Duke Falls To Ole Miss In The Gator Bowl, 52-20
A rough ending to a brilliant debut season by Manny Diaz
When Duke quarterback Maalik Murphy and running back Star Thomas hit the portal and declined to play in the Gator Bowl, it didn’t look good for the Blue Devils.
As it turned out, it probably wouldn’t have mattered much anyway as Ole Miss won 52-20. Duke might have scored 10-14 more points, but the defense, which was so sturdy all season, couldn’t handle the Rebel onslaught.
There’s not really much to say other than congratulations to Ole Miss and what a tremendous game by Jaxson Dart, who finished with four TD passes and 404 passing yards.
And there’s this, too: Duke came into this season with a ton of questions. After Midnight Mike Elko took off for Texas A&M, Manny Diaz had a lot of work to do just to keep Duke’s head above water.
He did better than that, taking Duke to nine wins in his first season and building a defensive identity that the Blue Devils could have for years to come.
So while this game wasn’t great in the moment, getting to a post-New Year’s game says a lot about what this team has accomplished. You could make an argument that it is the best first year of any Duke football coach in history. It’s been a great ride and it’ll be fun to see what they do next year too.
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