I don't want to say Duke is going to have a bad season this upcoming football year, but there's also something to be said for losing Darian Mensah to the University of Miami.
Mensah, who many consider one of the top college football quarterbacks in the country, came over from Tulane to the Blue Devils. Now with Miami, there's certainly an expectation that the Hurricanes are going to be one of the better teams in the country, and Duke is going to be just about average in the ACC.
However, looking at that, ESPN still somewhat believes that Duke can be a very good team next year, though the outlet also suggested that had Mensah been on the roster, Duke had a chance to run things back, win the ACC again, and potentially earn a College Football Playoff bid this time around.
“The defending ACC champs looked poised to run it back and chase a College Football Playoff bid in 2026 until disaster struck at the January portal deadline. Miami swooped in and made last-minute offers to Mensah and All-ACC wide receiver Cooper Barkate that they couldn't refuse. The timing couldn't have been any worse for Diaz and his staff's ability to go get a comparable QB1. They sued Mensah to enforce his multiyear NIL contract and settled for an undisclosed sum, then added San José State's Eget to compete with redshirt freshman Dan Mahan. The Blue Devils lost only four other players who transferred to Power 4 programs this offseason, most notably safety Terry Moore (Ohio State) and receiver Que'Sean Brown (Virginia Tech),” ESPN wrote.
Manny Diaz has done a really good job of helping his team compete at a very high level, even with a lack of talent against some other squads. However, Duke also had Mensah under center a year ago to help deal with that.
Now, I don't know if the Blue Devils are going to always have what it takes to compete with the best programs in the country, something that will be interesting to watch over the next few months.
