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1951 Duke

5–⁠4–⁠1 (4–⁠2 Southern Conference), coached by Bill Murray.

Duke, 1951
Photo: Duke University, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Schedule and results

Duke in 1951, game by game: won at South Carolina 34–6; won at Pittsburgh 19–14; lost at No. 3 Tennessee 0–26; won vs. NC State 27–21; won vs. Virginia Tech 55–6; lost vs. Virginia 7–30; tied at No. 5 Georgia Tech 14–14; lost vs. Wake Forest 13–19; lost at William & Mary 13–14; won vs. North Carolina 19–7+49−26Won 34–6 at South Carolina+28South CarolinaWon 19–14 at Pittsburgh+5PittsburghLost 0–26 at No. 3 Tennessee-26No. 3 TennesseeWon 27–21 vs. NC State+6NC StateWon 55–6 vs. Virginia Tech+49Virginia TechLost 7–30 vs. Virginia-23VirginiaTied 14–14 at No. 5 Georgia Tech0No. 5 Georgia TechLost 13–19 vs. Wake Forest-6Wake ForestLost 13–14 at William & Mary-1William & MaryWon 19–7 vs. North Carolina+12North Carolina
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 22atSouth CarolinaW 34–⁠655%
Sep 29atPittsburghW 19–⁠1462%
Oct 6at3TennesseeL 0–⁠2633%
Oct 13vsNC StateW 27–⁠2177%
Oct 20vsVirginia TechW 55–⁠690%
Oct 27vsVirginiaL 7–⁠3059%
Nov 3at5Georgia TechT 14–⁠1430%
Nov 10vsWake ForestL 13–⁠1949%
Nov 17atWilliam & MaryL 13–⁠1443%
Nov 24vsNorth CarolinaW 19–⁠769%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat North Carolina 19–⁠7; unranked in the final AP poll; 6th in the Southern Conference.

In program history: The 39th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 108 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 2: 16

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1951.

Record
5–⁠4–⁠1
Conference
4–⁠2 6th in Southern Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 16
Points
201–⁠157
Coach
Bill Murray
Elo
1553 −8 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
6.8 No. 40 of 116 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captain
James Gibson
Most valuable player
Bob Bickel

All-Southern Conference

3 second team

Second team

  • Blaine EaronEAP-2
  • Ed MeadowOTAP-2
  • Lou TepeCAP-2

From Wikipedia’s 1951 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1951 Southern Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Maryland5–⁠010–⁠03
VMI5–⁠07–⁠3
William & Mary5–⁠17–⁠3
Washington and Lee5–⁠16–⁠4
Clemson3–⁠17–⁠319
Duke4–⁠25–⁠4–⁠1
Wake Forest5–⁠36–⁠4
South Carolina5–⁠35–⁠4
George Washington2–⁠3–⁠12–⁠6–⁠1
West Virginia2–⁠35–⁠5
North Carolina2–⁠32–⁠8
NC State2–⁠63–⁠7
Richmond2–⁠63–⁠8
The Citadel1–⁠34–⁠6
Furman1–⁠4–⁠13–⁠6–⁠1
Davidson1–⁠51–⁠8
Virginia Tech1–⁠72–⁠8

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.