Duke football stuns No. 9 Clemson as Blue Devils take advantage of Tigers’ mistakes
Duke’s Mike Elko era boomed into a new stratosphere of success on Monday night.
Coming off a 9-4 season, the Blue Devils started their second season with Elko as head coach with a historic performance, battering No. 9 Clemson 28-7 at Wallace Wade Stadium.
The win is the first over a top-10 team since 1989, when coach Steve Spurrier led the Blue Devils over Clemson. Duke halted a 28-game losing streak against top-10 opponents by shutting the reigning ACC champion Tigers out in the second half.
After trailing 7-6 at intermission, Duke racked up 22 consecutive points with Riley Leonard, Jaquez Moore and Jordan Waters running for touchdowns.
Duke finished with 204 rushing yards, averaging a healthy 7.3 yards per attempt.
Here are three takeaways from Duke’s win:
Elko’s defense still stingy
Elko earned the chance to be a head coach for the first time last year after forging a stellar reputation as a defensive coordinator. That unit’s turnaround was key to Duke going 9-4 last season.
Against Clemson, Duke’s defense limited the Tigers to one touchdown while recovering two fumbles. It helped that both fumble recoveries came inside the Duke 10 yard line to snuff out Clemson red-zone scoring chances.
Duke’s suddenly sturdy defensive secondary, bolstered by graduate transfers Myles Jones, Jeremiah Lewis and Al Blades, limited the Tigers to just 7.7 yards per completion. Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik completed 27 of 43 passes for 209 yards, completing a 2-yard pass to Will Shipley for his only touchdown throw.
Clemson finished with 422 yards but struggled to find the end zone. Duke’s defense, after allowing 22.1 points per game last season, looks even better this time around.
The Tigers had the ball 13 times and only scored one touchdown. They failed to get any points on three of their possessions inside the Duke 10, including twice on first-and-goal from the Duke 1.
Riley Leonard shines on big stage
Even after a breakout sophomore season a year ago, Duke junior quarterback Riley Leonard is still overshadowed by fellow ACC quarterbacks Drake Maye of North Carolina, Jordan Travis of Florida State and, until Monday night, Klubnik.
But in a national spotlight on Monday night, Leonard played a turnover-free game and turned the game around for the Blue Devils with his 44-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
Duke’s leading rusher a season ago, Leonard ran for 98 yards on eight carries against Clemson.
He played an efficient game on the passing end, completing 17 of 33 passes for 175 yards.
Sloppy but still winning
Clemson regularly plays nationally televised games before capacity crowds. The situation was new for the Blue Devils.
It showed in one key area that threatened to ruin the Blue Devils’ chances of winning. Duke was called for seven pre-snap penalties – either false starts by the offense or offsides on the defense.
Another Duke mistake, Jalon Calhoun’s fumbled punt return, set up Clemson’s second-quarter touchdown that gave it a short-lived 7-6 lead.
But the Tigers turned the ball over three times in the second half, allowing Duke to spring the upset.
This story was originally published September 4, 2023 at 7:46 PM.