Where ESPN Ranks Duke Football Ahead of 2026 Season

NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos...

The Duke Blue Devils are coming off one of their best seasons in program history, winning the Atlantic Coast Conference championship. 

After the Blue Devils earned a spot in the title game via a tiebreaker, they upset Virginia in overtime. From there, they beat Arizona State in their bowl game and hoped to take that momentum into the offseason.

But plans changed when Darian Mensah left and committed to Miami. That created a new quarterback battle for Manny Diaz and his team. While we are a few weeks until the opener against Tulane, that battle is still ongoing. Without a clear cut option just yet, it's hard to really analyze exactly how the position will look this season. 

However, not everyone is high on the Blue Devils. 

ESPN has ranked every team from 1-138 ahead of the season and the Blue Devils were down in the tiers. The site has Duke in Tier 11 along with Arizona State, Baylor, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Kansas and Wake Forest. Here is how ESPN describes that tier:

ESPN's FPI projects every team in this tier to win between 5.8 and 6.4 games this year. Duke, Arizona State and Kansas are projected at exactly six wins. They each have between a 55% and 65% chance of winning at least six. If this were still 2025, the kids would be saying these teams were all in the "six-seven" range, but thankfully, we're past all that.

Odds are at least one of these teams will catch fire with a new quarterback. Perhaps Alberto Mendoza follows in his brother's footsteps, or Gio Lopez takes off after being reunited with his former OC, or Manny Diaz is granted three wishes by a benevolent genie he discovers by rubbing an old turnover chain, and the Blue Devils end up with an adequate Mensah replacement after all.

That seems pretty fair for Duke, especially when they lost arguably their best player from last season. There are a lot of questions not only surrounding quarterback but if Diaz's team can take a step forward on both sides of the football. 

If Diaz can find a way to build on last season's success, Duke should be in a bowl game and take a step forward. However, being a legit contender in the ACC is going to be very tough to do. Odds are at least one of these teams will catch fire with a new quarterback. Perhaps Alberto Mendoza follows in his brother's footsteps, or Gio Lopez takes off after being reunited with his former OC, or Manny Diaz is granted three wishes by a benevolent genie he discovers by rubbing an old turnover chain, and the Blue Devils end up with an adequate Mensah replacement after all.

More at NCAAF College Football News, Photos, Stats, Scores, Schedule & Videos