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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/usffan on 2025-07-12 10:28:40+00:00.

The cumulative link to the preseason rankings can be found here.

Duke (high = 32, low = 60) ranks as the 7th best team in the ACC at #42, which also means we’re exactly 6 weeks away from season opening Farmageddon! Manny Diaz kept Mike Elko’s magic going in Durham, leading the Blue Devils to a 9-3 regular season (including an OT loss to playoff team SMU) before falling to a motivated Lane Kiffin (remember, SEC teams only lose when they don’t want to be there) in the Gator Bowl. That makes 3 consecutive bowl seasons now, and a return trip to the postseason will match the best run in Duke football history, giving fans and alumni reasons to proudly wear t-shirts again after the Cooper Flagg era fell short of the promised land.

Roster outlook

Duke ranks 59th nationally in returning production, with the amazing stat of ranking exactly 60th on both offense and defense. 2024 starting QB Maalik Murphy took his 28 TDs to Corvallis in the portal, RB Star Thomas ran off to the Tennessee Volunteers, and top WR Jordan Moore signed with the Cincinnati Bengals, showing a strange desire for people leaving Durham to be attracted to orange – check that team for scurvy! Diaz prioritized recruiting for the Blue Devils with the 5th best class in the conference (30th nationally) compared with the 3rd worst portal class in the ACC, bringing in only 9 transfers (Dabo tips his hat). That’s not to say they won’t be impactful, as the brought in 4 star Tulane QB Darian Mensah, Oklahoma WR Andrel Anthony and Harvard WR Cooper Barkate (Duke IS an academic school, after all!). In total, Ourlads only projects 5 transfer starters, including Dartmouth DL Josiah Green (the Duke team GPA boutta be off the charts), but 11 true freshmen on the depth charts. So youth will definitely be getting some reps in Durham in 2025!

Schedule and outlook

The Blue Devils have a potentially sneaky tough OOC schedule, with Bert and potential top 25 Illinois coming to Wallace Wade in week 2, followed by a trip to Mensah’s old team Tulane the next week, giving the Green Wave a chance to lay in wait. It also includes a November road trip to UConn, who can be tough at home. In conference, they get 6 games against teams ranked below them here (NC State, @ Syracuse, @ Cal, UVa, @ North Carolina and Wake) with only a home game against Georgia Tech and a road trip to Clemson (after a bye), so the Blue Devils should indeed make a bowl at a minimum and, if Mensah plays like he did at Duke, could be a dark horse contender for an ACC title run. That should cheer Timothy Ratliff up!