Manny Diaz makes case for Duke to make College Football Playoff over James Madison: ‘They don’t have wins like this’

Duke coach Manny Diaz went to bat for his team to make the College Football Playoff after winning the ACC Championship on Saturday. Despite the 27-20 overtime victory against Virginia, few people believe the Blue Devils will get in the CFP.

This is because they still finished the regular season with a 7-5 record and were unranked in the penultimate College Football Playoff rankings. Only the five highest-ranked conference champions make the 12-team field, and the last spot would go to No. 25 James Madison unless Duke jumps them.

Speaking after Saturday’s win, Diaz passionately laid out the case for why they should. He pointed to the quality of wins, specifically touting that Duke played Power 4 schools while JMU did not.

“They don’t have wins like this,” the coach said. “They don’t have a win against a team like that. That’s a big-time team right there in Virginia and — seven wins in this conference? Seven Power 4 wins. Compared to zero? That’s a playoff team. Darian Mensah might be the best damn quarterback in the country. These guys deserve to be in.”

All of Duke’s losses came against schools that finished with eight or more wins. Meanwhile, James Madison lost against the only Power 4 opponent it played all year, Louisville, by a score of 28-14. Duke did not play Louisville this season. The Cardinals finished 8-4 (4-4 ACC).

Duke’s strength of schedule is far from the best in the country, ranking only 74th according to ESPN. However, that is still miles ahead of James Madison, which ranks 123rd.

Neither team has any wins against opponents ranked in the CFP top 25. That makes it a question of whether the committee will value James Madison’s 12-1 record or Duke’s superior schedule more.

After leading the Blue Devils to the win Saturday, quarterback Darian Mensah is also hopeful that his performance was enough to prove to the committee that Duke deserves to get in the College Football Playoff. He and the rest of the country will find out what happens when the rankings are announced at 12 p.m. ET on Sunday.

“Hopefully a great one,” Mensah said when asked what message he thought the win sent the committee. “Virginia is a great team. This is a huge win for our case to make the playoff. Now we leave it up to the boys on the committee and I hope that we get in.”