DURHAM, NC — Duke won 9 games in coach Mike Elko’s rookie season last year and starts this season with almost of all of its key players back.

And yet, for some reason, no one wanted to take the Blue Devils seriously because of a difficult schedule that began with a showdown with defending ACC champion Clemson.

Maybe they will now.

Duke showed it can play with the big boys by playing solid defense, taking advantage of its 2nd half opportunities and setting off a field storming celebration by upsetting the Tigers 28-7.

Here are 3 takeaways from that stunning victory at Wallace Wade Stadium:

One Devil of a quarterback

North Carolina’s Drake Maye, Florida State’s Travis Jordan and even Clemson’s Cade Klubnik have all been mentioned prominently as Heisman Trophy contenders heading into the 2023 season.

But there’s another ACC quarterback that deserves to be included in that conversation.

Duke’s Riley Leonard served notice that he’s also an elite talent by leading Duke to an emphatic nationally televised upset of Clemson. The redshirt sophomore passed for 175 yards on 17 of 33 passing and rushed for 98 more on 8 carries with a touchdown.

Although those numbers might not be as eye-catching as some of the other quarterback performances on this opening week, his performance went far beyond the stat sheet.

Despite being under constant pressure from Clemson’s pass rush, he was never sacked. Throwing balls away when he had to and scrambling when he could — including a 44-yard run down the near sideline for the go-ahead touchdown early in the 2nd half.

Leonard far outshined his Tiger counterpart Klubnik, who showed his inexperience in going 27-of-43 for 208 yards and a score.

Self-destructing Tigers

Dabo Swinney won’t have to wait to see the film to know what happened to his defending ACC champions on Monday. The self-inflicted mistakes his Tigers made throughout the game were visible to the naked eye.

The comedy of errors began in the 1st half when freshman kicker Robert Gunn III had a 41-yard field goal blocked on Clemson’s 2nd possession of the game. But it wasn’t until the 2nd half that things really got bad.

First, Leonard took advantage of some poor tackling by the Tigers to scamper 44 yards down the near sideline for a touchdown that put Duke ahead 13-7. Then Clemson’s offense took over. Three straight trips into the red zone yielded no points, with another blocked field goal and 2 fumbles keeping the Tigers out of the end zone.

The most damaging of those turnovers came early in the 4th quarter when running back Phil Mafah was stripped of the ball at the 3-yard-line by Anthony Nelson Jr. His Duke teammate Jaylen Stinson picked it up and returned it 55 yards to set up an insurance touchdown that proved to be the beginning of the end for Dabo Swinney’s team.  

Targeting with a twist

How does a team get a targeting penalty called on its defense, but still end up gaining possession of the ball on the same play?

Duke and Clemson found out on Monday. And it turned out to be a pivotal play that stunted a potential 4th quarter rally for the Tigers.

The confusing play happened with Clemson facing a 4th-and-8 situation from its own 48 with 8:22 remaining and the Blue Devils holding onto a 21-7 lead. It began with quarterback Cade Klubnik scrambling out of the pocket and running for what appeared to be a 1st down. As he slid to the turf, he was hit by Duke linebacker Cam Dillon.

Dillon was called for targeting and was ejected. But because it was ruled that Klubnik began his slide before the line to gain, the infraction happened after the play was over. And Duke was awarded the ball on downs, preventing the Tigers from cutting into their deficit.