Sep 4, 2026 9:32 PM
The Duke Blue Devils won't see this Tulane player when they meet on Saturday afternoon in Durham.
Football is finally here, as the 2026 college football season is officially underway with Week 1 this weekend. For the Duke Blue Devils, they will hit the field for the first time on Saturday as they host Tulane in a non-conference showdown.
Duke is coming off an Atlantic Coast Conference title in 2025, upsetting Virginia and then going on to beat Arizona State in the bowl game. They took that confidence into the offseason, hoping to take a step forward. But without Darian Mensah, who is at Miami, the Blue Devils have a lot of questions to answer this season.
The first opportunity to do so comes Saturday and it will be a familiar opponent for Manny Diaz and the Blue Devils.
When the two teams meet, there will be some key injury news, and on Friday, there was already an important report about a key Tulane player. And it's not good news for Tulane.
Pete Thamel reported on Friday that Tulane running back Jamauri McClure will miss Saturday's game as he's dealing with a foot injury. The injury is significant, as McClure was selected to the preseason All-AAC team. He's coming off a 2025 campaign in which he rushed for 540 yards and two touchdowns for the Green Wave.
With the injury to McClure, the Green Wave will now turn to the duo of Maurice Turner and Johnnie Daniels to lead the backfield. The Green Wave begins its first season under new head coach Will Hall, who took over from John Sumrall. Losing McClure is a tough hit to this offense, which will look to find success against this Blue Devils defense, and getting the ground game going for a new quarterback was likely the game plan.
This game will also be a rematch of last season's game at Tulane where the Green Wave pulled off a close win over the Blue Devils. But both teams will look a lot different offensively as Tulane lost Jake Retzlaff while the Blue Devils lost Mensah.
Duke and Tulane will kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday in Wallace-Wade Stadium in Durham. The game will be broadcast live on the ACC Network.
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