Walker Eget Answers the Call in Duke’s Win Over Illinois

The Duke Blue Devils moved to 2-0 on the young season following a 31-27 upset win over the Illinois Fighting Illini on Saturday. With Illinois being the six-point favorite and the home team, the deck was stacked against Duke.

However, a strong showing on both sides of the ball helped the Blue Devils earn the upset victory on the road. That included quarterback Walker Eget.

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After struggling in the Week 1 win over Tulane, Eget silenced any doubters he had this week with a nice performance against Illinois. The San Jose State transfer was making his second career start with Duke and finished the game 15-of-21 for 206 yards and three touchdowns.

He looked more poised out there, especially early on. 

The Blue Devils fell behind 7-0 early on, but Eget got them right back level on the ensuing Duke drive when he hit Jonah Burton with a 12-yard touchdown pass. He then hit running back Nate Sheppard for a seven-yard touchdown pass right before halftime to help Duke pull within three at 24-21 at halftime. 

Eget opened up the second half hitting Sheppard on a three-yard touchdown pass to give Duke the lead. 

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For Eget, he was accurate and strong with his throws, leading his receivers and hitting them in stride often. It helped put some pressure on the Illinois’ defense 

While Eget did get hurt and left the game at one point in the second half, he did return late to close out the game. That’s a good sign that he didn’t suffer a serious injury and should be ready to go next week as well. 

With Eget winning the job, Duke didn’t need him to play at the level Darian Mensah played at last season. Instead, they needed him to just play at a high level overall, which is exactly what he did on Saturday. If they can get this type of production from Eget, Duke’s season could change in a hurry. 

And this performance should help him earn more confidence moving forward. 

Duke returns to the field next Saturday as they host Stanford in their first Atlantic Coast Conference…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/walker-eget-answers-call-dukes-004502494.html

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Publish date : 2026-09-13 00:45:00

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