Riley Leonard, the quarterback for the 16th-ranked Duke football team, returned against fourth-ranked Florida State but injured his right ankle once more in the second half of the Blue Devils’ 38-20 defeat.
At Doak Campbell Stadium, Leonard suffered an ankle injury in the third quarter with Duke leading 20-17. Leonard had missed three weeks of action after initially hurting his ankle against Notre Dame in late September.
After the game, Duke coach Mike Elko remarked, “He wanted to come back in.” On the sidelines, he was pleading with me to enter again. We didn’t bring him back because I didn’t feel confident enough in his health to do so.
The Blue Devils (5-2, 2-1 ACC) were without a point after Leonard was replaced by Henry Belin IV, and Florida State (7-0, 5-0) scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to inflict Duke its first double-digit loss under Elko.
In Elko’s first 19 games, the Blue Devils’ worst defeat was an eight-point setback against Kansas. 7 of Leonard’s 16 passes were completed for 69 yards and one was intercepted. Belin had one completion for seven yards.
According to Elko, “the fourth quarter got ahead of us and they were clearly able to pull away and generate the score that they did.”
“I felt like we struggled for three quarters, our defense against their offense, and I felt like we held them in check to some extent. Finally, it escaped, so we now need to reorganize.