The college football afternoon gets started with a key ACC battle as the Miami Hurricanes host the Duke Blue Devils. Miami leads the conference, while Duke is the defending champion (lest anyone forget). Lots of people seem unnecessarily panicky about the Hurricanes right now, but all that has happened is that Miami lost a tough road game to a good Notre Dame team, and they did so without their best player. The Canes are still undefeated in the ACC, and nothing has changed. Duke still has a distant shot at returning to the conference championship game, but that starts with beating Miami on the road. I don’t think that will happen, but I do think Duke stays within the number. I’ll take Duke +13.5.
For Miami, everything starts up front and stopping the run game. The Canes are easily the nation’s #1 run-stopping defense, allowing a paltry 64.3 yards per game on the ground. Ultimately, this will be the defining element to this game, I suspect. For Duke, motivation abounds. They still have a chance to defend their title; they want to show that last year wasn’t a fluke; and they have to be motivated against a Miami team that stole their quarterback. The Blue Devils have cruised past their last two opponents, and they are playing good football right now. They will have to play good defense (the absence of Toney makes that takes a bit easier, for sure), and they will have to throw the ball down the field, but I think they can do that enough to keep this game close. The books are daring us to take Miami by 2 touchdowns, but I’ll take the points with Duke.
Duke vs Miami Prediction: Duke +13.5 (-110) available at the time of publishing. Playable to +11.5.
