It has been a tumultuous offseason for this Duke team. Transfers have been in and out, and both coordinators are new. The Blue Devils came into their rainy Friday night opener against Elon with a very different look.
Fortunately for Duke, some things didn’t change. The Blue Devils walked out of Wallace Wade Stadium with a 26-3 win against the Phoenix, opening the season 1-0 and setting a high standard to start the 2024 campaign.
“It was a sight to see. I mean, it was tough on [Elon] to get the ball back to the line of scrimmage,” head coach Manny Diaz said after the game. “The quarterback was under pressure all night. We did a really good job of limiting explosive plays on defense. And what that allowed is our offense to get into a rhythm.”
After struggling to get much going for most of the half, it was the Texas transfer Maalik Murphy who showed off of his arm talent, hitting graduate receiver Eli Pancol up the middle for a 55-yard gain and a near-touchdown to build some offensive momentum. Running back Jaquez Moore took the ball seven yards to the house with less than a minute remaining in the second quarter, and Duke headed into the locker room with a 10-0 lead.
Coming out the gate to start the second half, Duke once again appeared to be in control. Murphy shined, hitting his receivers more consistently and helping the Blue Devils quickly march down the field. However, a dropped pass by tight end Jeremiah Hasley once again ended a drive early, and Todd Pelino kicked another one through the uprights.
The Duke defense shined as brightly in the second half, totaling eight sacks in the contest and forcing punts left and right. Elon’s Matthew Downing looked strong when he was able to get the ball out, but he rarely had enough time to work. Murphy occasionally hit his deep-ball targets, and his receivers had several close calls that otherwise could have allowed for significant gains.
“When we watch the film, I think the story of our game was the shots we hit, and then also the shots that we were probably an inch or two away from hitting,” Diaz said. “And that will give our players some confidence to realize how close they were from a truly dominating performance in terms of attacking the coverages that Elon was playing against us.”
That said, Murphy eventually managed to make some magic happen. A 48-yard bomb down the right sideline found its way into the hands of graduate wide receiver Jordan Moore, who landed just short of the goal line and gave Hasley the opportunity to walk into the end zone for the touchdown. With just over six minutes remaining in the third quarter and after a failed two-point conversion, Duke took a controlling 19-0 lead.
Meanwhile on the visiting sideline, the wheels appeared to have fallen off entirely. Duke continued to dominate the Phoenix offensive line, forcing 15 total tackles for a loss. Punter Jeff Yurk had an impressive night and racked up a whopping 51.9 yards per punt, although those were not the offensive yards Elon wanted.
The Phoenix managed to snag one interception in the final quarter, after Murphy threw a ball well over the head of tight end Nicky Dalmolin and saw it turned around by star cornerback Caleb Curtain. The quarterback redeemed himself later in the period, however, hitting Pancol on a short pass into the end zone to extend the lead to 26-0. Pancol, in his first game in more than a year after losing all of the 2023 season to injury, was excited to be back.
“Once I got hit, I was comfortable. That catch helped a lot too,” Pancol said. “I fell back in the rhythm of things pretty quickly.”
Elon started the game with the ball and was unable to do much with it. Defensive lineman Wesley Williams snuck around the edge to bring down quarterback Downing on third down, ending the drive before it really started and forcing a punt. That was the theme of the evening as the Blue Devils racked up a whopping five sacks in just the first half.
It was the duo of Murphy and Moore that shined early, connecting on a 24-yard pass across the middle to move the chains across the 50-yard line. A few more short passes continued to push the Elon defense across the field, as the Phoenix struggled to keep up with the breakneck tempo of the Duke attack.
Even with platoon substitutions, it was obvious that the offensive pace was causing problems as the visitors were forced to call a timeout. The drive, however, stalled after a near-interception at the goal line. Pelino booted the ball through the uprights to give the hosts an early three-point lead.
As the quarter went on, the visitors began to show some fight. Running back Rushawn Baker slipped up the middle for a 13-yard carry and it looked for a moment like the Phoenix could string together some plays. It was defensive end Vincent Anthony Jr. who prevented any such happening, taking Downing to the ground for another sack.
Williams saw his hard work pay off on special teams in the second quarter, as he blocked and recovered a bungled punt to give Duke a start on Elon’s side of the field. Despite the good field position, the Blue Devils still struggled to get any meaningful offense going. Moore hauled one in for a first down, but some strong defensive play by the Phoenix led to a turnover on downs.
The visiting attack began to pick up some steam in the second quarter. Some creative play calling and poor tackling helped the Phoenix march down the field. Receiver Chandler Brayboy ran a screen pass 21 yards down the field, and receiver Jamarien Dalton continued to move the chains, pushing the ball over half field. When the two-minute warning hit, the Phoenix had the ball on the Duke 31-yard line. More strong Blue Devil defense put a stop to the drive and Elon hit the crossbar on a 48-yard field-goal attempt, keeping it scoreless.
“Procedurally, we were pretty clean and sound; things that you worry about in an opener. So you make a big jump between Week 1 and Week 2, and we need to make a big jump,” Diaz said. “We're going on the road to a Big 10 opponent, but it's nice to do that with the first one under our belt.”
Duke will travel to Northwestern Sept. 6 to take on the Wildcats for the third straight season.
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Martin Heintzelman is a Trinity junior and Blue Zone editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.