Sunday Lookahead: Duke University

The third game of Baylor’s 2018 football season will come against the Duke Blue Devils on September 15th at 2:30 PM. This is the second half of a home and home series between Duke and Baylor, with the first half resulting in a loss for the Bears in Durham last season. This year, Baylor will have a shot at revenge at home in a power 5 non-conference game.

The Blue Devils went 7-6 last year, after making and winning the Quick Lane Bowl, including a win against their arch-rival, North Carolina. Now, under miracle-working head coach David Cutcliffe, Duke hopes to top that 7-6 mark with a potentially even more talented team. Cutcliffe has traditionally been known for strong offense, but Duke’s defense might be the highlight of the team this year.

Duke returns eight starters from last year’s 21st ranked defense, which includes outstanding linebacker Joe Giles-Harris and cornerback Mark Gilbert. The offense returns plenty of talent as well, with seven starters returning including quarterback Daniel Jones and T.J. Rahming, an outstanding receiver. The offensive line should be workable, but if there is a weakness for this team that might end up being it.

Needless to say, the Bears will have a tall order if they want revenge for their loss from a year ago. Duke opens against Army, then plays Northwestern before facing Baylor, which should help make this picture even clearer. Baylor will need to be quite a bit improved from last year to get this win, but it still is one of the more winnable games on the schedule compared to some of the meat of the Big 12.