After Duke finished off Wake Forest on Saturday to move to 7-5 on the year, coach Manny Diaz had no expectations his team would be playing for a conference title, let alone have College Football Playoff aspirations. It wasn’t even talked about in the locker room, he said.
But now that Duke has secured its spot in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a chance to win the conference in a rematch with Virginia, he’s not apologizing for any of it.
Diaz said Sunday that Duke “absolutely” belongs in the title game thanks to a 6-2 conference record and that, if the Blue Devils win Saturday, they should one of the five highest-ranked conference champions and receive a berth in the playoff…