Halftime Report: Duke football vs. Kansas

Duke owns a 20-3 lead against Kansas through two quarters of play at Wallace Wade Stadium. Unlike last week's contest at Troy, the Blue Devils wasted no time getting on the board in the first quarter.

After holding the Jayhawks to negative-13 yards on the first series of the game, Duke struck on the next series. Redshirt senior quarterback Anthony Boone capped a six-play, 60-yard drive capped with a 36-yard strike to a wide-open Max McCaffery, who was able to walk into the endzone.

Following a Ross Martin field goal and another Kansas three-and-out, freshman running back Shaun Wilson exploded for a 69-yard touchdown run to put the Blue Devils up 17-0 with 5:32 left in the first quarter. The run was the first score of his career and marked his first appearance in the first half.

The Blue Devils failed to gain much offensive momentum in the second quarter, as the lone score came from Martin, who added a second field goal to push the lead to 20-3. Boone finished 8-of-17 for 99 yards but continually overthrew receivers. His sole big-gain connection—an 81-yard touchdown strike—was called back when Issac Blakeney was flagged for offensive pass interference.

Luckily for Duke, Kansas' Montell Cozart had a terrible first half showing, throwing for just 43 yards and a pair of interceptions.

Observations from the first half:

• Defensive end Dez Johnson went down in the first quarter with a right knee injury.
• Offensive guard Lucas Patrick also left the game, as he suffered an apparent ankle injury. Both he and Johnson were carted off together in the second quarter
• After failing to force a turnover through the first two games, the secondary stepped up, as safety DeVon Edwards came up with the unit's first interception of the season.
• Everett Edwards snagged his first career interception to add to the secondary's production. He added on a 34-yard return.
• Jamison Crowder was mostly nonexistent in the first half, as he failed to register a catch.