Duke was the surprise winner of the Atlantic Coast Conference last year.
“The quest for the championship starts on Saturday,” coach Manny Diaz said of launching the bid for a repeat.
The Blue Devils (2-0) will take on Stanford in Durham, N.C., in their conference opener.
Duke won 31-27 at Illinois last Saturday.
Stanford (1-1, 0-1 ACC), which will play its first road game of the season, was off last week after falling 45-6 to then-No. 7 Miami on Sept. 4.
Duke quarterback Walker Eget, while playing last year for San Jose State, threw for 473 yards and three touchdowns in a 30-29 loss at Stanford. But that might not be related to what will happen this week, especially with a new coaching staff at Stanford.
“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.
Eget went 15-for-21 for 206 yards and three TDs in the victory over Illinois.
Duke running back Nate Sheppard leads the Football Bowl Subdivision with an average of 187 rushing yards per game. The sophomore has five consecutive games with at least one rushing touchdown.
“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 quarterback Davis Warren has thrown for 524 yards and one touchdown without an interception in the first two games. Twelve players have caught at least one pass for the Cardinal.
“You can tell it’s a very quarterback-friendly offense,” Diaz said.
Stanford has lost 11 consecutive games away from home, the longest such losing stretch in program history. The Cardinal last won on the road Sept. 20, 2024, at Syracuse in its 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.”
While Duke was winning at Illinois last week, the Cardinal already had a head start on preparing for the Blue Devils.
“Understanding that they had two weeks to work on us,” Diaz said about one of his team’s challenges.
For Stanford, there’s the task of demonstrating progress from its most recent game.
“So much about this team is making sure we’re improving,” Pritchard said.
Duke has won its first two games for the second time in three seasons under Diaz.
–Field Level Media
