Duke Football Opens Up As Favorite Over Tulane

We finally made it. The 2026 college football season kicks off this weekend after the appetizer that was Week 0 last weekend. Now, we are ready for a full slate of games this weekend and it should be a good one. 

For the Duke Blue Devils, it's been an interesting offseason to say the least.

Duke is coming off an Atlantic Coast Conference championship and then a bowl game win over Arizona State. They had hoped to carry that into the offseason but then Darian Mensah entered the transfer portal and transferred to Miami.

That put a dent in things for the Blue Devils. While Walker Eget eventually won the starting job, it's going to be hard to replicate what Mensah did last season. But the focus is on now and Duke has the chance to make a good first impression in Week 1. 

As we continue to move towards kickoff, the Blue Devils are the favorites to beat Tulane according to the updated odds. Vegas odds now have the Blue Devils as 9.5-point favorites against Tulane. 

That's a big spread in a game with a lot of question marks. 

Both teams will have new quarterbacks as Mensah is at Miami and former Tulane quarterback Jake Retzlaff is not there anymore. Tulane also had to replace their head coach, Jon Sumrall, who took the head coaching job at Florida. 

Will Hall took over for Sumrall after serving as the pass game coordinator for the Green Wave last year. 

This game could very well come down to which quarterback plays better and doesn't make more mistakes. That position will be under a microscope throughout the game and the hope for Duke is that Eget can play at a high level and prove he is the guy all season long. 

In last season's matchup, Tulane took down Duke at home in what was a thrilling game in Mensah's return to Tulane. Duke is now out for some revenge and looking to get a win at home to start the season.

Duke and Tulane will kick off at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday with the broadcast on ACC Network.