College Football Vegas Odds: Virginia opens as 9-point favorites over Duke

After watching ACC football kick off for two weeks now without action for the Virginia Cavaliers, Wahoo fans can finally look forward to getting a piece of the action next week as the Hoos take on the Duke Blue Devils—assuming all goes according to plan and there are no COVID-related postponements.

Originally scheduled for Saturday, November 14, the game was moved up to September 26 after Virginia Tech was unable to play due to COVID exposure and needed to postpone the Commonwealth Clash, which would have been the season opener for both teams. Both Duke and Virginia had an open date on September 26, and the schedule allows Virginia to take a late season bye rather than playing 11 straight games.

Opening odds in Vegas have the Cavaliers winning by nine points, although it almost immediately moved to just six-point favorites. Though it’s Virginia’s season opener, Duke currently sits at 0-2 after losing 27-13 to then-No. 10 Notre Dame on September 12, and getting walloped by Boston College, 26-6, just this weekend.

So far on the season, Duke is 1-1 against the spread, covering against Notre Dame but failing to do so against Boston College, where the Devils were a four-point favorite.

Virginia owns a 38-33 all-time record over Duke, including a 48-14 victory last year in Charlottesville. Bronco Mendenhall is a perfect 4-0 against Duke while at Virginia, outscoring the Blue Devils by a combined 138-69.

Kickoff is at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 26, and the game will be televised on the ACC Network. Stay tuned as we have you covered all week long.