Duke’s ACC title defense gets rolling Saturday, and the Blue Devils will find out right away whether last year’s surprise run can carry into a new season.
The Blue Devils, 2-0 after a 31-27 win at Illinois last Saturday, open conference play at home against Stanford. Manny Diaz made the stakes of the opener clear.
"The quest for the championship starts on Saturday," coach Manny Diaz said of launching the bid for a repeat.
Duke’s offense has plenty of momentum behind quarterback Walker Eget, who was sharp against Illinois. Eget finished 15-for-21 for 206 yards and three touchdowns, a strong follow-up to a 473-yard, three-touchdown effort he posted last year for San Jose State in a 30-29 loss at Stanford. Diaz, though, pointed out that matchup may not mean much now, especially with Stanford under a new coaching staff.
"I'm more excited about the confidence Walker has coming out of his performance Saturday and our ability to show that if we can be explosive in the passing game, then what that really rings to our offense with the way we're running the football," Diaz said.
That ground game has been driving Duke, too. Nate Sheppard leads the Football Bowl Subdivision with 187 rushing yards per game, and the sophomore has scored at least one rushing touchdown in five straight games. Diaz credited the people around him as much as the back himself.
"When you talk about Nate, you've got to talk about our offensive line, the tight ends and even our receivers and how they're blocking," Diaz said.
Stanford arrives at 1-1 overall and 0-1 in the ACC after a 45-6 loss to then-No. 7 Miami on Sept.
- The Cardinal were off last week and will play their first road game of the season in Durham.
Davis Warren has been productive early, throwing for 524 yards and one touchdown without an interception, and 12 different players have caught at least one pass.
"You can tell it's a very quarterback-friendly offense," Diaz said.
Stanford’s bigger issue has been away from home. The Cardinal have lost 11 straight road games, the longest such skid in program history. Their last road win came Sept. 20, 2024, at Syracuse in their first ACC game.
"We have a great upcoming opponent in Duke," Stanford coach Tavita Pritchard said. "We know that they will get our full attention, and what that means is us focusing on us."
Duke had an extra wrinkle in its preparation, since Stanford had already had two weeks to study the Blue Devils while Duke was busy with Illinois.
"Understanding that they had two weeks to work on us," Diaz said about one of his team's challenges.
For Stanford, the emphasis is on steady improvement after its most recent outing.
"So much about this team is making sure we're improving," Pritchard said.
Duke has started 2-0 for the second time in three seasons under Diaz.