Duke's Record Against the Pac-12

Blue Devils have struggled against West Coast's best

It’s been six years, since the 2014 Sun Bowl, that Duke has played a Pac-12 team.

There are currently no Pac-12 teams on Duke’s future schedules, so, barring a bowl matchup, it doesn’t look like Duke will play one anytime soon.

While that might seem like a long drought, consider that it’s been 47 years, dating back to Sept. 22, 1973, since Duke has beaten at Pac-12 team.

The Blue Devils have a 3-10-1 record all-time against the West Coast league.

Duke has never played five of the 12 teams—Arizona, Oregon, Washington State and the two newest Pac-12 teams, Colorado and Utah.

The Blue Devils are winless against another four Pac-12 schools. Their worst record is against USC, 0-3 all-time. Duke lost its first-ever bowl game to the Trojans, falling 7-3 in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 2, 1939.

That was the famous Iron Dukes year of 1938, when Duke finished the regular season undefeated and unscored upon. Stadium namesake and then-coach Wallace Wade said, “I hated to see the boys lose when they played such a great game.”

Duke also made two trips to Los Angeles, losing at USC in 1962 and 1975.

Another trip to L.A., in 1960, resulted in a loss in Duke’s only meeting with UCLA, 27-6.

Duke’s second-ever bowl game was its only game against Oregon State. That was the famous Durham Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1942, relocated to Duke’s home stadium due to concerns over security at the dawn of the U.S. involvement in World War II. Duke lost to the Beavers, 20-16, finishing a 9-0 regular season on a down note.

A bowl loss resulted in Duke’s other winless record against the Pac-12. The Blue Devils lost the 2014 Sun Bowl to Arizona State, 36-31 in their only meeting with the Sun Devils.

Duke’s best record against a Pac-12 program comes against Cal. Duke has never lost to the Bears, going 1-0-1, with a win, its first ever against a school from the conference, at home in 1962. The two played again the following season, in Berkeley, battling to a 22-22 tie.

Duke is 1-1 against Washington, losing in the Pacific Northwest in 1972 and winning, 23-21, in Durham the following year, for the last win over the conference by the Blue Devils.

Stanford has been Duke’s most common Pac-12 foe, but the schools have only played four times, most recently in 2012.

Duke won in California in its first meeting with the Cardinal, 9-3 in 1971. Stanford has won the last three games, 10-6 at Duke in 1972 and both ends of a 2011-2012 home-and-home, by a combined 94-27 score.

We’re working our way through the Division I conferences in football and basketball. If you’ve missed previous installments of Duke’s history against the conferences, you can get caught up here:

Football vs. Big 12

Basketball vs. Big 12