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The biggest story of the 2023 college football season has been the Colorado Buffaloes. They captured America's hearts in Week 1 of the 2023 season and have been must-watch television ever since. But one of the other bigger stories of this college football season has been… the Duke Blue Devils? Yes, Duke of all teams enter Week 5 with blistering hype.
No, this doesn't have anything to do with their basketball program either. Their football team is really good. So good that College GameDay is coming to Durham for a Duke's Week 5 football game. No, that isn't a typo.
That football game will take place between the undefeated Blue Devils, who are 4-0 and began their season with an upset victory at home over the Clemson Tigers, and Notre Dame, who are 4-1 after their literal last-second loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes last week. One prediction for this matchup is that it will be a great game and must-see television. But a battle like this warrants a couple of bolder Duke football Week 5 predictions.
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2) Riley Leonard totals 300+ yards vs. Notre Dame
There are so many great quarterbacks scattered across the country. Caleb Williams and Drake Maye get the majority of the headlines. Michael Penix Jr., Shedeur Sanders, and Bo Nix are putting up big numbers in the Pac-12. But Riley Leonard is regarded by many as the QB3 of this class for the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft.
Leonard has been fantastic this season. He is currently putting up a career-high in completion percentage at 67.7% and is averaging a career 7.9 yards per attempt. Overall, he has thrown for 778 yards and two touchdowns thus far on the year.
Leonard is also very dangerous with his legs. He is averaging a career-high 8.3 yards per carry and has already scored four times on the ground. One of those scores was a 44-yard touchdown run against the Clemson Tigers that gave the Blue Devils and helped blow that game in their favor.
Riley Leonard is such a fun quarterback. What a score. pic.twitter.com/YvXFFrMjtL
— CJ Vogel (@CJVogel_OTF) September 5, 2023
Notre Dame will be a tough matchup for Leonard, however. They only allow 149.4 passing yards per game, but there is also a game against Navy in there to skew that data. Ohio State's Kyle McCord struggled for most of their matchup against the Irish. He only completed 21 of 37 passes for 240 yards. Notre Dame's defense is quite formidable but they also haven't played against a quarterback as dynamic and experienced as Leonard. Leonard should still have himself a nice day.
1. Duke wins the game
If this is a bit too bold, perhaps settling on Duke covering the 5.5 points Vegas is giving them could suffice. But this is a game that Duke can win.
For one, Notre Dame exhausted a lot of energy and effort last week in their battle to the death against Ohio State. Now, merely a week after, not only are they walking into a College GameDay-fueled environment, but they are doing it on the road against a star quarterback who is good enough to gash their vaunted defense. Duke already took down Clemson at home. While one could argue that game was pretty fluky considering that Clemson did not punt or score in the entire second half, the result is still the result and Duke was able to take advantage of the mistakes Clemson made.
Another reason is that Duke's defense is pretty solid too. Notre Dame may only allow the seventh-fewest yards per game in the country at 260.6, but Duke isn't too far behind. They only allow 276.3 yards per game, which ranks 16th in the country. Duke allows even fewer passing yards per game (143.3) than Notre Dame.
These two defenses and teams in general are legit. While Sam Hartman is no slouch at quarterback, Duke has the edge there with Riley Leonard. Because of that, Duke can and will be able to take down the Irish.
