Duke vs Kansas college football game: 3 things to watch as Jayhawks host Blue Devils

Steve Wiseman
Kaitlin McKeown/kmckeown@newsobserver.com

Two months before their perennially strong basketball teams meet in the Champions Classic, Duke and Kansas play a football game Saturday that surprisingly jumps out on the early-season schedule.

The Blue Devils and Jayhawks have each opened the season with three consecutive wins, creating a battle of unbeatens between two schools that combined for five wins a season ago.

To be fair to Kansas, which lost 52-33 to Duke in Durham last September, the Jayhawks’ improvement began as last season progressed.

Lance Leipold took over as Kansas’ coach on April 30, 2021, following the messy departure of former coach Les Miles amid a scandal involving Miles’ inappropriate behavior toward female students during his previous tenure as LSU’s coach.

Leipold’s late arrival meant Kansas didn’t have a spring practice under its new coach. That partly explains Duke’s win during the Jayhawks’ 1-9 start to the season. But Kansas gradually improved, winning 57-56 in overtime at Texas on Nov. 13 before losing 31-28 at TCU and 34-26 to West Virginia to close a 2-10 season.

So Mike Elko, who took over as Duke’s head coach last December, isn’t surprised Kansas started this season with three wins, including 55-42 at West Virginia and 48-30 at Houston.

“Coach Leipold is doing an amazing job with that group and has really put his fingerprints on that group really quickly,” Elko said.

Speaking of making an immediate impact, Elko has Duke looking for its first 4-0 start since 2018.

Three things to watch in the game:

Duke’s run defense

Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels is as dangerous as a runner as he is throwing the ball. He averages 8.78 yards per carry with three touchdowns.

But Duke’s defense has proven effective against the run, mostly, over the season’s first three games. Temple and Northwestern each averaged a mere 2.24 yards per carry while losing to the Blue Devils. Duke’s per-carry average allowed jumped to 3.44 after N.C. A&T gained fourth-quarter yardage against Blue Devils reserves in Duke’s 49-20 win last Saturday.

Duke’s Pro Football Focus rating for run defense is 69.8. Last season, it was 53.6.

Six Duke defenders who are either starters or key reserves have PFF ratings at 70.3 or better as run defenders. The players grading out so well are defensive tackles DeWayne Carter (71.8) and Ja’Mion Franklin (79.8), linebackers Shaka Heyward (70.3) and Cam Dillon (80.8), safety Jaylen Stinson (80.4) and defensive end Michael Reese (76.1).

They’ve proven to be sure tacklers who find a way to disrupt opposing running games. They’ll have to be on their game against a Kansas offense that averages 7.13 yards per carry.

Protecting the ball

The turnover bug that doomed Duke to so many lopsided losses the last two seasons has been kept in check so far this season.

Duke lost 39 turnovers in 2020 and 21 last season, which is the main reason the Blue Devils were 5-18 the last two seasons.

In this season’s first three games, Duke’s turned it over just twice while benefiting from seven of its opponents’ turnovers. The Blue Devils have yet to lose a fumble.

Duke hasn’t had a positive turnover margin over a season since 2014.

Kansas has three turnovers in three games while its opponents have five.

Riley Leonard’s success

While leading Duke to three wins, Leonard has completed 72.7% of his passes. That’s second only to UNC’s Drake Maye (74.2%) among ACC quarterbacks.

Leonard’s average of 11 yards gained per pass attempt leads the ACC.

A big reason for his success? Duke’s blockers have protected him well. Opponents have recorded only three sacks in three games.

Kansas’ defense, meanwhile, has recorded nine sacks in its three games.

Keeping Leonard clean in the pocket, as the football saying goes, will be of utmost importance for the Blue Devils.

How to watch

The game, which is scheduled to begin at noon, will be shown on Fox Sports 1 (FS1) with Eric Collins and Devin Gardner announcing.

It is also available for streaming at FoxSports.com but a cable or satellite login is required. Other streaming providers such as Hulu, Sling and YouTube TV also carry FS1.

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