Duke Blue Devils Football - Team History

Team History

See also: Category:Duke Blue Devils football seasons

In 1930, Wallace Wade shocked the college football world by leaving Alabama for Duke, later rationalizing the move by saying that Duke shared his belief that a school should provide its athletes with a strong academic background. Wade's success at Alabama (three national championships) translated well to Duke's program. The team won 7 Southern Conference championships in the 16 years that Wade was coach. He also led the team to 2 Rose Bowls. Wade's achievements placed him in the College Football Hall of Fame.

The most famous Duke football season came in 1938, when the "Iron Dukes" went unscored upon for the entire regular season. Duke reached their first Rose Bowl appearance, where they lost 7-3 when Southern California scored a touchdown in the final minute of the game on a pass from a second string quarterback to a third string tight end.

Duke would be invited again to make the trip to Pasadena for the 1942 Rose Bowl, this time to play Oregon State in 1942. Due to fears of additional west coast attacks by the Japanese in the wake of Pearl Harbor, the decision was made to move the game to Durham. As Duke's stadium was significantly smaller than the regular venue, bleachers were borrowed from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina, which boosted capacity from 35,000 to 55,000. Despite being 3 to 1 favorites, the Iron Dukes would lose the game 20 to 16.

The football program also proved successful in the 1950s and 1960s, winning six of the first ten ACC football championships from 1953 to 1962 under coach Bill Murray. From 1943 until 1957, the Blue Devils were ranked in the AP Poll at some point in the season.

The football program also had a string of successful years in the late 1980s when the team was coached by Steve Spurrier. Spurrier led the Blue Devils to a share of the ACC title in 1989. The 1989 ACC Title was the last title won by a school in the state of North Carolina until Wake Forest won their second ACC Title in 2006.

The team rose to prominence again in 1994, the first season under coach Fred Goldsmith. The team raced out to an 8-1 record, and was briefly ranked as high as #13 in the country before losing the last two games of the season 24-23 to North Carolina State and 41-40 to arch-rival North Carolina. The 1994 team played in the program's first New Years Day Bowl game since 1962, falling to Wisconsin 34-21 in the Hall Of Fame Bowl, now known as the Outback Bowl.

Since 1994, however, Duke's football program has declined, with the team lacking a winning season since. From 1999 to 2007, Duke's football win-loss record was at 13-90; from 2005 to 2007 Duke suffered a 22-game losing streak. In 2008, a judge ruled in favor of Duke after they pulled out of a four-game contract with the University of Louisville; the judge stated that it was up to Louisville to find a suitable replacement as, he wrote in the ruling, Duke's lawyers had persuasively argued that any Division I team would be equivalent or better. Duke's 2009 season gave them five wins and seven losses, the closest the school had come to bowl eligibility since 1994. However, with a 33-30 win against rival North Carolina, the 2012 Duke team has become bowl eligible for the first time since 1994.

Duke is consistently ranked at or near the top of the list of Division I-A schools which graduate nearly all of their football players. Duke has topped the list 12 years, earning it the most Academic Achievement Awards of any university.