Manny Diaz has seen enough to know the difference between a team that talks about handling expectations and one that actually does it.
Duke has opened 3-0, and the Blue Devils have done it by beating Tulane, Illinois and Stanford while looking far more settled than teams that get caught chasing perfection. After winning the ACC title game a year ago, Duke still isn’t ranked, but Diaz doesn’t seem interested in making that the story. What stands out to him is that this group has already shown it can walk into games as the favorite and play like itself.
“We had struggled in two years with expectation,” Diaz said. “We'd struggled with being the favorite.
We'd struggled of not trying to be perfect, of at times playing tense in those type of games. And we really challenged our guys this week to just present as the best version of ourselves and just be us.”
That self-assurance is a big part of why Diaz likes this team so much.
“I do think what does help is I do think this is a team that has extraordinary belief in their identity,” Diaz said, per Duke Wire. “And I think that's been obvious.
And the identity is in body blows. I mean, dominating the line of scrimmage, which, again, it's not a first-round knockout type of thing.”
That identity showed up again in Duke’s 35-7 win over Stanford, and it’s hard to ignore how comfortably the Blue Devils have handled business early in the year. The offense still had a few shaky moments through the air - the quarterback went 14 of 24 for 202 yards - but Nate Sheppard gave the game a clear edge on the ground, piling up 154 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries.
For Diaz, that’s the part that matters most right now: a team that isn’t trying to force anything, just doing what it’s supposed to do.
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Duke Golf Has Early Momentum After A Home Showing Fans Should Notice
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Sophomore Charles Nelson set the pace by tying for sixth at 5-under 139, while freshman Clark Mason also made his presence felt with a tie for 14th at 3-under 141. For a team looking for reliable scoring options, those kinds of outings are the sort of signs that can start to shape a lineup, even if there is still room for the rest of the roster to catch up. [Read more 🡒]
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That evaluation begins right away, with a schedule that should give Duke a few chances to learn before the pressure ramps up. Early matchups against Army, Coastal Carolina and SIU Edwardsville offer some room to test combinations and roles, but the bigger issue is what happens once the competition stiffens and Scheyer has to make the kind of minute-allocation decisions that can define a season. [Read more 🡒]
Duke's Fast Start Comes With One Problem Fans Can't Ignore
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The one issue hovering over that start is the kind that can follow a team into bigger games if it is not cleaned up. Penalties have repeatedly interrupted drives and momentum, and the upcoming stretch against Georgia Tech and North Carolina will offer a much sterner test of whether Duke can keep the same level of control when the stakes rise. [Read more 🡒]