First look: What to know as Duke faces Wake Forest on Blue Devils’ Senior Day
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Duke beat UNC, became bowl eligible and aims for Senior Day victory.
- Wake Forest fields hot offense, Robby Ashford threatens Duke’s depleted defense.
- Early odds favor Duke by 3.5, over/under 54.4; game airs 3:30 p.m. on ACCN.
Duke’s 32-25 win Saturday at North Carolina had all the spoils of a special victory.
The Blue Devils beat their top rival. They did it on Senior Day at Kenan Stadium, spoiling the last home game of the season for the Tar Heels and first-year coach Bill Belichick. They kept the Victory Bell, and had fun with it.
The Blue Devils, with their sixth win of the season, became bowl eligible and can start prognosticating on what that might be -- the Military Bowl, perhaps?
It was their fifth ACC win. They finished 4-0 in ACC road games for the first time since 2013. Anything else to squeeze out of it?
“To win away, and your rival, in my mind is one of the greatest things in college sports,” Duke coach Manny Diaz said after the game.
But the regular season isn’t over. The Blue Devils close it out Saturday against Wake Forest at Wallace Wade Stadium, with the Demon Deacons (8-3, 4-3 ACC) bringing in a three-game win streak and looking to ruin Duke’s Senior Day.
The ACC announced Sunday that the game will have a 3:30 p.m. start Saturday and be televised on the ACC Network.
The Blue Devils have beaten N.C. State and now UNC. A win over Wake Forest would give them another sweep of their Big Four rivals, just as they did last season.
Duke needed 13 fourth-quarter points for a 23-17 victory over the Deacons last year, scoring the winning TD on Maalik Murphy’s 39-yard pass to Jordan Moore on the last play of the game.
“We’ve got a real big-time game in our stadium next week and a chance again to go 3-0 in our state, which is where all of our goals start,” Diaz said.
Key game matchup: Duke’s running game
After a poor effort running the ball in a loss to Virginia, Diaz and the coaching staff challenged the offensive line and offensive group before the UNC game, before facing a defense that has been progressively more stout as the season moved on.
The result: 177 yards on the ground, including Todd Pelino’s 26-yard run on a fake field goal late in the game that set up the winning score.
Nate Sheppard had 90 yards on 22 carries, including one of the best second-effort runs of the season in the ACC — the freshman getting 29 yards in a tug of war that had eight UNC defenders try to stop him. Anderson Castle added another 49 yards, scoring three times on short power runs.
“They weren’t always pretty, but we stayed committed to it,” Diaz said of Duke’s running plays.
The Deacons, second in the ACC in scoring defense (19.0 points per game), are allowing 123.4 yards rushing, ninth in the league.
When Duke’s offense has balance, it can be hard to contain, with or without the trick plays. That will be Duke’s goal, again, Saturday.
Wake Forest impact players: Ashford, Andersen
Quarterback Robby Ashford poses another threat for the Duke’s injury-depleted defense. Ashford passed for three TDs, including a 79-yarder to Carlos Hernandez, and ran for another score Saturday as the Deacons celebrated their Senior Day with a 52-14 romp over Delaware.
Ashford, a 6-2, 220-pound senior, passed for 191 yards and ran for 52 in Wake Forest’s 28-12 win over UNC on Nov. 15 in Winston-Salem.
Senior defensive back Nick Andersen leads the Deacons in tackles with 89 after a 122-tackle season in 2024. Andersen had 11 tackles this season in games against N.C. State, Georgia Tech and Florida State.
Vegas betting odds
The early lines have Duke as a 3.5-point favorite. FanDuel Sportsbook has set the over/under at 54.4 points. The moneyline: Duke -154, Wake Forest +128.
Duke-Wake Forest football info
Who: Duke (6-5 overall, 5-2 ACC) vs Wake Forest (8-3, 4-3). When: Saturday, Nov. 29, 3:30 p.m. Where: Wallace Wade Stadium, Durham.
TV: ACC Network. Stream: fubo TV, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV Stream, Sling TV.
Series history: The Blue Devils have won the past three games and are 60-40-2 overall in a series that began in 1893, when the game was played in Raleigh. The Deacons last won in Durham in 2018.
