regular Season Win Total At … 5
The lines have to be better, the offensive playmakers have to stop giving the ball away, and the defense has to find more production even after doing a great job of getting into the backfield and forcing takeaways.
After the way last year collapsed down the stretch, a big September is a must, and then it’s about pulling off a few upsets to get close to bowl eligibility. To do all of that, though, the offense has to be the David Cutcliffe offense again.
There has to be some schematic advantage, and for a program like this, it has to do all of the little things right – to hammer this point home even further, that starts with winning the turnover battle.
Getting to three wins is a given – Charlotte, North Carolina A&T and Kansas – but there aren’t any true layups in ACC play. Again, it’ll be an improvement of a season, but there’s a ton of work to do to get to six wins.
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– Duke Schedule Analysis
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