Duke Blue Devils: CFN College Football Preview 2021

College Football News Preview 2021: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Duke Blue Devils season with what you need to know.

College Football News Preview 2021: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Duke Blue Devils season with what you need to know.


Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
Duke Schedule Analysis
– Duke Previews
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015

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2020 Record: 2-9 overall, 1-9 in ACC
Head Coach: David Cutcliffe, 14th year, 74-88 (118-117 overall)
2020 CFN Final Ranking: 92
2020 CFN Preview Ranking: 51
2019 CFN Final Ranking: 88

Duke College Football Preview 2021: Offense

The offense stalled. It was able to move the ball from time to time, but it was crushed by turnovers and massive mistakes. The overhaul starts at quarterback with the door open 6-3 junior Gunnar Holmberg to step up and take over for Chase Brice – who transferred to Appalachian State – with Job One being to not give the ball away. More on that later.

The passing game needs more explosion after averaging just 11 yards per reception. 6-5 leading receiver Jake Bobo is back in a receiving corps loaded with experience, but top TE Noah Gray will be sorely missed. All-around back Deon Jackson is also done, but leading higher Mataeo Durant returns along with Jordan Waters to add a little more pop.

The Blue Devils had a hard time operating behind a line that was among the worst in the country in sacks allowed, but three starters return along with most of the depth. This isn’t going to be a blasting line that hammers out a big-time running game, but it has to limit the pressure.

– What You Need To Know: Defense
Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
Duke Schedule Analysis

NEXT: Duke College Football Preview 2021: Defense

CFN 1-130 Rankings: Where do Notre Dame, opponents fall?

Where does CFN rank Notre Dame and all their opponents ahead of the 2020 season? Find out here what the Irish are in store for this fall!

We’re in the time that we’re supposed to be counting down the days until college football kicks off.  Although we’re counting days, nobody has any clue what date we’ll actually see games since the pandemic doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon.

However, Pete Fiutak over at College Football News did his annual project where he puts together team previews of all 130 teams in Division 1 and ranks the teams 1-130.

Where does Notre Dame rank?  And where do the teams Notre Dame’s scheduled to play fall in?

We’ll give them to you in different categories that we determined on our own:

Great: Top 5
Really Good:  Top 20
Pretty Solid:  21-40
OK:  41-55
Meh:  56-75
Bad: 76-90
Awful:  91-130

Let’s start with the lowest and work to the highest:

College Football News Preview 2020: Duke Blue Devils

College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Duke Blue Devils season with what you need to know.

College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Duke Blue Devils season with what you need to know.


Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak

– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
Schedule Analysis
– Duke Previews 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015

2019 Record: 5-7 overall, 3-5 in ACC
Head Coach: David Cutcliffe, 13th year, 72-79
2019 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 53
2019 CFN Final Season Formula Ranking: 88
2019 CFN Preview Ranking: 52

Obviously, no one knows what’s going to happen to the 2020 college football season. We’ll take a general look at where each team stands – doing it without spring ball to go by – while crossing our fingers that we’ll all have some well-deserved fun this fall. Hoping you and yours are safe and healthy.

5. College Football News Preview 2020: Duke Blue Devils Offense 3 Things To Know

The offense fizzled late in the year – bottoming out with a four-game stretch scoring a total of 44 points – to finish 94th in the nation in scoring and 114th in total offense.

That’s not how a David Cutcliffe attack is supposed to work.

Eight starters are expected back, but it’s still going to take a little work to make it all go, starting with finding the right quarterback.

Clemson transfer Chase Brice has the biggest upside – he chose Duke for a reason – with just enough experience to not be starting from scratch. Junior Chris Katrenick had the job for a little bit last year when Quentin Harris went down, but he only completed 3-of-13 passes for 49 yards with a touchdown and a pick, and he ran for a score.

It might be Brice or bust, which isn’t a bad thing for a passing game was 125th in the nation in yards per completion.


CFN in 60 Video: Duke Blue Devils Preview
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6-0, 215-pound Deon Jackson is back after leading the team with 641 yards and six touchdowns, but the offense will likely be missing the rushing production of former QB Quentin Harris. Brittain Brown is transferring to UCLA, but junior Mataeo Durant is a more-than-tine No. 2 option.

The line was terrific at not allowing a whole lot of plays behind the line, and it wasn’t awful in pass protection. However, it has to be stronger for the ground attack – Brice isn’t the runner Harris was. Four starters return from a young group that used two freshmen tackles, and former top recruit Devery Henderson is transferring over from Stanford.

It’s a relatively untested receiving corps that has to rise up. It’ll be interesting to see if the downfield passing game is better with sharper quarterback play. A few more wideouts have to emerge, but top yardage guy Jalon Calhoun returns – he only averaged 9.1 yards per catch, though – and senior TE Noah Gray is back after leading the team with 51 grabs for 392 yards and three scores.

NEXT: College Football News Preview 2020: Duke Blue Devils Defense 3 Things To Know