Jordan Waters ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns as No. 21 Duke beat visiting Lafayette 42-7 on Saturday night at Durham, N.C.
Riley Leonard completed all 12 of his pass attempts for 136 yards and a touchdown in less than three quarters as the Blue Devils (2-0) followed Monday night’s conquest of visiting Clemson with a drilling of a Football Championship Subdivision foe.
Duke, playing as a nationally ranked team for the first time since 2018, cranked out 515 yards of total offense.
Waters, a fifth-year player, averaged 10.2 yards on his 11 carries. He scored the go-ahead touchdown with a 5-yard run early in the second quarter and added a 16-yard scoring run with 1:17 to play before halftime.
Todd Pelino of Duke missed on a 29-yard field goal try to end the first half, leaving the Blue Devils up 21-7.
But the Blue Devils extended their lead with Jaquez Moore’s 39-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Backup quarterback Harry Belin IV added a 1-yard touchdown run later in the quarter.
Jordan Moore was Duke’s top receiver with 84 yards on four catches.
Dean DeNobile completed 9 of 17 passes for 87 yards and a touchdown for Lafayette (1-1).
In between Waters’ scoring runs, Lafayette put together a drive of nearly seven minutes that ended when it couldn’t convert a fourth-and-one at the Duke 24-yard line.
The Blue Devils scored on the game’s first possession when Leonard threw 16 yards to Jalon Calhoun.
Lafayette needed 13 plays nearly 7 1/2 minutes to go 75 yards to tie the game on DeNobile’s 12-yard pass to Chris Carasia.
The Leopards, who opened the season by winning at Sacred Heart, were held to 213 yards of total offense and DeNobile was intercepted twice.
–Field Level Media