Nate Sheppard ran for 227 yards and two touchdowns to lead Duke to a season-opening 17-3 victory against visiting Tulane in a weather-delayed game Saturday at Durham, N.C.
Sheppard added three receptions for 19 yards and was involved in nearly half of Duke’s offensive plays.
Walker Eget had an up-and-down debut as Duke’s quarterback, with the San Jose State transfer completing 13 of 27 passes for 131 yards.
Tulane was limited to 276 yards of total offense in Will Hall’s debut as head coach.
Zeon Chriss-Gremillion, a Louisiana transfer playing in his first Tulane game, completed 7 of 10 passes for 78 yards, and backup Kadin Semonza completed 10 of 21 passes for 138 yards.
Duke scored first on the game-opening possession on Sheppard’s 9-yard run, completing a 17-play drive that covered 75 yards and consumed almost 10 minutes. Sheppard ran for 51 yards on the march.
Duke threatened in the second quarter, but it came up short on a fourth-down play and gave the ball back at the Tulane 25.
The Blue Devils had another chance, with Cosme Salas kicking a 22-yard field goal in the final seconds of the first half after Tulane was flagged for being offside on his blocked attempt one snap earlier.
Both teams lost fumbles during a scoreless third quarter.
Leading 10-0, Duke reached the red zone again, but Eget’s incomplete fourth-down pass from the Tulane 18 ended the threat.
The Green Wave began a drive late in the third quarter and ended up with Jackson Courville’s 37-yard field goal with 13:37 remaining in the fourth.
Duke responded with a 75-yard drive that concluded with Sheppard’s 14-yard TD run for a 17-3 lead.
There was about a 90-minute pregame delay due to severe storms.
