At long last, the 2024 college football season is here in Durham.
After the Blue Devils lost their head coach and starting quarterback to the transfer portal this offseason, former Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz and Texas transfer Maalik Murphy will lead the team into an expanded ACC.
Diaz at least coached within the conference before, helming the Miami Hurricanes from 2019-21, but Murphy has only started two games at the college level. With so many new names, such as Old Dominion wide receiver Javon Harvey and Youngstown State linebacker Alex Howard, there’s no meaningful way to talk about Duke before the on-field product is revealed.
Has that stopped us from trying? Of course not. But it does mean that, once Friday’s kickoff rolls around, all of the offseason notes about this roster can finally get shredded and replaced with cold hard tape and evidence.
In the meantime, however, here’s one last effort from our staff to predict what team Blue Devils fans will watch this season.
Ryan Haley, Duke Wire site editor
Manny Diaz praised Elon during his first Monday press conference of the year, a team that made noise in the FCS last season, but the Phoenix are still an FCS team coming off a 6-5 record.
I think the big winner from Friday night will be first-year offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer. The offensive stars said the team wants to push the tempo and attack downfield this season, and while that may lead to a few early misfires, I think the splash plays generated in the second and third quarters make everyone forget about the miscues by the end of the night.
With Eli Pancol healthy again, the wide receiver room is deep, and I think four players could end the year with 30 receptions or more. While Duke returned to national prominence with 17 wins over the last two seasons, this is not last year’s offense and it won’t win the same way as last year’s squad, and the team will establish that early.
With a new offensive line featuring two transfers on the left side, there might be some growing pains early, and some footwork issues on last year’s tape mean Maalik Murphy might whiff on a few layups, but I think the blueprint of aggression and tempo wins out by halftime and gets Bull City excited.
Duke 35, Elon 10
Bryant Crews, Staff Writer
We are finally here, and it is time for football. This will be my first season covering Duke football for Duke Wire, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.
Duke has a lot of interesting storylines to sift through as the Blue Devils begin another era with a new coach. Instead of Mike Elko, it’s Manny Diaz who landed the job over the offseason.
He has already done some incredible things (see: Maalik Murphy and flipping edge rusher Bryce Davis, the highest-rated recruit in program history, from Clemson.)
Now Diaz gets to prove himself on the field. Gone is All-ACC talent Graham Barton, now the starting center for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Starting quarterback Riley Leonard departed for Notre Dame, as did edge rusher RJ Oben.
On Saturday, I expect Duke to start the Diaz era with a bang. Look for Murphy to find Jordan Moore a few times and, ultimately, I see Moore finding the end zone. With Jaquez Moore set to take over starting running back duties after Jordan Waters transferred to NC State, I think Moore will get a score on Saturday, too.
Defensively, Duke will see Diaz’s specialty come to life. I think the secondary is set for a big year, and I think we see an interception from someone in the secondary alongside eight tackles from linebacker Tre Freeman.
All told, Duke should cruise by the third quarter.
Duke 38, Elon 13