BSD Staff Predictions: Duke Blue Devils

The Deacs are finally back to defend Winston-Salem for the first time since taking down the Louisville Cardinals on October 2nd. Wake Forest finds themselves 7-0 for just the second time in school history and looking to make waves by getting to 8-0 for the first time ever. Let’s see how the staff feels about the Deacs in this one. Last week, everyone once again correctly predicted the Deacs to win and cover the spread, but Cam was the only one to pick to the over.

Game Info

• Opponent: Duke Blue Devils
• Spread: Wake -16.5
• Over/Under: 71

Adam: Wake 45—Duke 35| Duke +16.5 | Over

The Deacs have given up 500 yards in the past four games and over 200 yards rushing in the last three. I don’t think that pattern is going to drastically change any time soon, so I feel like Duke is going to be able to move the ball and score pretty regularly in this game. The Deacs have really struggled stopping the run this season and the Blue Devils have a dangerous weapon in the ground game with Matteo Durant, who is currently 6th in the nation in rushing yards with 870 and top 20 in the nation in rushing touchdowns with 9. It will be interesting to see what adjustments Duke made during the bye week after getting blown out 48-0 by Virginia in their last game. In the past three games, the Duke offense is scoring just over 11 points and gaining just 376 yards per game, so I think we can expect to see some wrinkles from the Blue Devils to try and get things back on track.

On the other side of the ball, I am not really worried; the Deacs have a top 10 offense in the nation and Duke has a defense that is about as bad as Wake’s has been this season. The Blue Devils are 110th in total defense, giving up 444 yards per game, and 104th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing opponents to score 31 points per game. The Duke passing defense is one of the worst in the nation (118 out of 130) and is giving up 277 yards and 2.1 touchdowns per game through the air this season. That means Sam Hartman and the receiving corps should have another big day, perhaps even a repeat performance of the Army game. That would be awesome.

I think ultimately Wake gets the win at home, but 16.5 points just seems like a lot for the Deacs to cover.

Elijah: Wake 48—Duke 28 | Wake -16.5 | Over

The Deacs scored 70 points while only having 17 min of possession. However, on the flip side the defense gave up 56 points as well, albeit being heavily impacted by the injury bug.

Although the Deacs won’t be completely healthy entering their game against the Duke Blue Devils, the addition of a few key healthy guys should pay huge dividends for Wake Forest.

Duke also has been struggling significantly this year, rolling in with a 3-4 record and coming off a 48-0 loss. Look for the Deacs to use this week to try and get healthier and pull away late. Deacs win 48-28.

Cam: Wake 52—Duke 10 | Wake -16.5 | Under

Word on the street from Clawson is that Evan Slocum and DJ Taylor will be back. When covering last weeks game live I was shocked Slocum didn’t play. Nasir Greer (should) be suiting up for the game and looked close to returning last week. Still questions with Gavin Holmes/JJ Roberts/Tyler Williams/Zion Keith/Kevin pointer but if they can get even a couple of those guys back the defensive issues will fix themselves as they’ll be able to actually rotate and not leave guys on the field the entire game. Duke is just not a good football team and I’m not going to let a 1 week sample size dictate my thoughts

SF: Wake 42—Duke 10| Wake -16.5 | Under

Wake 42, Duke 10. Defense getting slightly boosted, Duke being Duke, and Wake at home? Yeah, it’s about to get ugly.

Average: Wake 47—Duke 21 | Wake -16.5 | Under

It looks like most of the staff is taking Wake to beat Duke in blowout fashion. Here’s hoping that comes to fruition. Go Deacs!