Mike Elko talks Duke's line of scrimmage woes against Louisville
After one quarter of play against the Louisville Cardinals, the Duke Blue Devils find themselves in unfamiliar territory, down 14-0. Duke has struggled in the trenches both offensively and defensively. After the first quarter, ESPN sideline reporter Molly McGrath had a quick chat with Blue Devils head coach Mike Elko about his team’s struggles along the line of scrimmage.
“Yeah, right now, we’re not doing a good job on either side of the line of scrimmage. Obviously, we gotta settle down, we gotta start making blocks, and we gotta start moving the football on offense. We gotta make some plays on defense,” Elko said.
Duke is down two starting offensive linemen now, and their absences have been felt early and often. The two offensive linemen in question are seniors Graham Barton, who has six starts at left tackle this season, and multi-faceted offensive lineman and team captain Jacob Monk. Barton did not suit up for the game. Monk, on the other hand, has left the game twice injured and has since been taken to the locker room.
With the issues Duke is having along the offensive line, Louisville has taken advantage of it early with two sacks in the first quarter. Coming into Saturday afternoon matchup, the Blue Devils had only allowed five sacks on the season, which led the ACC.
Riley Leonard makes his return
Riley Leonard is back in action against Louisville after being held out of last week’s 38-20 loss to Florida State. He was originally listed as a game-time decision, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Last week — just three weeks after suffering a high ankle sprain — Riley Leonard was back on the field for Duke as the Blue Devils squared off against Florida State. In the third quarter, though, he tweaked that ankle again and ended up spending the rest of the game on the sidelines.
According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Leonard pushed to return. However, the Duke staff didn’t let him come back, and he’s now a game-time decision this week when the Blue Devils head to Louisville.
“Riley Leonard came back on the early side of a timeline for a high ankle sprain,” Thamel said on College Football Live Friday afternoon. “Three weeks after injuring that ankle against Notre Dame, he played Saturday night against Florida State. He re-aggravated that same right ankle on an illegal hit by Florida State’s Braden Fiske. As he was ripped down by his facemask, he hurt his ankle. He left the game. I was told this week Leonard wanted to come back in the game. He was not allowed to, and he’s going to be a game-time decision at Louisville.”
Leonard has been one of the top quarterbacks in the ACC this season, ninth in the conference with 220 yards of offense per game as a true dual-threat quarterback. He threw for 778 yards and two touchdowns through the first four games of the season while adding 238 yards and four touchdowns on the ground to help Duke start off 4-0.