2016 Duke Blue Devils Football Predictions and Season Win Total Picks

by Robert Ferringo - 7/29/2016

2015 Record: 8-5

2016 Las Vegas Season Win Total: 5.5

2016 Season Win Total Picks NCAA Football: 'Under'

David Cutcliffe doesn't get the credit that he deserves. This guy is one of the best coaches in the country and has been propping up a Duke program that should be nothing more than lint in the belly button of the football powerhouses in the Southeast. Cutcliffe's squad has gone 27-13 straight up and 26-13 against the spread the last two seasons, and he's guided Duke to four straight bowl games after the school endured a nearly 20-year bowl drought.

This year Cutcliffe is going to have to work his magic again, because, on paper, it doesn't look like Duke has any chance of competing in the ACC.

The Blue Devils have 12 returning starters from last year's 8-5 group. That includes quarterback Thomas Sirk, the team's leading rusher and passer, who is battling with junior Parker Boehme for control of the offense. Sirk is attempting to come back from a torn Achilles and appears set to start the opener. But that quarterback situation bears watching and holds a key to whether or not Duke will average over 30 points a game for the fifth straight season.

Duke does just enough defensively to win games. They lost their top two tacklers, and the front seven is both young and small.

The secret weapon in Duke's success the past few years has been a disproportionately easier schedule than a lot of competitors. This year that is still the case. They avoid Florida State and Clemson out of the Atlantic. And they have another relatively soft nonconference slate, albeit with two tricky road games at Northwestern and at Notre Dame.

But here's the thing: I think that most of the teams on Duke's schedule - Louisville, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Pitt and Miami, for example - are improving while the Blue Devils are either stagnant or rebuilding. As a result, I think that Duke is going to have a rocky final two months of the season. Sure, they will spring an upset (or two) along the way. But after their Oct. 8 game with Army it is conceivable that Duke might not win another game. I'm playing this one as an easy 'under'.

2016 Duke Blue Devils Schedule

DATE	OPPONENT	TIME (ET)	Location	Result
Sat, Sep 10th, 2016	Wake Forest	03:30 PM	Brooks Field
Sat, Sep 17th, 2016	at Northwestern	08:00 PM	Ryan Field
Sat, Sep 24th, 2016	at Notre Dame	03:30 PM	Notre Dame Stadium
Sat, Oct 1st, 2016	Virginia	12:00 PM	Brooks Field
Sat, Oct 8th, 2016	Army	12:00 PM	Brooks Field
Fri, Oct 14th, 2016	at Louisville	07:00 PM	Papa John's Stadium
Sat, Oct 29th, 2016	at Georgia Tech	12:00 PM	Bobby Dodd Stadium
Sat, Nov 5th, 2016	Virginia Tech	12:00 PM	Brooks Field
Thu, Nov 10th, 2016	North Carolina	07:30 PM	Brooks Field
Sat, Nov 19th, 2016	at Pittsburgh	12:00 PM	Heinz Field
Sat, Nov 26th, 2016	at Miami Florida	12:00 PM	Sun Life Stadium

All Times EST

*Season Win Total Odds from 5Dimes Sportsbook.

Robert Ferringo has been the top football handicapper in the country the past five years, earning nearly $13,000 in total football profit with four of six winning seasons. Robert tallied over $20,000 in football profit between 2011 and 2015, including his amazing 2013 NFL season in which he hit 62.1 percent (95-58). Robert has produced 14 of 22 winning football months and an amazing 37 of 57 winning football months over the past decade. Robert has eight of nine winning NFL preseasons and he is at nearly 60 percent winners over his last 750 totals picks. Also, Robert's proprietary KING College Football Betting System has posted three of four winning seasons and is 122-92 over the last three years (57.0 percent).

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