Tag: Duke football

Eight Duke football stars, including wideout Jordan Moore, honored on All-ACC teams

The ACC included eight Duke Blue Devils on its all-conference team for the 2024 college football season, including star wideout Jordan Moore.

The ACC released its 2024 all-conference teams for the 2024 college football season on Tuesday, and eight Blue Devils earned a spot on one of the three squads.

Cornerback [autotag]Chandler Rivers[/autotag], who finished the season with three interceptions, nine other deflections, and 52 total tackles, was the lone Duke football player on the First-Team squad, joining California’s Nohl Williams at the position. However, four Blue Devils made the Second-Team unit with three others on the Third-Team roster.

Offensive linemen Brian Parker II and Caleb Krings joined defensive tackle Kendy Charles and safety Terry Moore on the second team. Parker and Krings helped protect quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] all season, and the Blue Devils only surrendered 12 sacks as a team in 2024.

Charles, an offseason transfer from Liberty, finished with 49 total tackles, 7.0 of which resulted in a loss, with 2.0 sacks from the interior, and Moore tied Rivers with three interceptions on the season.

Wideouts [autotag]Jordan Moore[/autotag] and [autotag]Eli Pancol[/autotag], both of whom surpassed 700 yards in the regular season, made the third team alongside linebacker Ozzie Nicholas.

Pancol, the Brian Piccolo Award recipient for the ACC this season, caught 55 passes for 741 yards and nine touchdowns after missing the entire 2023 season due to injury. His best game came in his final home game at Wallace Wade Stadium in Week 13 when he picked up 188 yards and scored three touchdowns on five catches against the Virginia Tech Hokies.

Moore, who battled injury in the middle of the season, caught 50 passes for a team-leading 798 yards and seven scores. Nicholas paced the Blue Devils with 89 total tackles, and he forced turnovers on back-to-back plays against the Florida State Seminoles in Week 8.

Defensive end Wesley Williams, defensive tackle Aaron Hall, safety Jaylin Stinson, punter Kade Reynoldson, return man Que’Sean Brown, and linebackers Alex Howard and Tre Freeman all made the Honorable Mentions.

Duke cornerback Chandler Rivers named to First-Team All-ACC squad after standout season

The ACC revealed its 2024 all-conference football teams on Tuesday, including a First-Team nomination for Duke cornerback Chandler Rivers.

The ACC unveiled its 2024 all-conference honorees for the 2024 college football season on Tuesday, and star Blue Devils cornerback [autotag]Chandler Rivers[/autotag] earned one of two First-Team spots at his position.

Rivers, in his third season with the program, intercepted a career-high three passes over the regular season. He returned the first for a touchdown against the Florida State Seminoles in Week 8, his second straight game with a pick-six against FSU, en route to ACC Defensive Back of the Week honors. He picked off a pass in each of the next two games against SMU and Miami as well.

Rivers also broke up nine other throws, and his 12 total passes defended put him in a tie for 20th among all FBS defensive backs.

Pro Football Focus graded Rivers as the best FBS cornerback through Week 13, and he finished the season with 52 total tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, and a sack on top of his pass protection.

Seven other Blue Devils made the Second-Team or Third-Team squads, including fellow defensive back Terry Moore (Second-Team) and defensive tackle Kendy Charles (Second-Team).

Duke offensive tackle Brian Parker II named to PFF ACC Team of the Week

Duke offensive tackle Brian Parker II made the Pro Football Focus ACC Team of the Week for his work against Wake Forest in Week 14.

Pro Football Focus unveiled its conference teams of the week for Week 14 on Sunday, and Duke offensive tackle Brian Parker II nabbed one of two spots for his position thanks to his performance against Wake Forest.

Parker, a redshirt sophomore who started seven games in 2023, ended Saturday’s game with a PFF offensive grade of 75.9. The popular analytics site gave him the most credit for his work in the passing game, not crediting him with a single pressure on 35 snaps for an 83.8 pass-blocking grade.

According to the Pro Football Focus charting, Parker has allowed seven pressures and zero sacks across 440 pass-blocking snaps in 2024. Pass protection has been a strength for the rebuilt Duke offensive line all season. Blue Devils quarterback Maalik Murphy only hit the turf for 12 sacks this season, tied for the 13th-fewest of any FBS team.

