College Football
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Duke 42, Lafayette 7
When: 6:00 PM ET, Saturday, September 9, 2023
Where: Wallace Wade Stadium, Durham, North Carolina
Temperature: 78°
Head Official: Michael Roche
Attendance: 17481

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 in 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

Top Game Performances
Rushing
Lafayette   Duke
Jamar Curtis Player Jordan Waters
10 Attempts 11
40 Yards 112
4.0 Avg Yards 10.2
0 Touchdowns 2
0 Long 0
Receiving
Lafayette   Duke
Elijah Steward Player Jordan Moore
4 Receptions 4
37 Yards 84
9.2 Avg Yards 21.0
0 Touchdowns 1
0 Long 0
Team Stats Summary
 
  Yards Scoring Defense
Team Tot Rus Pas TD FG INT Sck FF
Lafayette 213 126 87 1 0 0 0 0
Duke 515 261 254 6 0 2 2.0 0