Jawhar Jordan scored on two first-quarter touchdown runs and compiled a career-high 163 yards on the ground as No. 18 Louisville handled No. 20 Duke for a 23-0 home victory in Atlantic Coast Conference play on Saturday.
Louisville (7-1, 4-1 ACC) bounced back from a loss at Pittsburgh two weeks earlier, followed by an open week.
Duke (5-3, 2-2) has lost two games in a row, both on the road against nationally ranked opponents. The Blue Devils led No. 4 Florida State in the fourth quarter a week earlier, but this one wasn’t that tight.
Duke quarterback Riley Leonard, who left the Florida State game with another ankle injury, was in the starter’s role but he didn’t generate much offense. He has been ailing for about a month, including missing the entire victory against North Carolina State.
The Blue Devils made it into Louisville territory three times, but never threatened to score. They punted seven times.
It marked Louisville’s second shutout of the season. The other came against Murray State.
Jordan had scoring runs of 14 and 23 yards. Louisville quarterback Jack Plummer was 11-for-16 passing for 117 yards.
Leonard completed 9 of 23 passes for 121 yards with an interception. Jordan Moore had 92 yards on six catches.
Louisville ended the third quarter with a 335-107 advantage in total offense. The final tally was a 351-202 edge.
The Cardinals took a 17-0 lead at halftime after Brock Travelstead’s 47-yard field goal with 49 seconds left in the first half.
Travelstead added a 20-yard field goal midway through the third quarter. That marked the second 72-yard scoring drive of the game for the Cardinals, who scored their first points at the end of a 10-play march in the first quarter.
Travelstead’s 24-yarder extended the lead to 23-0 later in the third quarter. That was set up following Gilbert Frierson’s interception of Leonard that gave the Cardinals the ball at the Duke 15-yard line.
–Field Level Media