Parker also made the PFF National Team of the Week in Week 6 after a stellar road outing against Georgia Tech.

CBS Sports bowl projection after Week 14 pits Duke football against Big Ten opponent

Following the end of the college football regular season, see where the Duke Blue Devils ended up in CBS Sports’ latest bowl projections.

The end of the 2024 college football regular season is officially here. Duke finished the season with a 9-3 overall record and tied for fourth on the ACC table (5-3 in conference play). Now, it’s time to see what bowl game they’ll draw.

CBS Sports writer Jerry Palm’s most recent bowl projection had the Blue Devils in the same spot he’s had them for a few weeks now, facing Minnesota in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. The game would take place at 7:30 p.m. in Charlotte on January 3.

Minnesota finished the regular season 7-5 with a 5-4 record in Big Ten conference play. Their record doesn’t show how tough they’ve been, though. Despite losing, the Golden Gophers played the Michigan Wolverines and Penn State Nittany Lions very closely, only losing by four combined points.

Duke faced one Big Ten opponent in 2024, a road trip to Northwestern back in September. The Blue Devils prevailed 26-20 after two overtime touchdowns.

Despite two losses in their last three games, the Miami Hurricanes still made Palm’s College Football Playoff field as the 12th and final seed. The SMU Mustangs earned a first-round bye as his presumed conference champion.

Latest USA TODAY Sports bowl projection create Big Ten matchup for Duke football

Where are the Duke Blue Devils in the latest USA TODAY Sports bowl projections?

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.

Duke wide receiver earns annual ACC award after bounceback season

The Duke Blue Devils surpassed expectations on the football field in 2024, and one offensive star earned a conference award for his efforts.

Duke football fans would have been forgiven for having tempered expectations for fifth-year wideout [autotag]Eli Pancol[/autotag] in 2024.

After Pancol stacked 565 yards and five touchdowns in his first three collegiate seasons, he missed the last four regular-season games in 2022 and the entire 2023 campaign with two separate ankle injuries.

In his final season with the program, however, Pancol paced the Blue Devils with 55 receptions and nine receiving touchdowns. He surpassed 100 yards twice this year, including a 188-yard performance against Virginia Tech that featured three trips to the end zone in Week 13.

He earned ACC Receiver of the Week honors for that game against the Hokies, and he took home another conference accolade on Monday when the ACC named him the recipient of the 2024 Brian Piccolo Award.

The award, given to the conference’s most courageous player, has been given out each year since 1970, but Pancol is the first Blue Devil honored since it was given to defensive lineman Scott Youmans in 1993.

That monster night against Virginia Tech came in Pancol’s final game at Wallace Wade Stadium, and he offered a small glimpse into his appreciation for this season on the ACC Network show “ACC Huddle” after the win.

“Seriously, it felt like a dream come true,” Pancol said. “Someone asked me out there, ‘What’d that feel like?’, it felt like a dream come true. I prayed for this.”

Through Week 14 of the college football season, Pancol is one of four ACC receivers with at least 50 receptions, 700 yards, and nine touchdowns. Only 25 wideouts across the entire country have matched that trifecta thus far.

Duke’s Cameron Bergeron named ACC Linebacker of the Week after Wake Forest win

Duke linebacker Cameron Bergeron racked up an ACC award after his strong showing against Wake Forest on Saturday.

Duke linebacker Cameron Bergeron has played a key role in the Blue Devils’ defensive success in 2024, and the Georgia native earned some recognition for his work on Monday.

Bergeron was named the ACC Linebacker of the Week after he finished Saturday’s game against Wake Forest with nine tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble. The Blue Devils fell behind 17-3 early in the third quarter, but Bergeron and his teammates held the Demon Deacons scoreless over the final quarter-and-a-half to let the offense claw back into the game.

After only recording 17 total tackles over the previous three seasons, Bergeron racked up 75 during the 2024 regular season with 8.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks. He forced two fumbles and even intercepted a pass against SMU in Week 9.

Saturday was Bergeron’s fifth game of the season with at least eight total tackles, including a season-high 10 against Virginia Tech in Week 13, and recorded multiple tackles for loss in three of the team’s first four games this year.

