Duke Blue Devils 2019 College Football Preview

College Football Predictions – Duke Blue Devils 2019 College Football Preview

2018 Recap

Record – 8-5

ATS – 6-7

The Blue Devils machine keeps rolling on.

Yup. That makes five winning seasons in the past six campaigns. Last year felt like a bit of a disappointment to some but they still managed to win eight games. They started to struggle in the second half of the season once the injuries piled up but they showed up in the Independence Bowl and SMOKED Temple by a score of 56-27. That win was all the more impressive given the way that they ended the regular season. Wake Forest kicked their teeth in (59-7) (!) and we actually think the Demon Deacons scored again as we were typing this paragraph.

Let’s see what the squad looks like heading into 2019.


2019 MEGALOCKS Opening Power Rating

Coastal Division – #4

ACC – #7


Duke Blue Devils 2019 Outlook

OFFENSE

It’s never easy to move on from losing a #1 NFL DC at QB (Daniel Jones, Giants), but that’s exactly what the Blue Devils are faced with in 2019. The offense is going to look a lot different as QB Quentin Harris provides a lot of mobility at the position. The bad news? There is complete turnover at WR and the leading player in terms of receiving yards back for duty is RB Deon Jackson (253). Why else might the offense look different? Well we HOPE there is more emphasis on the run (sorry, NFL ADVANCED METRICS GUY) because that is where the proven talent resides on offense. Running backs Deon Jackson and Brittain Brown provide a great 1-2 combo (1,216 yards, 10 TD LY) and they are performing behind a good-looking offensive line that returns three starters to the mix.

The Blue Devils will almost certainly see their scoring production drop (29.4 PPG LY) but we still think they can do enough to win a bunch of games.

DEFENSE

Duke was decimated with injuries last year and really got ROLLED late in the season. We are pleased to report that eight starters are back for duty and it appears certain that they will be much improved. All four starters return on the DL and they have some nice size on the interior and a ton of players that appeared in game action a season ago. Star LB Joe Giles-Harris led the team in tackles LY and the LB unit is the biggest worry on defense. As far as the secondary goes, they bring back a ton of experience including excellent CB Mark Gilbert who missed almost all of the 2018 campaign. Duke has yielded fewer than 56% completions in each of the past five years and we see another solid performance on deck.

The Blue Devils are poised to make a big move forward on defense (27.4 PPG LY). If they can find a way to force more turnovers (tied for last ACC LY, 13) it would really help the cause.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Things are a little on the bleak side. They need to work in a new PK and P Austin Porter bagged just a 36.0 yard net LY (#99 FBS net punting). The return units could use significant improvement.

Schedule Analysis

Overall – It’s never great to start with ROLL TIDE. They also get Notre Dame in non-conference action and have tough road ACC games at Virginia Tech and Virginia.

Potential ATS Trouble Spot – Syracuse (November 16)

Not an ideal spot, yo. Duke will be coming off a game with Notre Dame and potentially looking ahead to a revenge date with in-state rival Wake Forest (lost 59-7 LY).

Season Win Total

Over – 5.5 -110

Under – 5.5 -110

MEGALOCKS says:

This is a decent-looking team but they’ll be hard pressed to win six games given their schedule. Need to make a pick? LEANAGE to the ‘over’.

MEGAmazing Tidbits

Duke takes on ROLL TIDE in their season opener and will look to rekindle some of the magic from the 1945 Sugar Bowl in which they defeated Alabama by a score of 29-26.

Your pal Steve Spurrier went 3-0 vs hated-rival North Carolina while he was the HC at Duke.


MEGALOCKS ATS Outlook: Positive

The Blue Devils have a really good looking defense, one of the best head coaches in the conference, a mobile QB, and a solid-looking running game. That’s a lot of boxes being checked, my friends. Things would have to go pretty well for the Dukies to challenge for the division crown but they don’t have to worry about Clemson.

Duke has a phenomenal ATS mark of 70-51-4 (58%) in the last ten years under the leadership of David Cutcliffe. Last year was their first losing season vs the number (6-7) since 2012. It won’t be pretty, but we just might be lining up for some SWEET ACTION when it comes to Duke.


Want more Duke football ?

WEBSITE

http://www.goduke.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPID=1843&SPSID=22672

FORUM

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https://247sports.com/college/duke/Board/Pascal-Field-House-102415/

https://duke.forums.rivals.com/forums/duke-football-open-forum-free.14/

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NEWS

http://www.dukechronicle.com/section/football

https://www.espn.com/college-football/team/_/id/150/duke-blue-devils

https://balldurham.com/duke-football/

http://bleacherreport.com/duke-football

TWITTER

Hashtag – #DukeGang

Accounts to follow

https://twitter.com/DukeFOOTBALL

https://twitter.com/AdamRoweTDD