The Blue Devils compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Coastal Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).

[3] The team is coached by Manny Diaz and play their home games at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, North Carolina.

[9] The Trinity Blue and White resumed football competition in 1920 under head coach Floyd J. Egan, compiling a record of 4–0–1 that season.

[16] In their first season competing as Duke University, Howard Jones took over in 1924 and led the Blue Devils to a 4–5 record before leaving for USC.

[20] In late 1930, Wallace Wade shocked the college football world by leaving national powerhouse Alabama for Duke.

He sent former Alabama players and future Duke assistants Herschel Caldwell and Ellis Hagler to the school a year early to prepare a team.

[21] Due to fears of additional west coast attacks by the Japanese in the wake of Pearl Harbor, the game was moved to Durham.

[36] Mike McGee returned to his alma mater from East Carolina to serve as head football coach in late 1970.

[44][45] Wilson's teams became known for their innovative passing attack under offensive coordinator Steve Spurrier, whose 1982 offense featuring quarterback Ben Bennett set a school record for yardage before Wilson retired and Spurrier left to become the head coach of the USFL's Tampa Bay Bandits.

[46][47] There was hope when Steve Sloan was hired that the Duke football program would finally return to its glory days under Wallace Wade.

After 1994, however, Duke's football program continued to decline, with the team only winning a total of nine more games under Goldsmith's watch.

[65] On December 1, 1998, Carl Franks, offensive coordinator at Florida under former Blue Devils head coach Steve Spurrier, was hired to replace Fred Goldsmith and tasked with turning around the Duke football program.

[68] From 2000 to 2001 Duke suffered a 22-game losing streak, with both the 2000 and 2001 seasons being winless 0–11 campaigns, with only four of the 22 losses coming by eight points or fewer.

[76] Ted Roof was elevated from defensive coordinator and named interim Duke head coach for the final five games of the 2003 season.

[77] The Blue Devils won two of their last three games of the season, Roof's interim tag was removed, and he was named the program's 21st head football coach in 2004.

[78] One positive aspect, however, from Roof's tenure was that Duke defenses consistently ranked in the top 30 in tackles for loss for the first time in years.

[88] Duke's 2013 season was a break-out year, as the Blue Devils have continued to cross off many of their infamous losing streaks.

[89] The Blue Devils achieved their first winning season since 1994 with a 38–20 home victory over in-state rival NC State,[90] and Duke appeared in the AP Poll for the first time since 1994, listed at No.

[100] On December 10, 2021, former Texas A&M Aggies defensive coordinator Mike Elko was hired as the Blue Devils 23rd head football coach.

[101] Under Elko, the Blue Devils amassed 16 wins in two years, including a stunning upset over ninth-ranked Clemson to begin the 2023 season.

On December 8, 2023, former Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz became the 24th head coach of Duke football.

[103] Buoyed by a strong recruiting class and the transfer of former Texas quarterback Maalik Murphy, the Blue Devils finished Diaz's first season 9-4, including an appearance in the Gator Bowl and a sweep of in-state rivals North Carolina, NC State, and Wake Forest.

† Co-champions Duke also won a share of the 1965 ACC Championship on the field, finishing tied for first with South Carolina (who they defeated) at 4–2.

Soon afterward, the government banned all large public gatherings on the West Coast, which ruled out Bell Field on the campus of Oregon State, the host team from the PCC, as an alternative venue.

The offer was accepted, and on a cold, rainy January 1, 1942, 56,000 fans, 22,000 of whom sat on bleachers borrowed from nearby NC State and UNC, watched the heavily favored Blue Devils fall to the strong defense of the Beavers 20–16.

It was the only time the game has been played outside of Pasadena, California, until 2020 when the 2021 Rose Bowl was relocated to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Another notable feature was the removal of the stadium's track, which allowed 4,000 additional seats to be added along with lowering and recentering the field.

The concourses along the stadium's north and west sides were enhanced with new concessions and new gates, restroom facilities and first aid stations.

[113] The first two phases of the renovations were finished over a two-year period, including the new press box, eight broadcast booths[114] and suites completed by the 2016 college football season.

[115] Duke is consistently ranked at or near the top of the list of Division I-A schools which graduate nearly all of their football players.