Jordan Waters and Riley Leonard ran for two touchdowns apiece and No. 21 Duke was in control for most of the game in defeating visiting Northwestern 38-14 on Saturday at Durham, N.C.
Duke is 3-0 for the second year in a row.
Leonard also racked up 219 passing yards by completing 15 of 20 throws. He gained 97 rushing yards on 13 carries.
Waters had first-half touchdown runs of 24 and 2 yards. Leonard scored his touchdowns in the third quarter on runs of 3 and 2 yards.
Northwestern quarterback Ben Bryant was 17-for-34 for 123 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Backup quarterback Brendan Sullivan directed a fourth-quarter scoring drive that ended with his 10-yard run at the 1:27 mark.
The Wildcats (1-2) were otherwise mostly thwarted on offense.
Duke, which allowed a touchdown late in the first half, regained momentum on the first possession of the second half by driving 80 yards for a touchdown on Leonard’s 3-yard dive. Then came a 12-play, 94-yard march with Leonard running the last 2 yards for the score.
Duke scored on its first possession of the game, going 56 yards on six plays on a march ending on Waters’ 24-yard run.
The Blue Devils went up 14-0 with Waters going 2 yards on the second play of the second quarter. Todd Pelino’s 34-yard field goal stretched the lead to cap Duke’s next possession.
Northwestern bounced back by going 73 yards in 15 plays on Bryant’s 14-yard touchdown pass to a diving A.J. Henning with 34 seconds to play in the first half.
The Wildcats were wildly inconsistent on offense. They drove 63 yards on 13 plays on a drive that ended on downs at the Duke 10-yard line in the first minute of the fourth quarter. That left the score at 31-7 and pretty much dashed any hopes of a huge comeback.
Peyton Jones scored on a 15-yard run for Duke in the fourth quarter.
–Field Level Media
