Duke ran its two-season winning streak to five with a 38-14 win over Northwestern Saturday afternoon in sunny Wallace Wade Stadium.
Duke never trailed and really was only bothered for a brief span late in the first half in running their record to 3-0. Duke has now won five straight against the Wildcats.
Northwestern got the ball first. Duke’s defense stuffed the visitors on third and inches from their 34, forcing a short punt to the Duke 44.
Message sent. Duke wasn’t going to be intimidated by the legendary physicality of Big 10 Football.
We all know what a challenging off-season Northwestern has had. But I also suspect that they thought their best rout to a win was to physically dominant Duke along the lines of scrimmage.
“We wanted to establish our physical identity,” Mike Elko said. “Anytime you play a Big 10 team it’s important to make sure you control the line of scrimmage.”
That third-down stop?
“I don’t know if its sets the tone but it certainly was a big play in the game. I thought that was a big play to go out there and get a three-and-out. We wanted to do that on the first drive and then we went out and got a touchdown on the first drive.”
It took Duke six plays to punch it in, Jordan Waters scoring on a 24-yard run.
Duke lost the ball on downs at the Northwestern 43 but true freshman Kendall Johnson sacked Ben Bryant for an eight-yard loss on third-and-eight from the Duke 42, forcing a punt to the Duke 11.
From there Duke mounted something close to a perfect drive, five plays, none shorter than five yards, giving the Blue Devils a first down just inside the Northwestern one-yard line as the first period came to an end.
The going got a little tougher from that point. It took Waters two tries to muscle it over the end zone.
Todd Pelino’s second PAT made it 14-0 Duke.
“I thought we started fast,”Elko said. “That’s what you want to do in games like this.”
Duke got a quick stop and a 33-yard Riley Leonard scamper set up a 34-field goal by Pelino.
With 9:17 left in the first half, Duke was up 17-0.
The Wildcats responded with an almost nine-minute drive, mixing short passes, inside-the-tackle runs and a couple of wildcats to punch it in right before halftime.
The Northwestern drive took 15 plays. Elko said Duke’s defense hit “a bit of a lull” on that drive and should have been able to get off the field on third down.
Northwestern converted three third downs on that drive. Elko cited communication issues by his defense.
Leonard then hit Jalon Calhoun to midfield but Duke allowed its first two sacks of the season and the teams went into the locker room with Duke up 17-7.
Could Northwestern carry that momentum over into the third quarter?
“I challenged the guys in the locker room to come out and finish this thing in the third quarter,” Elko said “and we certainly did that. We put some really good drives together on both sides of the ball.”
Jacob Monk that third-period drive “was very important. They’re a very good football team, very physical up front. If we get behind they can easily win the game for sure.”
Duke strung together two five-minute scoring drives after intermission, Riley Leonard’s arm and legs accounting for a good chunk of that.
Leonard scored from three yards out to culminate the first scoring drive of the second half, a two-yard run on the second.
On the other end of the field Northwestern hit stone walls against Duke’s starting defense. Sophomore DB Chandler Rivers had six tackles and a pass break up and said he thought his defense was quicker than Northwestern’s offense.
“I felt like we did out best, played hard.”
Leonard ended the third period with 96 yards rushing and 219 yards passing and there’s no telling what he could have done with four full quarters. But both teams emptied the bench down the stretch. Henry Belin IV quarterbacked Duke to a final TD drive, all on the ground, with true freshman Peyton Jones scoring from 15 yards out. Northwestern’s backup offensive unit answered right before the game ended.
Leonard ended with 15 of 20 passing, for 219 yards and rushed for 97 more. Elko said of Leonard “he’s the ultimate eraser. Anytime you have one of those, he can make a bad play look good.”
But it wasn’t all scrambles. Waters rushed for 65 yards on 10 carries, Jaquez Moore 61 on 10. Jalon Calhoun notched five receptions for 112 yards. Duke didn’t turn it over and punted only once. Duke’s Myles Jones picked off a Bryant pass for the game’s only turnover. Duke only had one penalty, a 15-yard taunting penalty on Al Blades, Jr.
“I feel like we game-planned well throughout the week and we practiced hard,” Rivers summed up “and I thought it translated well to the game.”
Duke hasn’t always responded well to success under previous coaches and this was a game that may have shown how much this program has grown as much as the Clemson win. Duke simply took care of business, methodically and thoroughly in controlling a game whose outcome never seriously seemed to be in doubt.
Had Duke taken a knee after the NW TD they still wouldn't have a sack
An enjoyable afternoon in Wallace Wade Stadium. Duke scored five rushing touchdowns. Quarterback got sacked for first time this season but still no interceptions thrown.
On to UConn…