Duke football rolls along. Three takeaways from the Blue Devils’ blowout win over UConn

No. 18 Duke had no problem rolling past UConn, blasting the winless Huskies, 41-7 in non conference football Saturday at Pratt & Whitney Stadium.

The Blue Devils (4-0) have won their first four games in a season for the first time since 2018. The win sets up a showdown of ranked teams this Saturday when Duke plays No. 9 Notre Dame at Wallace Wade Stadium. ESPN is considering bringing its College GameDay show to Durham for the first time for that game.

Duke’s defense overpowered UConn (0-4), keeping the Huskies off the scoreboard until they finally scored against Duke’s reserves with 12 seconds left in the game.

Here are three takeaways from Duke’s latest win, which gives it a 13-4 record under head coach Mike Elko over past two seasons:

Stifling defense

Duke’s defense was so dominant against UConn’s feeble offense the Huskies didn’t surpass 100 total yards of offense until the fourth quarter.

The Huskies gained a mere 1.1 yards per play in the first half, when Duke pushed its way to a 27-0 lead. UConn finished the game with 203 yards, averaging 3.1 yards per play, after a driving 83 yards late in the fourth quarter against Duke’s reserves for its only touchdown .

Elko called it the best performance by Duke’s defense in his tenure with the Blue Devils, saying his team “suffocated” UConn.

“That was what we felt like was gonna be the key,” Elko said, “our defensive line’s ability to create penetration and get them behind the chains. We were able to do that and then make, kind of a young quarterback who hasn’t played a lot of football, execute on third and long situations.”

UConn converted only 4 of 14 (28.5%) third downs into first downs. In Duke’s first three games, its opposition found success on 47.3% of third downs -- worst in the ACC.

Senior defensive tackle Aeneas Peebles was credited with 1.5 sacks as Duke as two as a team. DeWayne Carter, Duke’s all-ACC defensive tackle, scored a touchdown on a 26-yard fumble return in the third quarter.

Blue Devils defenders recorded eight tackles for losses on Saturday.

“We just went back to playing our our brand of football, playing as hard as we can every play,” Peebles said. “When we do that. I mean, the sky’s the limit for this defense.”

For the season, Duke has allowed just five touchdowns in four games. In three of Duke’s wins, the opposition scored seven points or fewer. No team has scored a point in the second half against Duke’s first-team defense.

That includes the Blue Devils’ 28-7 season-opening win over Clemson.

Leonard shows passing prowess

Duke entered Saturday’s game tied for the lead nationally with 12 rushing touchdowns before adding three more against UConn.

While that’s all fine and good, the Blue Devils needed to develop an effective passing game, because the better teams on their schedule — starting with Notre Dame — are better able to stop the run.

With that in mind, even when Duke pushed its lead to 17-0 early in the second quarter, Riley Leonard continued to work on his short-to-medium passing game.

The junior finished 23 of 34 passing (68%) for 248 yards. Those are single-game highs in completions, attempts and yards for Leonard this season.

Of Duke’s 20 first downs, 15 came via the pass on Saturday.

“Coming into the game we thought our advantage, a little bit, was in the throw game,” Elko said. “And so we knew that was going to be a part of it. Again, I would like to have been able to run the ball a little bit more than we were able to. But we were able to do the things we needed to do, throwing the football, to have the success that we needed to have.”

Leonard’s favorite target against UConn was junior wide receiver Jordan Moore, who had 14 passes thrown his way. Moore caught eight passes for 86 yards with one touchdown. Wide receiver Jalon Calhoun caught six passes (on seven targets) for 76 yards.

Six Duke players in total caught passes from Leonard. That included the first career catch for Jeremiah Hasley, a redshirt freshman who moved from linebacker to tight end last spring. Starting tight end Nicky Dalmolin caught three passes.

Mild offensive line concerns

Duke’s ability to impose its physical will on opponents by running the ball so well is certainly a positive this season.

However, as a host of games against ranked teams start coming with Notre Dame on Saturday, the Blue Devils will need even better play from their offensive line.

Saturday, the linemen were called for three holding penalties and a pair of false starts. Jacob Monk, Duke’s most experienced lineman, committed two holding penalties from his right guard position. Maurice McIntyre, another player with years of experience, was also called for holding.

The false starts were by right tackle Jake Hornibrook, a graduate transfer from Stanford, and another graduate transfer tackle, Jake Long.

The Blue Devils played without key reserve interior lineman Justin Pickett, who has been hampered by a variety of injuries dating back to the offseason. A redshirt sophomore, Pickett has played in two games, on the field for just 47 snaps, thus far this season.

His health issues allowed Scott Elliott, a graduate transfer from Harvard, to take over the starting center job with Monk starting at right guard. Last season, Duke often used Monk at center with Pickett at right guard.