Duke football Bowl projections after Week 13: Exploring Blue Devils' playoff chances in 2024

NCAA Football: Duke at North Carolina State - Source: Imagn

The Duke Blue Devils are nearly done with their regular season schedule, and as a result, it is time to look ahead to bowl season. While they will not make the playoffs, they have clinched the six wins required for a bowl game. There are several bowl games that the Blue Devils (8-3) could feature in.

Duke bowl playoff chances and bowl projections 2024

To determine which bowl games the Blue Devils can play in, it is important to note that they cannot make the playoffs. While there was hope after their 5-0 start that they could compete to win the ACC Championship and make the playoffs, those hopes are now gone.

After the Blue Devils' excellent start to the year, they had a stretch where they lost three of four games. It is hard to blame them as two of those losses were to top 10 teams. They narrowly lost 28-27 to No. 9-ranked SMU and lost 53-31 to No. 6-ranked Miami. However, those losses, along with a 24-14 loss to Georgia Tech ended their playoff hopes.

So, while the Blue Devils may be playing well now, winning their last two games, their playoff hopes are gone. They can't catch any of the top three teams in the ACC (SMU, Clemson and Miami), who all have one win or less in conference play. As a result, Duke will play a non-playoff bowl game.

What bowl games will Duke play in?

Several games with ACC tie-ins could feature the Blue Devils. The most obvious game for it to play in would be the Duke's Mayo Bowl, and that is what CBS Sports projects. They project that the Blue Devils will play against Minnesota in that game on January 3rd.

However, it is not a guarantee that they play in that game. SI projects that the Blue Devils will play in the Holiday Bowl against Washington State on December 27th. Other bowl games with ACC ties include the Gasparilla Bowl, Birmingham Bowl, Fenway Bowl, Pinstripe Bowl, Pop-Tarts Bowl, Military Bowl, ReliaQuest Bowl, and Sun Bowl.

Any of those games is a possibility, but the decision will not be made until the championship games are finished over the next few weeks. Until then, we can only speculate as to which bowl game the Blue Devils will play in.

Duke football schedule: Key games remaining

The Blue Devils have one game left in the regular season.

Nov 30 @ Wake Forest

About the author

Alexander O'Reilly is a journalist at Sportskeeda from Kingston, Ontario with over seven years in the field at companies including SenShot, RVBlogger, Monarch Media, WordAgents, GSeC LLC, and IGC.

His favorite college team is Duke, and his favorite sporting memory was Duke winning March Madness in 2010. JJ Redick was Alex's favorite college player when he was young but more recently, Caleb Williams gets the nod. As the Chicago Bears are Alex's favorite NFL team, this was a perfect match.

Alex's proudest moment came when he was interviewed by a radio station in Ottawa on his opinion on recent moves by the Ottawa Senators, which gave him a confidence boost and the knowledge that he could succeed as a writer.

Aside from sports, Alex likes to spend his time playing games. He is also very passionate about running and strives to improve at the half and full marathon distances.

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Edited by Krutik Jain