Mensah shines in second half of Duke debut in 45-17 win over Elon
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Darian Mensah threw three second-half touchdown passes in his Duke debut and the Blue Devils broke free from a halftime tie to defeat Elon 45-17 in Thursday night’s season opener.
Mensah, a transfer from Tulane, finished 27-for-34 for 389 yards, including 11-for-11 in the second half.
“Just trying to execute at the highest level I can,” Mensah said. “We just got to keep playing. I felt like we executed in the first half, just didn’t put the ball in the end zone.”
The Blue Devils posted the final 21 points after Elon closed within 24-17 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.
“Whatever happened in the first half, let it go,” Duke coach Manny Diaz said. “I felt once we got going, we took over the game.”
Elon quarterback Landen Clark, a redshirt freshman in his first collegiate start, gained 61 yards on the ground with a touchdown. He also threw for 101 yards.
Elon coach Tony Trisciani said it was a hyped up locker room with the score tied at halftime.
“That first half went about as good as we could have hoped for us,” Trisciani said. “We ran out of gas a little bit in the second half.”
The Blue Devils broke it open on Que’Sean Brown’s 78-yard punt return for a 38-17 edge.
Newcomers mesh
Mensah connected on three passes to Cooper Barkate covering 73 yards on the first possession of the second half before hitting Sahmir Hagans for a 15-yard touchdown play.
Barkate, a transfer from Harvard, picked up 117 yards on five receptions. Hagans also caught a fourth-quarter touchdown pass.
While Mensah was with the Blue Devils since January, Barkate didn’t join workouts until summer. The duo pushed hard to gel as quickly as possible.
“He has been my go-to guy,” Mensah said. “That’s been something we’ve been working on after practice, throwing routes.”
There’s already confidence brewing among newcomers.
“He’s magical anytime the ball is in his hand,” Barkate said of Mensah.
The bright side
The Phoenix headed on the short trip home with new-found confidence as they face Football Championship Subdivision opponents the rest of the season.
“We had some guys step up and make some big plays,” Trisciani said. “We’re going to focus on all those positive things. That’s what our players are going to hear from me. … This was a great opportunity for us to play the best team we’re going to play all year.”
Elon’s 275 yards of total offense were nearly double last year’s 140 yards vs. Duke.
The takeaway
Elon: The Phoenix didn’t reach the end zone in last year’s 26-3 season-opening loss to the Blue Devils, avoiding that fate this time with Clark’s 2-yard run with 3:43 left in the first half.
Duke: Mensah became the first Duke quarterback in the past 15 years to throw for more than 300 yards in his Blue Devils debut. On defense, the Blue Devils notched 10 tackles for losses.
Up next
Elon: Home Sept. 6 vs. Davidson
Duke: Home Sept. 6 vs. No. 12 Illinois
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By BOB SUTTON
Associated Press
