Duke pulls away from Elon after murky start

DURHAM – A perfect season opener, this was far from it.

A win with some things to build on, Duke will have to take.

The Blue Devils beat Elon 45-17 on Thursday night at Wallace Wade Stadium. The game was tied 10-10 at halftime; Duke pulled away with three touchdown drives of at least 80 yards.

Duke had two drives in the third quarter and went 83 and 88 yards. Darian Mensah connected on a back-foot fade to Sahmir Hagans for a 15-yard touchdown to end the first one; he threaded the needle down the middle to Andrel Anthony for a 27-yard touchdown to cap the second drive.

Mensah was fantastic in his debut. The Tulane transfer completed 27 of 34 passes for 389 yards and three touchdowns. His third touchdown was a 6-yard pass to Hagans after Elon had pulled within a touchdown, at 24-17, early in the fourth quarter.

Mensah is the first Duke quarterback since Sean Renfree in 2010 to throw for over 300 yards in his first start. Renfree also hit that mark in a game against Elon.

Que’Sean Brown put the game on ice with a 78-yard punt return touchdown in the fourth quarter.

While Hagans had a couple of touchdowns, Brown and Cooper Barkate were Mensah’s top targets. Barkate, the Harvard transfer, had 117 yards on five catches. Brown had 93 yards on six receptions.

The Blue Devils’ defense didn’t have quite the stifling night it had against Elon last season, but still piled up 10 tackles for loss. Josiah Green and Vincent Anthony Jr. had two TFLs apiece.

Duke scored first, getting a 41-yard field goal by Todd Pelino late in the first quarter. That was his second attempt of the game; he missed from 45 yards on Duke’s first possession.

That score started a blow-for-blow scoring spree that led to a 10-10 tie at halftime. Elon had a 13-play, 58-yard drive stall inside Duke’s 15 and settled for a field goal.

Jaquez Moore scored Duke’s first touchdown of the season, breaking through the middle and cutting against the grain to the right for a 32-yard run. That was Moore’s first touchdown since last year’s opener, also against Elon.

The Phoenix answered with a nine-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. The first and third plays of the drive went 28 and 29 yards, respectively. Quarterback Landen Clark, a redshirt freshman starting for the first time, scored on a 2-yard keeper on third-and-goal.

Mensah connected with Brown for a 44-yard pass on the ensuing drive and Duke was at Elon’s 12-yard line when the 2-minute break hit. Moore fumbled the ball away — the first half’s only turnover — on the first play after the timeout.