Duke — ACC
HC
Manny Diaz · Wallace Wade Stadium · Durham, NC · 40,004 cap
PPA off / def
0.25 / 0.22
2025
Class rank
#71
class of 2026
Returning PPA
17%
returning production
| 1981 |
OSU W 34–13 | Columbus |
| 1970 |
OSU W 34–10 | Columbus |
| 1959 |
OSU W 14–13 | Columbus |
| 1955 |
OSU L 14–20 | Columbus |
2026 schedule
| Wk | Opponent | All-time series | Venue |
|---|
| wk1 | vs Tulane | tied 3–3 | Wallace Wade Stadium |
| wk2 | at Illinois | Illinois leads 2–1 · L2 | Memorial Stadium (Champaign, IL) |
| wk3 | vs Stanford | Stanford leads 3–1 · L3 | Wallace Wade Stadium |
| wk4 | vs William & Mary | William & Mary leads 5–1 | Wallace Wade Stadium |
| wk6 | at Georgia Tech | Georgia Tech leads 56–34–1 · L5 | Bobby Dodd Stadium |
| wk7 | vs North Carolina | North Carolina leads 62–38–4 · W2 | Wallace Wade Stadium |
| wk8 | at Virginia | Virginia leads 39–34 | Scott Stadium |
| wk9 | vs Boston College | Boston College leads 5–4 | Wallace Wade Stadium |
| wk10 | at NC State | leads 44–36–5 · W3 | Carter-Finley Stadium |
| wk11 | at Miami | Miami leads 16–5 | Hard Rock Stadium |
| wk12 | vs Clemson | Clemson leads 37–17–1 · W2 | Wallace Wade Stadium |
| wk13 | at Wake Forest | leads 60–39–2 · W4 | Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium |
2025 results (9–5)
Statistical comps — 2025 Duke's closest analogs
Nearest neighbors by z-scored success rate, explosiveness, run rate & havoc (offense + defense), 2015–25.
2025 leaders
Transfer portal — 2026 (19 in / 17 out)
Origins
Wade's teams won two Rose Bowl berths, and in 1942 the game itself was moved to Durham because the West Coast was considered unsafe after Pearl Harbor. The only Rose Bowl ever played outside Pasadena.
Founded 1838 · Trinity College, renamed in 1924 after James B. Duke's tobacco endowment · first football 1888 · defined by Wallace Wade
All-time record
All-time
537–558–29
1890–2025
Win %
49.1%
107 seasons played
Winning seasons
52
49% of seasons
| Best seasons | W | L | Conference |
|---|
| 2013 | 10 | 4 | ACC |
| 1941 | 9 | 1 | Southern |
| 1938 | 9 | 1 | Southern |
| 1936 | 9 | 1 | Southern |
| 1933 | 9 | 1 | Southern |
Season records from CollegeFootballData, which is why the span starts at 1890 — that is where its coverage of this program begins, not necessarily the first year it fielded a team.
Play-calling tendencies (2025 · garbage time excluded)
| Situation | Plays | Run % | Success % | Nat'l | Avg yds | Expl % |
|---|
| 1st down | 403 | 49% |
47% | 37 of 136 | 5.7 | 12% |
| 2nd down | 298 | 47% |
46% | 26 of 136 | 6.4 | 13% |
| 3rd & short (≤3) | 54 | 54% |
56% | — | 5.3 | 7% |
| 3rd & medium (4–7) | 47 | 11% |
43% | — | 7.9 | 19% |
| 3rd & long (8+) | 69 | 16% |
23% | — | 6.2 | 16% |
| 4th down | 39 | 28% |
77% | — | 9.0 | 28% |
159 drives · 47% ended in points · 7.4 plays and 45.7 yards per drive · 1.49 PPA per drive
Success: 50% of yardage needed on 1st, 70% on 2nd, 100% on 3rd/4th. Explosive: 12+ yd rush / 16+ yd pass. National rank is shown only for 1st and 2nd down, where every team has 100+ plays; the later buckets average 18-43 and a rank there would be noise.
League leaderboard →Most valuable plays (by PPA, 2025)
| Wk | Opp | Play | Yds | PPA |
|---|
| 10 | Clemson |
Cooper Barkate 77 Yd pass from Darian Mensah (Todd Pelino Kick) |
77 | 6.71 |
| CFP | Arizona State |
No Huddle-Shotgun #10 D.Mensah pass complete deep middle to #7 Q.Brown caught at ASU35, fo… |
69 | 6.61 |
| 4 | NC State |
Anderson Castle run for 66 yds for a TD (Todd Pelino KICK) |
66 | 6.10 |
| 4 | NC State |
Darian Mensah pass complete to Cooper Barkate for 37 yds for a TD (Todd Pelino KICK) |
37 | 4.66 |
| CFP | Arizona State |
No Huddle-Shotgun #10 D.Mensah pass complete deep middle to #7 Q.Brown caught at ASU06, fo… |
46 | 4.43 |
| 10 | Clemson |
(04:29) Shotgun #10 D.Mensah pass complete short middle to #85 J.Hasley caught at DUKE27, … |
56 | 4.27 |
| 12 | Virginia |
(05:34) No Huddle-Shotgun #10 D.Mensah pass complete short left to #2 S.Hagans caught at U… |
48 | 4.24 |
| 1 | Elon |
Anderson Castle run for 63 yds to the ELON 8 for a 1ST down |
63 | 4.07 |