With back-to-back victories to start the 2024 college football season, the Duke Blue Devils keep climbing higher in the USA TODAY Sports re-rank.
Paul Myerberg released his updated ranking of all 134 FBS football programs on Monday with the Blue Devils climbing seven spots to 43rd.
The small jump comes after Duke beat Northwestern in double overtime on Friday night for its second win under head coach Manny Diaz. The Wildcats, who had won eight of their previous 11 games before Friday’s loss, were 70th on Myerberg’s board ahead of the Week 2 matchup.
Despite some rankings looking a little more pessimistic on the Blue Devils (ESPN FPI thinks they are a bottom-five team in the ACC, for example), Myerberg actually has them in the upper half of the conference. Only seven ACC teams finished higher than the Blue Devils in the national re-rank, and Duke lept over teams like SMU, Appalachian State, Arizona, and the Auburn Tigers after disappointing Week 2 performances.
The Blue Devils’ next opponent, the Connecticut Huskies, came in at 128th (or seventh-to-last, depending on your perspective) despite a 63-17 victory over Merrimack.