Could Duke football be facing its toughest opponent this week in Illinois?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Illinois returns 16 starters from a 10-3 team with playoff aspirations in 2025.
- Duke quarterback Darian Mensah passed for 389 yards and 3 TDs in season opener.
- Illinois defense blends experience and scheme to limit big plays and force errors.
An argument could be made that the toughest matchup Duke will have this football season is against … Illinois?
Granted, looking at Duke’s schedule, the game that immediately jumps off the page is Clemson. The Blue Devils go to Death Valley on Nov. 1 to face the defending ACC champions and the preseason pick to win another title this season. The Tigers are that good.
But Duke’s opponent this week – the Fighting Illini – is ranked No. 11 nationally. They have 16 starters returning from a 10-3 team in 2024, and have aspirations of a run at a Big Ten title and a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff.
Duke coach Manny Diaz said Monday that Illinois’ Bret Bielema is “criminally underrated” as a head coach, given his career track record. The Illini offense is led by a quarterback, three-year starter Luke Altmyer, that Diaz once had to prepare for as defensive coordinator at Penn State in 2023. The Illini defense is seasoned, sound, tough.
“I always say in college football, people make mistakes and they think you win because of who your best players are, and normally you get beat by where your biggest weakness is,” Diaz said. “And that’s the point with them. They don’t put a lot of weaknesses on tape, because they have so many guys who have accomplished and won big games and done it together.
“When you watch them, in all three phases, they just know who they are. They know what they’re doing, they have the answers to whatever you’re going to try against them.”
Illinois vs. Duke chess match
Such is the “fun chess match” that Diaz said this game, like many, would be at Wallace Wade Stadium.
Duke offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer said Monday he relishes those game-day mental battles, the games within the game, the constant search for answers, the probing for the right matchups and the right play-calling decisions.
“You want to be challenged,” Brewer said. “When you watch somebody on defense, you’re looking for ‘What do they do, do they believe in what they do and do they do it repetitively over and over?’
“They’ve been in their system for a long time with their defense. You have to out-execute them. It’s not a trick‘em, dick‘em game. You have to be on point with what you do.
Great debut for Mensah
In Duke’s 45-17 opening win over Elon, it was quarterback Darian Mensah putting together a 27-for-34, 389-yard passing worksheet, with three touchdown throws and no interceptions. That’s a very tidy, efficient stat line, and Mensah, the transfer from Tulane, made sure everyone got their touches, completing passes to 10 players.
“Being on the field with him was exciting,” wide receiver Sahmir Hagans, who had two TD catches., said Tuesday. “Everybody’s always talking about the hype behind him and how good he is, and it was great to see he actually is a very talented football player and seeing how he changes the game for our offense.”
But that was Elon. Diaz, called an ”incredibly intelligent dude” by Bielema this week, has a sharp eye for defensive wrinkles and realizes Illinois will come at the Devils with an experienced unit that could be among the best in the Big Ten.
“They’re very unique, schematically,” Diaz said. “They line up in basically a five-man front a majority of the time and make it very difficult to run the ball. They give you a look that says you’re going to waste your time, you don’t have enough guys to run, and then you have to attack this man coverage. It’s not super far from where we are schematically, but it’s way they get to disguises off of that (and) they’ll get quarterbacks seeing ghosts and you can create a lot of issues,
“They’re a tough nut to crack. They’ve been in that (defense) so long that there’s nothing that when they go into a game day they’ll be surprised to see. They’ve seen every answer against their defense. And they’ve got really good players, too, who have been in that system and know it in and out.”
Duke must stop Altmyer, and more
The Illini, like Duke, had a big win at home to kick off the season, blasting Western Illinois, 52-3, in Memorial Stadium. Altmyer had a productive night, completing 17 of his 21 passes for 217 yards and three scores and wide receiver Hank Beatty grabbed five balls for 108 yards, including a 59-yard TD strike.
Beatty, a 5-11 senior who led the Big Ten in punt returns last season, had a 69-yard return for a score and another 43-yarder. His 133 yards on four punt returns broke the school record of 125 yards set by legendary Red Grange in 1923.
“That’s pretty crazy,” Beatty told the media after the game. “I didn’t think I’d ever break a record by Red Grange.”
The Illini defensive numbers were all good: Western Illinois had 11 first downs, rushed for 29 yards and had 163 yards in total offense. Illinois had five sacks and allowed WIU in the red zone once.
Outside linebacker Gabe Jacas, a 6-3, 270-pound senior and twice an All-Big Ten selection, had two of the sacks and 2.5 tackles for a loss. He forced a fumble that was the only turnover of the game.
“When you see somebody come out every week and do things all over the place, it’s OK maybe they don’t believe in what they do,” Brewer said. “These guys believe in what they do. They’re sound in what they do.
“It’s been a very interesting game-plan chess match for us, trying to figure out how we can use our guys as weapons to attack them.”
Duke vs Illinois game info
Teams: Duke (1-0, ACC) vs Illinois (1-0, Big Ten).
Where: Wallace Wade Stadium, Durham.
Date: Saturday, Sept. 6.
Time: 12 p.m.
TV: ESPN.
Stream: fubo TV, Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV Stream, Sling TV.
Series history: It’s not a long one. Duke and Illinois have played twice, each winning at home. The Illini took a 28-14 win in 1965 and Duke was a 15-13 winner in 1958.
