Duke ended the 2024 college football regular season with a last-second 23-17 victory over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
The Blue Devils finished up with a 9-3 record in the end, their second nine-win season in three years, to finish in a tie for fourth in the ACC (5-3 conference record). It’s clear Duke will draw a worthy bowl destination, but the question remains where that ends up being.
In Erick Smith’s latest bowl projections for USA TODAY Sports published on Monday, the Blue Devils drew the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. The game, an ironic landing spot for Duke, will take place in Charlotte, North Carolina, on the night of January 3rd.
Minnesota finished the season with seven wins, tied for seventh in the Big Ten with a 5-4 conference record. Despite the mediocre record, the Golden Gophers took some top teams down to the wire. They lost to the Penn State Nittany Lions, a certain College Football Playoff team, by one point just weeks after a 27-24 loss to the Michigan Wolverines.
Thanks to Miami’s 42-38 loss to Syracuse on Saturday, Smith thinks the SMU Mustangs will be the only ACC representative in the 12-team playoff bracket.