Duke QB Riley Leonard Starts Against Louisville, Blue Devils Drop Second Straight

Duke quarterback Riley Leonard got the start for the No. 20 Blue Devils’ road contest against No. 18 Louisville on Saturday, one week after re-aggravating his high ankle sprain against No. 4 Florida State. However, it could not stop the Cardinals from handing Duke its second consecutive loss.

The junior signal caller initially suffered the injury late in Duke's 21-14 home loss to Notre Dame on Sep. 30. He missed one game -- the Blue Devils' 24-3 home win against N.C. State on Oct. 14 -- before returning against the Seminoles last Saturday.

The 21-year-old went down in pain, though, after being sacked in the third quarter against Florida State, and was held out of the rest of the contest, despite "begging" to come back in, as told to reporters by head coach Mike Elko. With redshirt freshman Henry Belin II at the helm, Duke went scoreless for the remainder of the game, eventually falling 38-20.

On Saturday, Leonard returned to the starting lineup, but it did not get much better for the Blue Devils. Duke was without starting left tackle Graham Barton, tight end Nicky Dalmolin and cornerback Myles jones coming into the game, with right guard Jacob Monk going down in the first quarter and not returning.

In the midst of those injuries, the Blue Devils saw their chances of reaching their second-ever ACC Championship Game dwindle at L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium, as Louisville led 14-0 at the end of the opening quarter and never looked back.

The Cardinals went on to win 23-0, as Leonard completed just 9-of-23 passes for 121 yards and an interception. The Alabama native was taken out of the contest in favor of true freshman Grayson Loftis on Duke's final offensive drive of the game.

The Blue Devils racked up just 202 total yards of offense, while Louisville running back Jawhar Jordan tallied 163 yards (and two touchdowns) on the ground.

Duke (5-3, 2-2 in the ACC) hosts Wake Forest on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET, while Louisville (7-1, 4-1 in the ACC) hosts Virginia Tech on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET.