First look: What to know about the Duke-Elon football opener
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Duke opens 2025 season Thursday against Elon, second year in a row vs. Phoenix.
- Quarterback Darian Mensah makes Duke debut; Elon starts Iowa transfer Marco Laniez.
- Duke favored by 33.5 points; defense expected to pressure inexperienced Elon offense.
Preseason camp is just preseason camp in college football, a prelim to the real thing, but Duke coach Manny Diaz should be hoping for a camp carryover when the season begins Thursday against Elon.
“We maintained a physical edge,” Diaz said. “I think the guys have practiced really hard. I can’t remember us having a bad day.”
No bad days? In preseason practice?
“They brought it every day,” Diaz said.
Diaz is expecting the same Thursday when his second Duke team takes the field for the 2025 season opener. For the second straight year, the Blue Devils face the Phoenix. For the second straight year, the Blue Devils will be the heavy bettering favorite.
Coming into Wallace Wade Stadium next week will be Illinois of the Big Ten. While it would be easy to gaze ahead to a game against a nationally ranked Illini team, Diaz says that will not happen.
“We’re dialed in on Elon,” he said.
First things first. Last year’s matchup, in Diaz’s first game as coach, was more strenuous than expected as Duke pounded out a 26-3 victory over the Phoenix. It’s an opener. Openers can be fickle, unpredictable.
New-look quarterbacks
A lot of eyes will be on Duke quarterback Darian Mensah, playing his first game for the Blue Devils. He knows it and expects it. The transfer from Tulane also says he can’t dwell on the outside “noise” about him, about his NIL package..
“Keep the main thing the main thing,” Mensah said. “That’s what one of my quarterback coaches once told me. Just focus on football and make sure that’s the main thing. If you do that everything else will fall into line.”
At Elon, two-year starter Matthew Downing is no longer running the Phoenix offense. The Phoenix also has a new offensive coordinator in Doug Martin, a former college head coach whose other coaching stops include as an assistant at Boston College and East Carolina.
Martin, the head coach at New Mexico State from 2013-21, also is Elon’s quarterbacks coach and spent fall camp preparing redshirt sophomore Marco Lainez, a transfer from Iowa, and redshirt freshman Landen Clark.
Lainez and Clark have had a competitive fall camp, battling to be QB1, and Elon coach Tony Trisciani said Monday that Clark got in a lot of work with the first teamers late in camp.. The downside for either Elon QB: facing a Duke defense that thrives on sacks and hurrying opposing quarterbacks into mistakes.
Impact players: Yurk, Brown
The Phoenix have an All-America player returning but can only hope he doesn’t get a lot of work Thursday in the opener: punter Jeff Yurk, the FCS leader last season after averaging 47.9 yards a kick. Yurk, a senior from Southern Pines, finished third in Division I and can easily alter field position. He can be a weapon.
Elon has offensive playmakers in wideout Jamarien Dalton, who had 31 catches for 408 yards and two touchdowns last season. Running back T.J. Thomas returns from a 2024 season that had him rush for 588 yards and five TDs in eight games before going out with an injury.
Duke’s offense must contend with Elon’s Kahmari Brown, a sophomore lineman who put up some impressive numbers as a freshman in 2024: 4.5 sacks and 9.0 tackles for a loss. Listed at 6-2 and 220 pounds, the former White Oak High standout can be a disruptor.
“He’s a talented pass rusher, edge defender, and I think he’s going to cause some problems for some people,” Trisciani said.
Vegas betting line
Most betting lines have Duke listed as a 33.5-point favorite and the over/under 47.5 total points. The moneylines have Duke at about -20000 and Elon +7000.
Duke vs. Elon game info
Teams: Duke Blue Devils (0-0, ACC) vs Elon Phoenix (0-0, Coastal).
Where: Wallace Wade Stadium, Durham.
Date: Thursday, Aug. 28.
Time: 7:30 p.m.
TV: ACCNX, ESPN+
Stream: fubo TV, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV Stream, Sling TV
Series history: The Blue Devils are 8-0-1 in the series, winning 26-3 last season.
We are exploring launching new email newsletters dedicated to each of the three ACC teams in the Triangle — Duke, NC State and UNC. Would you be interested in signing up for one of these free email newsletters? Let us know here.
This story was originally published August 26, 2025 at 5:30 AM.
