Manny Diaz Realizes Duke Can't Have Same Path as Last Year, and Darian Mensah is Why

We have to give credit where credit is due, as I had a lot of questions about the Duke football program last season. Instead of Duke quitting when it certainly could have after a few bad losses, it continued to do what Manny Diaz asked and ended up winning the ACC. 

It was very unfortunate that Duke didn't get a College Football Playoff bid after winning the ACC, as we saw that it could have been one of the best teams in the country on any given Saturday, but that was due to some of the losses it had earlier in the season. 

Had Duke won just one or two more games, we probably would have been looking at a College Football Playoff team.

Nonetheless, I think everybody would suggest that last season was a success. Even if you didn't make the College Football Playoff, winning the ACC was a big-time step in the right direction and shows what this program has a chance to build. The ACC isn't what it once was, and we have to factor that in, but it's still impressive to win it.

Regarding what Duke is looking to do this season, winning the ACC once again would be a promising sign. 

Getting to the College Football Playoff would be just as impressive and would put this program in a direction it hasn't been in for quite some time. However, when speaking to reporters about what he's looking for this year, Diaz admitted that he can't focus on what happened last season.

He admitted that this is a new team and there are new things to learn.

“It’s not about trying to recreate the outcome of what happened a year ago,” Diaz said, per the Duke Chronicle. “It's about rediscovering the process. Even though we’ve had different names on the back of the jerseys over the last couple of years, the constant has been how we work and how we prepared.”

“If anybody has paid attention to Duke football, it's probably going to be decided in the fourth quarter,” he said. “I'm really excited about seeing that depth all across our defense help us see us through in those late wins more than they did in 2024.”

I have my fair share of questions about how Duke will look next season, mainly due to the quarterback situation. 

Had Darian Mensah been with the program, I don't think my questions about the position would be as loud as they currently are, as we'd be looking at one of the best quarterbacks in the country on the roster.

Unfortunately, that isn't the case any longer, so Duke will have to figure that one out.