Duke Blue Devils vs Connecticut Huskies Prediction, Odds and Picks for Saturday, 11/08/25

Given the start of the college basketball season this week, this is a fitting matchup. However, the Blue Devils and the Huskies will meet on the gridiron on Saturday rather than the hardwood. Duke comes into this game off a massive win at Clemson 46-45, which revitalized its ACC Championship hopes following its disappointing effort at home against Georgia Tech. Meanwhile, coming off its 38-19 win at home over UAB last week, UConn is 6-3 this season – with all 3 of those losses coming in overtime. 

If you read my Week 11 opening lines article, you will know I’m already on UConn in this spot. While I don’t love that I didn’t get the best of the number, I do love that this is a random non-conference home game for UConn in which the Huskies are playing with house money having already secured bowl eligibility. They should be extremely motivated to beat yet another power conference opponent to prove their win at Boston College was no fluke, and they are equipped to do just that with one of the best college quarterbacks no one is talking about in Joe Fagnano.

How much does Duke actually care about this game? Sure, the Blue Devils want to win, but with 3 outright losses on their resume already, they are not in the mix for an at-large CFP bid. They’d have to win the ACC to reach the playoffs, which is exactly what their focus should be on. Sandwiched between a massive road win last week and a showdown with the ACC leader next week, I like UConn to keep this one close against Duke, who figures to be more worried about their 3 remaining conference games – in hopes of finding its way to the ACC Championship in Charlotte. If this one touches 10, I will add to my current position on UConn +8.5 from Monday morning, but if you aren’t invested already, I don’t mind jumping in at +9.5.

Duke vs UConn prediction: UConn Huskies +9.5 (-110) at the time of publishing. Playable to +7. 

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