Duke's Defense Nate Sheppard's Offense Helped Duke Beat Tulane 17-3 Saturday To Kick-off 2026 Season In Durham

Duke’s defense held Tulane to 3 points!

The 3 points? A Jackson Courville 37 yard field goal in 4th quarter!

Nate Sheppard who is a sophomore who is a running back scored two touchdowns had 35 carries for 227 yards , 2 touchdowns

Nate Sheppard’s first touchdown came on a 9 yard run in first quarter before Cosme Salas kicked, made extra point putting Duke ahead 7-0. In the 4th quarter Nate Sheppard ran for 14 yards Cosme Salas kicked, made extra point.

Though,

Before Duke’s defense could hold Tulane to three points Nate Sheppard would provide all the offense for Duke mother nature took over as their was thunderstorms lightning in the area in Durham that had the game originally scheduled to kickoff at 3:30pm in delay though they finally kicked off.

Following Duke’s defense Nate Sheppard’s offense helped Duke beat Tulane 17-3 Saturday to open 2026 season in Durham Head Coach Manny Diaz shared his thoughts by saying For them to put together a plan to stop him unable to stop him is a sign of a great player.

According to Chip Alexander News & Observer article https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/acc/duke/article317145796.html

In 2025 season Duke lost to Illinois by score of 45-19 on September 6, 2025 in Durham

The reason why Duke lost to then 11th ranked Illinois 45-19 in Durham was because Duke lost four fumbles Darian Mensah who is now quarterback of Miami threw an interception.

While Duke was busy making mistakes Illinois was busy converting Duke’s fumbles Darian Mensah’s interception into points!

In the 1st quarter Kaden Fegain ran for 1 yard run , David Olano kicked made extra point giving Illinois a 7-3 lead before Illinois extended that lead to 14-6 in 2nd quarter as Cole Rusk caught 8 yard pass from Luke Altmyer David Olano kicked, made extra point. In the 3rd quarter Justin Bowick caught 4 yard pass from Luke Altmyer, David Olano kicked made extra point extending Illinois lead over Duke this time 21-13 before Hank Beatty ran for 25 yard touchdown, David Olano kicked, made extra point extending Illinois lead over Duke yet again this time, 28-13. In 4th quarter David Olano would kick 35 yard field goal extending Illinois lead over Duke yet again this time, 31-19 before Collin Dixon would catch 2 yard pass from Luke Almyer David Olano would kick, make extra point before Illinois would yet again extend their lead over Duke this time 45-19 as Ca’ Lil Valentine would run for 23 yard touchdown , David Olano would kick, make extra point.

According to espn app

Following Duke’s 45 - 19 loss to 11th ranked Illinois Saturday wide receiver Andrel Anthony had this to say!

You take the good from that and carry that on, then you take the bad and fix it,”

It’s a long season.”

Following Duke’s 45 - 19 loss to 11th ranked Illinois Saturday Head Coach Manny Diaz had this to say about the difference between Duke, Illinois his teams mistakes!

I know for a fact there’s not that much separation between the two teams, and it’s a great lesson for us on our journey as to where we need to get to,”

“We were the architects,It felt like trying to do too much,”I had to think of our turnovers, the game is decided on six or seven plays — holding onto a ball too long, not throwing it away or scrambling or whatever, and doing extra things, fighting for extra yards, all with good intentions.”“We’ve got to look at this as some painful lessons today of what it takes to win big-time football games.” “All that being said, I think there’s enough evidence over the course of the 60 minutes that this is a really good football team. Some of the things we were able to do on both sides of the ball against a really good football team should give us a lot of reason to stick together and get it corrected.”

According to Luke Decock, Chip Alexander’s News & Observer articles https://www.newsobserver.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/luke-decock/article311999940.htmlhttps://www.newsobserver.com/sports/college/acc/duke/article311928974.html

Kickoff is set for 3:30pm from Gies Memorial Stadium!

The game is going to be televised on FS1!

Though,

Who is commentating the game is to be determined!