Three takeaways from No. 21 Duke football’s win over Lafayette as Blue Devils go to 2-0

Playing as a nationally ranked team for the first time since September 2018, No. 21 Duke shook off a short week of preparation to defeat Lafayette, 42-7, on Saturday night at Wallace Wade Stadium.

The Blue Devils (2-0) entered the AP top 25 poll on Tuesday, one night after beating Clemson, 28-7.

The last time Duke was ranked, after the fourth week of the 2018 season, the Blue Devils promptly lost 31-14 at home to Virginia Tech and fell out of the rankings.

This time, the Blue Devils were far from perfect but they made enough plays to beat the Leopards (1-1), who play in the Football Championship Subdivision’s Patriot League.

Here are three key takeaways from Duke’s win:

Sloppiness still present

Though the final score ended up as lopsided as expected, Duke was not sharp, particularly early in the game.

After being whistled for seven pre-snap penalties in the win over Clemson, Duke jumped offsides while Lafayette kicked a first-quarter field goal. Al Blades’ infraction gave the Leopards a first down at the Duke 12 and they scored a touchdown on the next play.

Duke running back Jordan Waters broke free for a 19-yard run in the first quarter. But Jordan DuBois, Lafayette’s 5-10, 172-pound junior cornerback, ripped the ball from Waters’ arms and took off in the other direction with the ball to secure a turnover for the Leopards.

Late in the first half, Duke put together a nifty hurry-up drive to reach the Lafayette 11 with four seconds to play. But kicker Todd Pelino missed a 29-yard field goal attempt and the Blue Devils took a 21-7 lead to halftime.

Duke grinds out its offense

With less time than normal to recover from the Clemson win and prepare for Lafayette, the Blue Devils kept it simple and relied mostly on their running game.

Waters led the way with a career-best 112 yards, including two first-half touchdown runs, while sophomore Jaquez Moore’s 39-yard touchdown run in the third quarter helped him gain 72 yards in the game.

Duke finished with 261 rushing yards, gaining 5.8 yards per carry.

The passing game was perfect. Riley Leonard completed all 12 of his passes while redshirt freshman Henry Belin finished 8-for-8. The only incomplete pass thrown by Duke in the game was a spike to kill the clock by Leonard late in the first half. NCAA statistic rules don’t count that against a quarterback’s completion percentage, though.

Duke defense perseveres

For the second consecutive game, Duke held its opponent to only a touchdown.

The Leopards did find some early success against Duke with a 75-yard touchdown drive on their first possession. But the Blue Devils went on to hold Lafayette to 213 total yards.

Duke accomplished that without starting safety Jeremiah Lewis, who was named the ACC’s defensive back of the week for his play against Clemson. Lewis suffered a broken bone during the Clemson game and played the second half with a cast on his right hand. He was not in uniform against Lafayette.

Linebacker Cam Dillon missed the first half of the Lafayette game after being called for targeting in the fourth quarter against Clemson, which led to his ejection and subsequent suspension for the first half of Duke’s next game.