Mike Elko breaks down Duke's dominant win over NC State

The Duke Blue Devils were without starting quarterback Riley Leonard but had no problem taking down the NC State Wolfpack Saturday night. The Blue Devils defense suffocated the Wolfpacks’ offense as they cruised to a 24-3 victory. Following the game, ACC Network reporter Taylor Tannenbaum caught up with Duke head coach Mike Elko.

“Yeah, I think they showed a lot of grit; I think they showed a lot of toughness,” said Elko of what Duke showed against NC State. “Obviously, not having Riley, a lot of guys stepped up. Henry (Belin IV) making his first start doing enough to get us a win. And I thought our defense played outstanding tonight.

“I thought he managed the game really well. Obviously, we got the big lead, and then that took the air out of the ball. We were gonna play it safe and play it to win, but I got a lot of confidence in him. I thought he did some nice things early — the big touchdown pass that he hit was a big one. I thought he made a couple of other nice throws that we could have come down with, too.

Belin did well in Leonard’s absence, leading the Duke offense. He didn’t put up the greatest stat line but was able to get the job done on the night. Belin connected on four of his 12 pass attempts for 107 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception.

The performance of the night for Duke belonged to their defense. The Blue Devils limited the Wolfpack to just three points despite NC State’s 305 yards of total offense and 4-15 on third downs. And Elko was all for it when discussing their performance against NC State.

“Just relentless. Those guys have a lot of pride in how we play defense here. Maybe a lot of talk about some other defenses,” said Elko. “This one can play, and play really good football.”

Up next for Duke is a huge matchup with ACC championship game and possibly College Football Playoff implications. The Blue Devils will head south to take on the top team in the ACC this season — the No. 4 ranked Florida State Seminoles. A win against the Seminoles in Tallahassee would be huge for the Blue Devils and go a long way toward them punching their ticket to the conference championship game at the end of the season.