After a statement victory against then-No. 9 Clemson propelled Duke to a 1-0 start Monday night, the Blue Devils are turning the page to Week 2. Head coach Mike Elko and his team will remain in Durham as Lafayette comes to town to challenge Duke and its new No. 21 ranking.
Here are five things to know before Saturday’s matchup:
Stop the run
The Leopards also sport an unblemished 1-0 mark after defeating fellow FCS foe Sacred Heart 19-14 in a physical Week-1 battle. In its victory against the Pioneers, Lafayette rushed for an impressive 223 yards to control the clock and take the narrow victory. The bulk of this work was done by sophomore Jamar Curtis, as the 5-foot-8 running back scampered for a ridiculous 181 yards and a score.
For the Blue Devil defense to maintain its dominant play that it displayed in the opener, it must set its focus on shutting down the ground attack of the Leopards. Stopping the run was arguably Duke’s most glaring weakness against the Tigers, as star running back Will Shipley eclipsed 100 yards on the ground and Clemson combined for 213 rush yards.
Start fast
When facing an FCS opponent, it is never a good idea to let them hang around. The Blue Devils will look to open the scoring quickly and pull out to an early lead in hopes of cruising to another victory and moving on in nonconference play.
Duke did not find the end zone in the first half against the Tigers, instead settling for field goals on two occasions. Although quarterback Riley Leonard and the Blue Devil offense started to accumulate both momentum and points as the game neared its end, Duke will look to get off on a better foot against a less talented defensive matchup in Lafayette.
Pound the rock
Entering the season, the Blue Devils were expected to trot out a three- or even four-headed rushing attack. It was thought that returners Jaylen Coleman, Jordan Waters and Jaquez Moore would all get significant workloads and true freshman Peyton Jones could be mixed into the rotation as well.
However, with Coleman sidelined and offensive coordinator Kevin Johns opting for experience, Waters and Moore were the only backs to see touches against Clemson. While the Duke ground game was solid overall, it was Leonard amassing most of the yardage as the two backs combined for just 106 yards. Look for Johns to try to get his stable of running backs more involved against the Leopards.
Establish primary targets
Leonard did more than enough to will the Blue Devils to victory, but he did not exactly fire on all cylinders when it came to connecting with his familiar wideout targets. Waters led Duke in reception yards with 46, while Jalon Calhoun had the most of any wide receiver with just 32. Sahmir Hagans and Jordan Moore each caught just three passes for 25 and 20 yards, respectively.
The Blue Devils certainly don’t need each of these wideouts to be 100-yard receivers every week, but moving forward look for Leonard to really seek out these targets and try to get these connections dialed in. A matchup with Lafayette is a perfect opportunity to emphasize spreading the ball around to the guys on the perimeter.
Clean up mistakes and get some rest
The Blue Devils came out of their opener with Duke’s first win against an AP top-10 team since 1989, and that was all that mattered. However, it was not always pretty. The offense sputtered at times, there was a special teams blunder in the form of a muffed punt, and the defense had to come up with big turnovers — though it did so — after allowing the Tigers to drive into the redzone on multiple occasions.
A meeting with an FCS team is likely coming at the right time for the Blue Devils, who can use the contest as a chance to fix some holes that were exposed by Clemson as well as — barring disaster — allow for the starters to get some rest after the short week. If all goes to plan, Duke could get a look at backup quarterback Henry Belin IV and potentially even true freshman Grayson Loftis.
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