Defending their title: Duke football's record as a champion
For the tenth time in their program’s history, Duke enters the season as a defending champion.
The Blue Devils have won six bowl games, all time—the 1944 Sugar, 1954 Orange, 1960 Cotton, 2015 Pinstripe, 2017 Quick Lane and 2018 Independence (note: for our purposes, we’re referring to the year of the football season, which may not agree with the actual date of a January bowl game). Four other years—1953, 1955, 1961 and 1962—Duke has won or shared the ACC title and not played in a postseason game.
Duke's 1961 Cotton Bowl champions (Photo by Duke Photography)
So for the tenth time, Duke will wear a title belt on opening day. How long can we expect it to last?
Based on the previous nine years, probably not much past the first month of the season.
Using the simple rule of boxing, UFC and other combat sports (including pro wrestling)—to be the man, you’ve got to beat the man—Duke will be the 2018 Independence Bowl champion until someone beats the Blue Devils, at which time they’ll take the title and begin defending it.
Here’s a look at Duke’s other nine title reigns:
| Year | <br>Title | Successful defenses | Lost |
|---|---|---|---|
1944 | Sugar Bowl | 2 | Oct. 6, 1945, home vs. Navy, 21-0 |
1953 | co-ACC | 3 | Oct. 16, 1954, home vs. Army, 28-14 |
1954 | ACC/Orange Bowl | 4 | Oct. 29, 1955, home vs. Pitt, 26-7 |
1955 | co-ACC | 0 | Sept. 22, 1956, at South Carolina, 7-0 |
1960 | ACC/Cotton Bowl | 3 | Oct. 14, 1961, at Georgia Tech, 21-0 |
1961 | ACC | 0 | Sept. 22, 1962, at Southern Cal., 14-7 |
1962 | ACC | 5 | Oct. 26, 1963, at NC State, 21-7 |
2015 | Pinstripe | 1 | Sept. 10, 2016, home vs. Wake Forest, 24-14 |
2017 | Quick Lane | 4 | Sept. 29, 2018, home vs. Virginia Tech, 31-14 |
So, on average, Duke has made 2.4 successful defenses before losing their title. The average date (thanks to college seasons starting much later back when Duke was winning conference titles) is October 6.
Duke’s 22 successful defenses include wins over six ACC foes: Clemson, Virginia (twice), NC State, Wake Forest and then ACC members South Carolina (three times, twice while in the conference) and Maryland. Duke also defended against Power Five teams Northwestern, Baylor, Ohio State, Tennessee (twice) and held onto their titles with ties against Cal and Purdue.
The final six defenses were against Army, NC Central (twice), Bogue Field, William & Mary and Penn.
The odds were already against Duke in their opener against Alabama, and title history doesn’t make the outlook any brighter.
All of which raises one other question: If Duke lost their previous nine titles so quickly, what eventually happened to them? Who holds them now?
We’ll look into that tomorrow.
