Duke opens its ACC title defense at home against Tulane, a College Football Playoff team a year ago, and follows with a trip to Illinois and a two game homestand before the Oct. 3 bye. The conference slate is nine games deep this year and includes a Friday night rematch of the ACC Championship Game at Virginia, North Carolina at Wallace Wade, a Friday night home date with Clemson, and a Thanksgiving weekend finish at Wake Forest.
Manny Diaz is in his third season after back to back nine win years. The 2025 Blue Devils won the program’s first outright ACC championship since 1962, beat Virginia in the title game, and won the Sun Bowl. Duke is one of the ACC teams on a nine game league schedule in 2026, a year before the whole conference moves to nine.
Games That Will Define the Blue Devils’ Season
| Sept 5 vs Tulane | A CFP team from the American to open. Tulane went 11-3 and represented the Group of Six in the playoff last year, but has a new head coach after Jon Sumrall left for Florida. |
| Oct 17 vs North Carolina | The Victory Bell game in Durham, the first of three straight weeks against the state’s ACC neighbors and the rival that went 4-8 in Bill Belichick’s first season. |
| Oct 23 at Virginia | A Friday night ACC Championship Game rematch in Charlottesville on ESPN. Virginia went 11-3 and won the Gator Bowl; this is the game most likely to decide who plays in Charlotte again. |
| Nov 20 vs Clemson | Clemson at Wallace Wade on a Friday night on ESPN, in the second to last week. The Tigers were unranked in the preseason poll for the first time since 2011 but received the most votes of any team outside the top 25. |
How the Schedule Sets Up
Three of the first four are in Durham, and the early bye lands before the road opener at Georgia Tech. The middle stretch is where the title defense lives: North Carolina, the Friday trip to Virginia, and Boston College at home. November is four ACC games in a row, three of them away, with Clemson on the Friday between the Miami and Wake Forest trips.
For the other side of these dates, see our Clemson schedule and Georgia Tech schedule, and our Tulane vs. Duke how to watch page for the opener. The official schedule and ticket details are on GoDuke.com.
The Bottom Line
Six home games, an early bye, nine ACC games, and two Friday nights on ESPN. Diaz’s third team is the defending conference champion, and the Oct 23 trip to Virginia is the game that will tell you whether it stays that way. Bookmark this page; results and kickoff times are updated throughout the season.