Duke can’t overcome mistakes in loss to Illinois
DURHAM – Duke made too many mistakes, in too many big moments, to overcome in a 45-19 loss to Illinois on Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium.
The Blue Devils (1-1) turned the ball over five times against the 11th-ranked Illini (2-0). Duke has now gone through the first two games of the season without forcing a turnover, running the margin to minus-6 for the year.
That neglects to mention perhaps the biggest mistake. Trailing by one to start the second half, Duke forced a punt after three plays. But DaShawn Stone and Jayden Moore — both wearing No. 8 — were on the field for the punt.
That resulted in a 5-yard penalty and first down. Illinois connected on a 36-yard pass on the next play and scored the first of four second-half touchdowns after that.
Sahmir Hagans lost a fumble on Duke’s next possession. Four plays later, Illinois scored to make it a 28-13 game. Darian Mensah threw a touchdown to get the deficit to 28-19; Duke missed the 2-point conversion and those were the last points for the Blue Devils.
It’s only the fourth home loss for Duke since the start of the 2022 season.
Illinois led after the first quarter thanks in large part to Duke’s only mistake of the first 15 minutes.
The Blue Devils pieced together a decent opening drive that ended with Todd Pelino’s 40-yard field goal. Of the 52 yards on that drive, 31 of them came on runs.
Duke got Illinois off the field with third-down sacks by Vincent Anthony Jr. on the Illini’s first two drives. But after the second one, Que’Sean Brown muffed the punt.
Illinois recovered at Duke’s 18-yard line. After Luke Altmyer had an escape act on third down to put Illinois at the 1-yard line, Kaden Feagin punched in a touchdown run.
Pelino made another 40-yarder after Duke had some self-inflicted mistakes inside the 10-yard line. That made it 7-6.
Illinois’ only sustained drive of the first half started with a third-and-21 conversion, had a fourth-and-1, and ended with an 8-yard touchdown pass on third-and-goal.
Mensah engineered a nine-play, 77-yard drive in 64 seconds to tighten the game before halftime. Andrel Anthony’s toe drag in the back of the end zone was the touchdown to make it 14-13.
Anthony also caught Duke’s touchdown of the second half.