Where are the Duke Blue Devils on the USA TODAY Sports college football re-rank?

Check out where the Duke Blue Devils landed on the USA TODAY Sports college football re-rank after their 9-3 regular season.

The Duke Blue Devils couldn’t quite break into the top 25 in the US LBM Coaches Poll after their ninth regular-season win in Week 14, but USA TODAY Sports writer Paul Myerberg thinks head coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] is leading a top-25 team.

Myerberg released his updated ranking of all 134 college football teams on Monday, and the Blue Devils crept up two spots to 22nd after their 23-17 comeback over the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, one spot below the Colorado Buffaloes.

The Blue Devils don’t have a top-25 win on their resume, but if fans include their last-minute field goal to force overtime against Northwestern, Diaz and his team have come from behind in the fourth quarter four times in 2024. Quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] completed 16 of his 20 passes in the second half, running for a touchdown before launching a 39-yard scoring throw to Jordan Moore on the final play.

With Syracuse’s upset over Miami, the ACC title game race got thrown into chaos at the buzzer. After a 9-0 start to the season, the Hurricanes won’t even make the trip to Charlotte after a pair of late losses, instead crossing their fingers for an at-large College Football Playoff berth.

Myerberg slotted Miami at No. 16 in his updated rankings, a full ten spots behind the SMU Mustangs (No. 6) at the top of the conference. The Clemson Tigers (No. 17) will head to the title game despite three regular-season losses, but no other ACC team finished above Duke on Myerberg’s list.

Duke football closes in on the AP Poll Top 25 after Wake Forest win in Week 14

The Duke Blue Devils, after their nine-win regular season, almost made their way into the top 25 of the AP Poll on Sunday.

After three straight wins to close the 2024 regular season, the Duke Blue Devils nearly cracked the top 25 of the updated AP Poll on Sunday.

After only receiving six votes last week, leaving them as the unofficial No. 31 team in the rankings, Duke shuffled up to 28th thanks to 30 votes this week.

The Blue Devils appeared to be in danger in Winston-Salem on Saturday, dropping behind in-state rival Wake Forest 17-3 early in the third quarter after an inopportune fumble. However, quarterback [autotag]Maalik Murphy[/autotag] orchestrated three touchdown drives over the final 18 minutes for the comeback victory. On the final play of the game, he found senior wideout Jordan Moore for a 39-yard touchdown to clinch the 23-17 win.

Only four other ACC schools won nine games during the regular season, but each of the others ended up in this week’s top 25. The Syracuse Orange vaulted up to 23rd after a home upset of the Miami Hurricanes, who tumbled down to 14th and out of the conference title game with their second loss in three games.

The SMU Mustangs (No. 8) and Clemson Tigers (No. 18) will meet in Charlotte to decide the conference’s automatic berth into the College Football Playoff.

Duke football flips three-star wide receiver formerly committed to Wake Forest

One day after the Duke Blue Devils defeated Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, a former Demon Deacons commit flipped to Manny Diaz’s program.

The Duke Blue Devils won in Winston-Salem for a second straight day on Sunday afternoon.

Three-star 2025 wide receiver Jamien Little, a former Wake Forest commit, announced his decision in favor of the Blue Devils on Sunday.

“(I’m) truly blessed,” Little wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

A 6-foot-1 wideout from Hickory High School in North Carolina, Little decommitted from the Demon Deacons on November 10 just eight months after his initial decision. He visited Durham in October, and he received an offer from the North Carolina Tar Heels just two weeks afterward.

Little is the No. 64 wideout in the 2025 class, according to the 247Sports recruiting rankings, and the site’s Composite rankings have him as the No. 768 overall player in the class. According to MaxPreps, he leads the Hickory Red Tornadoes with 51 receptions for 1,167 yards and 16 touchdowns through 13 games as a senior.

His decision comes less than 24 hours after the Blue Devils took down Wake Forest on the road, a 23-17 victory clinched by Maalik Murphy’s 39-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Moore on the final play of the game.

Little becomes the fourth wide receiver and 27th overall commitment in Duke’s 2025 recruiting class, and he’s the highest-ranked player at his position among that group.