Can the Duke Football RECOVER From Their First 2026 Loss Before Facing North Carolina?

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

This is The Locked On Podcast Network, celebrating 10 years of your team every day.

JJ Jackson (0:11)

For the first time in this 2026 football season, the Duke Blue Devils suffered a loss. Now they've got to respond, and it's hate week. The North Carolina Tar Heels are coming to town.

SPEAKER_3 (0:22)

Hi, everybody.

JJ Jackson (0:23)

It's time to fight out.

Isaac Shade (0:23)

Hey, make sure you listen, man.

JJ Jackson (0:25)

The Locked On Blue Devils with JJ Jackson. He's awesome, baby.

SPEAKER_3 (0:36)

You are Locked On Blue Devils, your daily podcast on the Duke Blue Devils, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

JJ Jackson (0:46)

Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Locked On Blue Devils podcast. My name is JJ Jackson. So great to have you here with us today. On Tuesday, October 13th, 2026, Locked On Blue Devils is your one stop shop where we discuss everything going on inside the life of Duke Athletics. On today's show, super excited to have my good friend, Hugh Straine, back with us from Duke Blue Devils on SI. That's right, two straight days hanging out with you on the podcast. And we're talking Duke football today, following their first loss of the season to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. What went wrong? How can Duke respond? All that and more coming up throughout today's show. So let's bring Hugh on into the program. Hey man, how's it going?

Hugh Straine (1:26)

Going good. Been a while, huh?

JJ Jackson (1:27)

Yeah, no kidding. Let's run it back, man. Two straight days getting to talk about the Duke Blue Devils, which you and I love to do together. Now we'll talk a little football basketball conversation yesterday, but diving in to the gridiron here. And unfortunately, Hugh, Duke went down to Atlanta, Georgia.

A lot of inclement weather in the area, with Hurricane Issa Eas making its way through the southeast. A lot of rainfall in Atlanta. And unfortunately, there were tears for many Duke football fans because it was the first loss of the season with Georgia Tech coming out on top.

Hugh Straine (2:02)

Yeah, a frustrating loss for sure. I mean, it was a game that, you know, Duke probably, you know, most people expected Duke to win. This is a Georgia Tech team that was below 500 and it's still below 500 after beating Duke. Georgia Tech got a lot healthier and I think it did a good job of not necessarily preventing but really slowing down Duke's biggest strength, which is the run game. Duke had success when it went outside but had absolutely nothing going for the most part on the inside. I really do think overall Duke played a good game. I wasn't overly concerned or I guess disappointed with any one aspect of the, you know, I guess more one position of the team. I really do think Duke played a good game. I thought it showed a lot of heart in the second half, keeping itself in it after going down 11 in the third quarter. And at the end of the day, it put itself in a position to extend the game or win the game in the final minute. So I really am not very discouraged. I mean, at the end of the day, wins are, it comes down to wins and losses and, you know, you can only have so many of losses, obviously, if you're going to compete at the top of your league. But in terms of the team itself, I really thought Duke played a good game overall in most facets of the game. I think, I think winning and I think winning on the road in conference play is hard and sometimes, you know, it happens.

JJ Jackson (3:13)

And sometimes, it's certain schools, man, and certain teams. And unfortunately, that's been Georgia Tech, six straight losses against the Yellow Jackets for Duke Football. Manny Diaz is 22 and 10 as the Duke Football head coach. Three of his 10 losses are against Georgia Tech. That's just a tough team that, for whatever reason, Duke just hasn't been able to overcome.

Hugh Straine (3:35)

Yeah, it's an interesting one, especially this year when Duke, I think, was, you know, clearly the better team. But you go on the road. I mean, I think relative, you know, we were talking about this before we went on air here, but, you know, relative to what we thought the weather was going to be, I think the fact that we didn't get any delays was a huge positive, but it certainly had an effect on the game.

But, but again, overall, I really do think Duke played a good game. I thought Walker Egett should get a lot of credit for how he performed in the second half. He made some big plays. I thought that touchdown throw to Jared Richardson was fantastic. Yes, it was. I mean, he clearly was not 100% for a lot of that game, and he still put up a pretty fantastic stat line. But I think a couple of plays didn't go Duke's way. I think penalties were clearly the biggest story of that game. But it's a frustrating loss because it makes every remaining game that much more important if Duke is going to contend at the top of the league. And it's certainly a game that Duke could have won. But again, it did put itself in a position to win.