The Athletic’s Chris Vannini updated his rankings of all 134 FBS college football teams on Monday, and the Duke Blue Devils didn’t drop very far despite their overtime loss to SMU.
Vannini lowered head coach [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] and his team to 37th, a six-spot drop that kept them above notable ACC teams like the Louisville Cardinals and Virginia Tech Hokies.
Despite preseason win projections having the Blue Devils somewhere around 6-6, Diaz won six of his first seven games with the program for a scorching start. The Mustangs came to Wallace Wade Stadium riding a four-game win streak and averaging more than 40 points per game, but Duke held them to three touchdowns in regulation thanks to six turnovers. If not for two missed field goals in the fourth quarter, the 7-1 Blue Devils would be the talk of college football ahead of their trip to Coral Gables for a Miami game with College Football Playoff implications.
Duke has now lost two of its first four conference games, but Vannini still considers them the sixth-best team in the ACC.
The Hurricanes, the next opponent on the Blue Devils’ schedule, remained No. 4 in Vannini’s ranking after their 36-14 victory over the Florida State Seminoles moved them to 8-0 for the season.