Three takeaways from No. 21 Duke football’s 38-14 win over Northwestern on Saturday
Duke continued its dominance of Northwestern on Saturday, riding two rushing touchdowns each from Riley Leonard and Jordan Waters to a 38-14 win over the Wildcats at Wallace Wade Stadium.
The No. 21 Blue Devils (3-0) posted their fifth consecutive win over Northwestern as Waters ran for two scores in the first half and Leonard added a pair of second-half touchdowns.
Leonard led the Blue Devils in rushing with 97 yards on 13 carries.
Here are three takeaways from what was an easy win for the Blue Devils:
Duke defense shows toughness
The Blue Devils set a strong tone early, allowing just 33 total yards on Northwestern’s first four possessions while Duke’s offense built a double-digit lead.
For the day, Northwestern finished with 267 total yards producing just 3.8 yards per play. The Blue Devils allowed 4.74 yards per play over their first two games of the season -- putting them No. 5 in the ACC -- and season average fell to 4.42 yards per play after Saturday.
Duke nearly held its third-consecutive opponent scoreless in the second half before Northwestern scored a garbage-time touchdown 1:27 to play in the fourth quarter. The Blue Devils have allowed just four touchdowns this season.
“I think we’re playing good against the run when we’re sound and we’re fitting the things the way we need to,” Duke coach Mike Elko said. “I think we can cover. I think we got the ability to make plays on the football.”
Duke recorded five tackles for losses, including freshman linebacker Kendall Johnson’s first career sack.
Duke cornerback Myles Jones, a graduate transfer from Texas A&M, intercepted a fourth-quarter pass giving him interceptions in consecutive games.
Blue Devils’ balanced, solid offense hard to stop
Duke either scored, reached Northwestern territory — or both — on six of its first eight possessions Saturday. That even includes a truncated four-play drive in the final seconds of the first half.
Leonard’s play is the biggest reason. In addition to his team-leading rushing performance, the junior completed 15 of 20 passes for 219 yards.
Leonard threw six passes toward graduate student wide receiver Jalon Calhoun, who caught five passes for 112 yards. Junior receiver Jordan Moore also caught five passes, gaining 56 yards.
In addition to Leonard’s rushing, running back Jordan Waters gained 65 yards on 10 carries with two first-half touchdowns.
Duke’s top two running backs both had healthy yards per carry averages as Waters finished at 6.5 and Jaquez Moore at 6.1.
Duke finished with 487 total yards, gaining 268 on the ground and 219 via the pass.
“On our guys in the locker room are proud of the way we played,” Elko said. “I thought we wanted to kind of establish our physical identity. Anytime we play a Big Ten team, that’s really, really important to make sure that you control the line of scrimmage.”
Much cleaner, for the most part
While starting the season with wins over Clemson and Lafayette, Duke was nevertheless plagued with pre-snap penalties and turnovers. The Blue Devils committed seven such penalties while beating Clemson, 28-7, and three more in a 42-7 win over Lafayette.
But on Saturday, Duke easily beat Northwestern while not committing any false starts on offense or jumping offsides on defense.
Similarly, Duke lost two fumbles in its win over Clemson and another while beating Lafayette.
The Blue Devils had no turnovers against Northwestern.
The only nits for the coaching staff to pick about Saturday’s performance would be a pair of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. Duke wide receiver Jontavius Robertson was called for one of those penalties, which was negated by an offsetting call on Northwestern, and Duke cornerback Al Blades received an unsportsmanlike penalty for his taunting after a Duke defensive stop.
After the game, Elko pointed out that Northwestern converted 10 of 18 third downs into first downs. Clemson was 7 of 15 in its loss to Duke.
That’s something he wants improved, especially with games against Notre Dame, N.C State and Florida State looming after Saturday’s game at winless UConn.
“Two games in a row where we just we have to be a little bit better on third down,” Elko said. “I think that’s our emphasis and our focus. Got to be able to get a little bit more pressure. We’ve got to be able to cover a little bit longer, got to be able to be a little bit more effective and disruptive on third down. I think that’s where our biggest challenge is right now.”
This story was originally published September 16, 2023 at 3:10 PM.