DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) — Duke football was back to business Thursday night as the Blue Devils opened the 2025 season with a win over FCS team Elon.
After a somewhat shaky first half, Duke (1-0) buckled down and defeated the Phoenix (0-1) by a score of 45-17 Thursday night at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham.
“It was a nervy start to the game,” Duke head coach Manny Diaz said. “It felt a little edgy and it took us awhile to settle down.”
New Blue Devils quarterback Darian Mensah threw for 389 yards and three touchdowns. All scores came in the second half, and he completed 27 of his 34 pass attempts.
“I feel like once you get that first completion then you’re rolling, but I had some first game jitters for sure, you could tell offensively,” said Mensah, who transferred from Tulane in the offseason. “But we got to see some adversity, and we are playing a big time team next week and we know what we are made of.”
Four Duke receivers recorded over 50 yards, with Cooper Barkate leading the way with 117. It was Sahmir Hagans, however, who found the endzone most often, scoring two touchdowns on 54 yards. Andrel Anthony caught the other touchdown pass from Mensah.
“Once we settled down on offense we have a lot of weapons,” said Diaz. “We really like the depth of our weapons and that was on display today.”
Anderson Castle led the Blue Devils’ ground game with 69 total yards, while Jaquez Moore rushed seven times for 44 yards and scored a touchdown.
Elon quarterback Landen Clark threw for 101 yards, completing 10 of his 16 pass attempts. Though he didn’t throw any touchdowns, Clark rushed in for a touchdown and recording a total of 61 yards on the ground. Landyn Backey scored the other touchdown for the Phoenix in the loss.