Duke keeps winning the same way, and Manny Diaz clearly likes it that way.
In a college football landscape built around tempo, deep shots and highlight-reel offense, the Blue Devils are leaning into something much more rugged. They want the game played in the trenches.
They want every snap to feel like a fight. And through three weeks, that approach has delivered a 3-0 start.
Saturday’s ACC opener was the clearest example yet. Duke rolled past Stanford 35-7, controlling both lines of scrimmage and setting the tone right away. It was the kind of performance that looked less like a flash of brilliance and more like a team steadily wearing its opponent down.
The Blue Devils don’t need style points. They’re not built for them. What they have is a firm identity, and that showed up again after last week’s emotional win over Illinois could have easily been followed by a letdown.
“The identity is in body blows,” Diaz said after the game. “Dominating the line of scrimmage, which, again, is not a first-round knockout type of thing.
It’s just can we dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides over 60 minutes? Stanford’s hard to run the ball against.
Miami didn’t get 100 yards on them. I think we ran for 260 or something like that.
Again, everybody knows you’ve got to stop No. 20 (Nate Sheppard).
It’s three weeks in a row in the first half that he’s broken explosive runs.
"So I think that identity helps because we’re not trying…I think we just go to work, and I think it’s just kinda old-timey football of how to win a football game, and our guys are really, really bought into that.”
That old-timey approach has a perfect centerpiece in Nate Sheppard. He’s been the best rusher in college football through three weeks, and he just keeps stacking productive Saturdays. After a third straight game with more than 140 rushing yards, Sheppard has 528 yards on the season and is already closing in on his 2025 total of 1132.
The expectations were already high once Darian Mensah transferred, because Sheppard was going to be the offense’s focal point. Instead of merely meeting the hype, he’s surpassed it.
And the running game isn’t carrying the whole load by itself. Duke’s defense has taken a major leap from last season, when it was a weakness. In 2026, it has become a real strength.
That showed up in two very different ways over the last two weeks. Against Illinois, Duke absorbed a shaky first half and then locked things down, allowing only three second-half points in a 31-27 win.
Against Stanford, there was no need for a comeback. The Blue Devils shut things down from the opening snap and held the Cardinal to 237 yards and seven points in a 28-point victory.
The schedule now gives Duke a chance to keep building. William & Mary comes next, an FCS opponent in the Blue Devils’ final non-conference game of the year.
Then come road trips to Georgia Tech and a home game against North Carolina, with a shot at 6-0 before a road date against Virginia. That stretch could become the real measuring stick for whether this hard-nosed identity can keep holding up.
In Other News...
Walker Eget Is Giving Duke A Bigger ACC Question
Duke kept building momentum under Manny Diaz with a home win over Stanford, its third straight after the road victory at Illinois. The Blue Devils looked more balanced on both sides of the ball, and Nate Sheppard continued to stand out as an important piece of the offense while the team showed signs of real progress.
Walker Egets latest outing added another layer to the conversation. After a strong showing against Illinois, the quarterback was again part of the reason Dukes offense looked more functional, but the larger ACC question is how far that stability can carry if the game script turns messy and the margin for error shrinks. [Read more 🡒]
Dukes Fast Start Is Starting To Feel Very Real
A 3-0 start always buys a little attention, but Dukes early-season surge under Manny Diaz is beginning to look less like a hot opening and more like something sturdier. The Blue Devils have leaned on a balanced effort, with sophomore running back Nate Sheppard emerging as the kind of offensive centerpiece that can carry a September run, while quarterback Walker Eget has settled in as a more reliable game manager.
The defense has started to match that energy, too, coming off a sharp outing against Stanford that showed more pressure up front and better disruption across the board. When a team opens this cleanly, the question shifts quickly from whether it can contend to how long the momentum can last, and Duke is now facing the sort of attention that follows a fast start only if the foundation underneath it feels real. [Read more 🡒]
Dukes Passing Game Just Changed The Ceiling For This 3-0 Start
Dukes 35-7 home win over Stanford did more than keep the Blue Devils unbeaten at 3-0. It also gave a clearer look at an offense that may have more room to grow than the early schedule had suggested, with quarterback Waker Eget completing 14 of 24 passes for 202 yards, a touchdown and an interception while working the ball to seven different receivers.
The distribution mattered as much as the raw production, especially with Jared Richardson getting his first catches of the season and Jeremiah Hasley emerging as the top target with five grabs for 88 yards. For a team trying to turn a fast start into something bigger, that kind of passing-game balance can change how opponents prepare, even if the next step in the attack still has to prove it can hold up when the competition tightens. [Read more 🡒]