Running back Nate Sheppard powered the Duke Blue Devils past Tulane on Saturday as they opened up the 2026 season with a win.
The Duke Blue Devils picked up right where they left off last season, despite a few new faces on the roster.
With some changes, Duke was still able to retain running back Nate Sheppard and they are sure glad they did. Sheppard finished with over 200 rushing yards and had two touchdowns as he helped power the Blue Devils past Tulane 17-3 to open the year.
The running back was Duke's offense on Saturday as they got revenge against a Tulane team that beat them last season and also reached the College Football Playoff. Even without Darian Mensah at quarterback, the Blue Devils got enough from Sheppard alone to get the win.
After a 90-minute delay due to weather pushed the start time to 5 p.m., the Blue Devils got the scoring started early. Sheppard found the end zone from nine yards out to get Duke on the board with a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. That completed a 17 play drive that went 75 yards and took up 9:53 off the clock. It was an impressive first drive for the Duke offense led by Walker Eget at quarterback who is taking over for Mensah.
The two teams then went scoreless for the rest of the first quarter and most of the second quarter before Duke got a 22-yard field goal with three seconds left in the first half to take a 10-0 lead into halftime.
Tulane battled back as they got a field goal in the third quarter to cut it to 10-3. But they never really threatened at all and Duke's defense passed a early test limiting Tulane to just 258 total yards and 10 first downs.
The Green Wave also committed 15 penalties for 104 yards and went 3-of-14 on third downs.
Sheppard put his stamp on the game with a 14-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter to seal it for Duke. He finished the game with 227 yards and two touchdowns.
Eget went 13-of-26 and had 131 yards in the game. He did struggle with accuracy at times but with Sheppard in the back field, Eget didn't have to do too much.
For Duke, they now head to Illinois to face off against the Fighting Illini next weekend with a 3:30 p.m. kickoff.
