Mike Elko, Duke not looking for moral victories after Notre Dame loss
In one of the bigger games in the history of their program, No. 17 Duke gave No. 11 Notre Dame a battle late but still fell short in a 21-14 loss. With that being the result, that’s all Mike Elko was looking to take away from the game.
Elko denied any positivity or small wins during his postgame press conference on Saturday night. To him, the fact of the matter is they didn’t get the job of winning the game done in Durham.
“We’re not looking for positive reinforcement,” said Elko. “We’re looking to win football games. That’s what we’re here for.”
That sentiment from Elko stems from Duke’s identity as well as their approach to this game against the Fighting Irish. He wasn’t satisfied because he and his team had every expectation that they were going to compete and win but they didn’t in the end because they didn’t make the necessary plays like their opponent did.
“This team believes in who they are, they believe in what they’re capable of,” said Elko. There wasn’t one kid in that locker room that thought we were going to go on this stage and not be able to compete with Notre Dame. Nobody thought this was a massive landslide in our ability to go out there and play this game.”
“We’re playing to win football games and we didn’t tonight because we didn’t make enough plays,” Elko said. “Hats off to Notre Dame. They did.”
After going down 13-0 after an interception, a pair of missed field goals, and several punts, Duke finally got on the board towards the end of the third. They then took the lead with another touchdown with just over nine minutes to go.
However, Notre Dame then went 95 yards to score the winning touchdown with less than a minute to go as the Blue Devils were unable to answer with a lost fumble just two plays into their final drive.
Duke has a lot to be proud of with what they’ve done early on in Elko’s tenure. That’s why he and the Blue Devils are not going to take any satisfaction from almost meeting their goal and remaining undefeated after the Top-25 matchup.
Pete Thamel: Injury to Duke QB Riley Leonard not considered season-ending
The Duke Blue Devils left Saturday night heartbroken against Notre Dame. The Blue Devils not only lost the game in gut-wrenching fashion but their star quarterback, Riley Leonard, suffered an injury on one of the final plays of the game.
Luckily for Duke fans, the early read on Leonard’s injury is that it’s not season-ending. He has a high right ankle sprain and a realistic chance of returning later in the month of October per ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
On the play he was injured, Leonard fumbled the ball and Notre Dame recovered, sealing the victory for the Irish. Leonard refused a cart to the locker room once he came out of the medical tent. He was then seen on crutches as he could not put any weight on his right leg.
The Duke star finished the game with over 200 all-purpose yards, with 88 of those coming on the ground. He also tossed in one touchdown pass and one interception.
Leonard is one of the best quarterbacks in the ACC and in all of college football. They’ll certainly miss him until he returns as a critical ingredient for the program’s rise the past two years.