Illinois Fighting Illini at Duke Blue Devils

No. 11 Illinois takes over after halftime to beat mistake-prone Duke 45-19 for road win

Kaden Feagin, Hank Beatty and Ca'Lil Valentine ran for scores, while Beatty also had a huge receiving day with eight catches for 128 yards for the Fighting Illini (2-0). Illinois led by just one at halftime but asserted itself from there and outscored Duke 31-6 in what turned into a dominating finish.

“It was really cool to kind of have some hurdles to climb over in the first half,” Altmyer said, adding: “We know if we do the right things, we're a really good team.”

The key, though was Illinois' opportunism in pouncing on every Duke mistake when the game was close — and boy, there were plenty.

Duke (1-1) committed five turnovers, notably a muffed punt deep in its own end to set up a short field on Illinois' first touchdown and Darian Mensah losing a red-zone fumble in the first half.

The miscues also included a penalty for having two players in the game wearing a No. 8 jersey as Illinois punted on a three-and-out to open the second half. That led to a first down on a drive the Illini would ultimately take to the end zone, with Altmyer's 4-yard scoring throw to Justin Bowick for a 21-13 lead that ultimately proved to be merely the start of Illinois' surge.

“Unfortunately in the second half, we were still the architects of our own demise,” Duke coach Manny Diaz said, referring to the penalty as essentially a sixth turnover.

Mensah threw for 334 yards and two touchdowns for Duke. Both went to Andrel Anthony, including a spectacular grab in the back of the end zone with Anthony getting his right toe down barely inbounds 8 seconds before halftime to make it 14-13.

The takeaway Illinois: This is a quality win that could boost their AP Top 25 standing, coming against a nine-win team from last year. After being outgained 240-132 while allowing four sacks before halftime, Illinois rolled to 287 yards while allowing no sacks after the break.

Duke: The Blue Devils officially have a problem through two games: a minus-6 turnover margin with no takeaways.

Punch-out Illinois coach Bret Bielema said he showed his players a clip of roughly seven or eight plays from last year showing Blue Devils players having the ball punched out for turnovers, highlighting potential issues with ball security.

Defensive back Matthew Bailey used that tip perfectly when the game was still in doubt.

Trailing 21-13, Mensah found Sahmir Hagans for a short pass to the left, and Hagans cut inside a defender to get loose and cross midfield. But Bailey closed on Hagans and punched the ball loose as he made contact near the sideline, with teammate Kaleb Patterson making a scrambling crawl to pounce on the ball for the turnover.

“It tells a lot being able to come out there and finish the job, especially away and how we did,” Bailey said.

Up next Illinois: The Illini host Western Michigan on Saturday.

Duke: The Blue Devils visit Tulane on Saturday in a reunion for Mensah with his former program.