MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami quarterback Darian Mensah is about to face Duke for the second time this year.
And once again, the stakes are sky-high.
The first was in January, when Mensah was sued by the school he led to last year’s Atlantic Coast Conference championship over his plan to enter the transfer portal. The sides settled and he moved on to Miami — which plays host to the Blue Devils on Saturday in a game soaked in subplots.
“I try to just approach it like every other game,” Mensah said. “Obviously, it’s going to be a little bit weird playing my old team.”
The Darian vs. Duke storyline is the dominant one in this matchup — there’s also a Cooper Barkate vs. Duke element, since the Blue Devils’ top receiver from 2025 joined Mensah in Miami for this season — but there are countless other reasons why Saturday is of massive importance for both teams.
— No. 5 Miami (8-1, 6-0 ACC, No. 7 CFP) is coming off its first loss of the season at Notre Dame — a defeat that cost the Hurricanes the nation’s No. 1 ranking — and a second loss could put hopes of returning to the College Football Playoff field in serious peril. Star wide receiver Malachi Toney remains out for Miami while recovering from ankle surgery.
— Duke (7-2, 4-2) needs a win to keep any realistic hopes of back-to-back ACC titles alive. “An extremely well-balanced team, very talented team that’s playing at a high level,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said.
— The Hurricanes enter the week with the No. 1 scoring offense in the country, while the Blue Devils enter the week with the No. 1 scoring defense in the ACC.
— Duke running back Nate Sheppard (1,189 rushing yards, 17 rushing TDs, both putting him near the top of the national rankings in both categories) is being touted by the Blue Devils as a Heisman Trophy hopeful. Miami has the nation’s No. 1 rushing defense entering this week. “They have a great defense. They have a really good front seven,” Duke center Matt Craycraft said.
— And it’s Miami’s homecoming game, one where Duke coach Manny Diaz — who was fired by the Hurricanes in 2021 and replaced by Cristobal — comes back to his former home field.
“It’s an important game in our conference,” Diaz said. “Again, you can have emotions, but you can’t play emotionally, right? If you play emotionally then you will not do the things that you’re best at. … Anything that deviates from that, to me, restricts performance.”
Duke’s defense
What Duke has done on defense in its last 11 quarters is beyond impressive.
The Blue Devils haven’t given up a touchdown in their last 182 defensive snaps, spanning 32 possessions. They’ve forced 16 punts, stopped six drives on downs, had four takeaways and had opponents go 4 for 6 on field goal tries in that span.
Add it all up, and Duke is on a 100-14 run (four field goals and a two-point blocked point-after conversion return) since giving up its last touchdown.
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Miami can clinch
The Hurricanes could wrap up an ACC title game berth this weekend.
For it to happen this week, they would need to beat Duke, Louisville would have to lose to North Carolina and either Clemson (against Georgia Tech) or SMU (against Wake Forest) would have to lose as well.
Miami is assured of a trip to Charlotte on Dec. 5 by going at least 2-1 in its final three ACC games of the regular season.
Mensah has been here before
Mensah transferred to Duke from Tulane, and as luck would have it those two teams met at Tulane last season. Duke got behind 24-3, then Mensah threw three touchdown passes to lead a comeback try but the Blue Devils ended up losing, 34-27.
“When I step on the football field, it’s my team versus your team and I’m trying to go execute,” Mensah said. “I never had any personal emotions, but going into Tulane was definitely weird.”
Oddly, the Notre Dame game last week played out the same way as the Tulane game in 2025 — Miami got behind 24-3, then Mensah threw three TD passes but the Hurricanes lost on the road, again by a touchdown, 31-24.
A huge game nationally
Miami and Duke are a combined 15-3 overall and 10-2 in league play this season. There aren’t many games in the country this weekend that can say they have teams off to that sort of start.
The Utah-Arizona game features teams off to a combined 16-2 start, 10-2 in the Big 12. The Illinois-UCLA game has records matching Miami-Duke — 15-3 overall, 10-2 in Big Ten play.
Wake Forest vs. SMU (15-3 overall, 10-3 ACC), USC-Indiana (15-3 overall, 9-3 Big Ten) and North Texas-UTSA (14-4, 9-1 America) come close.
The series
Miami leads the all-time series 16-5, but the teams have split the last six meetings.
Duke’s win in the ACC title game over Virginia last season — with Mensah getting MVP honors — played a huge role in Miami getting into the CFP field; the Hurricanes ended up going all the way to the national championship game, where they lost to Indiana.
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