Las Vegas places Duke win total odds at 3.5 for 2022 season

It was an offseason of change for Duke football, with a new coach coming in. As expectations get set, Las Vegas released its win total projections for the Blue Devils in 2022.

The oddsmakers set Duke’s win total at 3.5 this year, according to VegasInsider. It’ll be the first season under head coach Mike Elko after he left Texas A&M to replace David Cutliffe, who agreed to part ways with the program after 13 years at the helm.

Duke is coming off a rough go in Cutliffe’s final season in Durham. The Blue Devils went 3-9 overall and 0-8 in ACC action, which led to the changing of the guard at head coach. That’s when the program brought in Elko, who served as the defensive coordinator under Jimbo Fisher from 2018 to 2021 in College Station.

As Elko built his roster, he had one four-star recruit from the class of 2022 in tow in Vincent Anthony, a Durham native and the No. 8 recruit in North Carolina, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He also dipped his toe into the transfer portal to land former Michigan safety Jordan Morant to help anchor his defense.

But Duke will have to replace its starting quarterback after Gunnar Holmberg transferred to Florida International. Riley Leonard and Jordan Moore are both due back after seeing reps last year, meaning they’re likely to be in contention for the starting job in 2022. The Blue Devils also have a quarterback coming in from its recruiting class in three-star Henry Belin, who came in as the No. 40 quarterback in the class of 2022, according to the On3 Consensus.

Still, if the oddsmakers’ projections hold true, it could be a rough go for Elko in his first year at Duke.