Duke heads into Saturday’s trip to Georgia Tech with a 4-0 record and its first road test in ACC play on deck. The Blue Devils and Yellow Jackets kick off at 3:30 pm ET on ESPN2, with Duke coming off a 35-7 win over Stanford in its only conference game so far.
Georgia Tech enters at 1-3 and 0-1 in the ACC. The Yellow Jackets have beaten Mercer, but they’ve dropped all three of their games against Power Conference opponents: Colorado, Tennessee, and Stanford.
For Duke, the assignment starts with Georgia Tech quarterback Alberto Mendoza. The brother of Fernando Mendoza, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft by the Las Vegas Raiders, Alberto was the backup on last season’s National Championship team.
This season, he has thrown for 975 yards, six touchdowns and three interceptions while completing 68.3% of his passes. Three of those touchdown passes came against Mercer, and he has already been sacked 10 times in 2026.
The Yellow Jackets also lean heavily on Justice Haynes, who has been one of the ACC’s more productive backs this year. Haynes ranks second in the conference in rushing yards per game at 98.3 and sixth in total rushing yards with 393.
He has added 11 catches for 47 yards and two touchdowns, giving Georgia Tech another option out of the backfield. The former Michigan Wolverine has carried the ball at least 14 times in every game, topped 100 rushing yards in two of them, and caught two or more passes in three outings.
On the other side of the ball, Duke will need to keep an eye on defensive tackle Tawfiq Thomas. Georgia Tech’s defense has not been elite, but Thomas has made his presence felt. He leads the Yellow Jackets with two sacks, ranks second on the team with 24 tackles, and sits third in the ACC with six tackles for loss.
Duke’s offensive line has done a solid job protecting Walker Eget, who has taken just one sack so far this season. That makes Thomas the Georgia Tech defender most likely to test the Blue Devils when they head to Atlanta.
In Other News...
Dukes Frustrating Collapse Exposed Two Problems Fans Cant Ignore
Dukes first loss of the season came in Atlanta, where a 28-25 defeat to Georgia Tech left the Blue Devils with plenty to sort through beyond the final score. Walker Eget and linebacker Luke Mergott were among the players who made their presence felt, and Duke actually handled itself well on third and fourth downs, showing enough composure in key spots to stay in the game deep into the afternoon.
Still, the details that tilted the result were hard to ignore. Penalties in the first half repeatedly put Duke behind schedule, and the inside running game never matched the kind of push the Blue Devils needed to control the flow of the game. For a team that had started clean and confident, the loss exposed two issues that will linger until Duke proves it can play cleaner and generate more consistent production between the tackles. [Read more 🡒]
Duke Faces Its First Real Test With Unbeaten Start On The Line
Dukes unbeaten start has given Manny Diaz and his team some early momentum, but the next step looks far more revealing than the first four games. At 4-0, the Blue Devils head into Week 6 with a trip to Georgia Tech looming, and the matchup carries extra weight after the Yellow Jackets came into Durham last season and left with a win.
This time, Duke arrives with a defense that has been tougher and a rushing attack that has helped stabilize the offense. Georgia Tech comes in at 1-3 and is looking for a lift of its own, which makes this a useful checkpoint for Duke before the schedule gets any less demanding. [Read more 🡒]
Duke Let A Winnable Road Game Slip Away In Painful Fashion
For much of the afternoon in Atlanta, Duke had the kind of road game it needed to finish and move on, with Nate Sheppard doing plenty to keep the Blue Devils in front of the conversation. Playing through a foot injury, the running back carried a heavy load and turned in a standout all-around effort, finishing with 99 rushing yards, two touchdowns and 91 receiving yards as Duke tried to stay clean in the ACC race.
Instead, the Blue Devils let a winnable game unravel in painful fashion. Penalties kept handing Georgia Tech extra chances, and when Duke still had a path to force overtime, freshman kicker Gavin Strange missed the late field goal try that would have tied it. The 28-25 loss drops Duke to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in league play, a frustrating result in a game that was there to be taken. [Read more 🡒]