Syracuse Football 2025 Opponent Preview: the Duke Blue Devils head to CNY in week 5

On the heels of a huge win over Clemson, the Syracuse Orange return to a sold-out Dome this weekend to face the Duke Blue Devils. A win this week could set up the Orange for another special season under Fran Brown. Of course, we know from our preseason preview of Duke that the Blue Devils also have high hopes after a breakout 2024 campaign. A month into the 2025 season, let’s look at where Duke stands heading into Saturday’s date in the Dome.

Where is Duke ranked?

The Blue Devils aren’t ranked right now and aren’t receiving votes in any polls after a 2-2 start to the season.

Where is Duke in the standings?

Despite being 2-2 overall, Duke is 1-0 in ACC play. That puts the Blue Devils in a tie with Syracuse, Virginia, and Georgia Tech as the only 1-0 teams in the ACC, albeit with seven teams yet to play their first conference game.

What did Duke do last week?

The Blue Devils held serve at home last week. They were a slight home favorite against NC State and beat the Wolfpack 45-33. While that looks like a comfortable win, the Blue Devils were out-gained by over 100 yards and trailed 20-7 in the second quarter. However, after taking a 21-20 lead just before halftime, Duke never relinquished the lead, giving NC State its first loss of the season.

Who is Duke’s quarterback?

The Blue Devils brought in Tulane transfer Darian Mensah to be their starting quarterback in 2025. Ironically, Mensah and Duke lost to Tulane two weeks ago. Nevertheless, Mensah has been one of the best quarterbacks in college football this season. He ranks third nationally in passing yards behind only Baylor’s Sawyer Robertson and Syracuse’s Steve Angeli, even with Angeli only playing two and a half quarters last week.

Mensah is averaging over 326 passing yards per game while completing an impressive 67.3% of his passes. He’s also thrown 11 touchdown passes and just two interceptions, throwing multiple touchdown passes in all four games. While he’s capable of scrambling at times, Mensah hasn’t done much running this season. Even with a 10-yard run against NC State last week, Mensah has a net of -8 rushing yards this season and only rushed for 132 yards at Tulane last year. Through four games, Duke has allowed just seven sacks, as Mensah runs well enough to evade trouble when the pocket collapses.

Who are Duke’s other stars?

Outside of Mensah, it’s hard to pinpoint Duke’s offensive stars, as the Blue Devils have been remarkably balanced this year. They have a three-man rotation in the backfield, although Anderson Castle has stood out a little more than the rest, scoring three of the team’s five rushing touchdowns and averaging 8.8 yards per carry. That includes a 66-yard touchdown run to ice last week’s win against NC State.

In the passing game, four different receivers have at least 10 catches this year, but nobody has more than 17. Of Mensah’s 11 passing touchdowns, seven have been caught by either Sahmir Hagans or Andrel Anthony. However, both have been eclipsed by Cooper Barkate and Que’Sean Brown in both receptions and yards. Therefore, it’ll be tough for the Syracuse secondary to focus on one specific wide receiver.

On the defensive side of the ball, Vincent Anthony Jr. is the player to watch. He’s accounted for five of Duke’s 10 sacks this season. Dartmouth transfer Josiah Green has also made his presence felt along the defensive line. Senior cornerback Chandler Rivers is also a standout player who will try to take away at least one of Syracuse’s top receiving threats.

What is Duke’s biggest flaw?

Despite some decent talent on that side of the ball, Duke’s defense has been a huge liability early in the season. Last week, the Blue Devils allowed scoring drives of 74, 99, and 80 yards by NC State, all in the first half. The Wolfpack also had a 95-yard drive in the fourth quarter, as well as a 75-yard touchdown pass and a 51-yard touchdown run against the Blue Devils.

If you take away Duke’s season opener over FCS opponent Elon, the Blue Devils are giving up 37.3 points and 460 yards per game. Even with Rickie Collins making his first career start for the injured Steve Angeli, there should be opportunities for Syracuse to create big plays and score points. The quarterback position aside, the Orange should feel confident about facing the Duke defense one week after finding success against a star-studded Clemson defense.

How does Syracuse beat Duke?

Last week, NC State’s downfall against Duke was the three interceptions and one fumble by quarterback CJ Bailey. Outside of those four drives that ended in turnovers, the Wolfpack had little trouble moving the ball against the Blue Devils. That creates a clear blueprint for beating Duke, especially since the Blue Devils had just one total takeaway across their two losses to Illinois and Tulane.

Obviously, ball security is heavily dependent on Collins. He needs to be smart with the football and not take any big risks in his first start. With Mensah, the Orange could get drawn into a shootout, which will make things a little tricky for Collins. However, the new Syracuse quarterback needs to trust that there are gaps in the Duke defense that can be exposed if he merely takes what the defense gives him and makes good decisions. In other words, if Syracuse can win the turnover battle, the Orange will be in good shape to win the game.