The Sports Xchange
Sep 16, 2017
Shaun Wilson ran for touchdowns of 50 and 65 yards before Duke's defense came up big in the fourth quarter of a 34-20 homecoming victory against Baylor on Saturday afternoon at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, N.C.
Duke overcame two long third-quarter touchdown passes from Baylor's Zach Smith to Chris Platt, covering 73 and 79 yards.
With Duke holding a 24-20 lead, Blue Devils linebacker Ben Humphreys picked off a Smith pass and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown with 11:31 remaining.
Then with 8:15 to play, Duke recovered a fumble at Baylor 26, setting up Austin Parker's 26-yard field goal that banked in off the left upright.
Duke (3-0) goes into its Atlantic Coast Conference opener next week at North Carolina owning three home victories.
Wilson finished with 176 rushing yards on 18 carries, while teammate Brittain Brown added 86 yards on 18 attempts. Wilson's 50-yard touchdown run provided the team's first points.
Duke quarterback Daniel Jones completed 20 of 35 passes for 193 yards with one interception.
Brown's tackle-shedding 34-yard run put Duke ahead just 39 seconds into the second quarter.
Duke failed to convert following linebacker Joe Giles-Harris' interception when Parker's 33-yard field-goal attempt was wide.
Parker's 45-yarder in the third quarter pushed Duke's lead to 24-14.
Baylor (0-3) opened the scoring on Smith's 44-yard pass to Denzel Mims on the second play after a Duke fumble on the game's first official play from scrimmage.
The Bears were haunted by penalties, including nine infractions accepted in the first 20 minutes.
Smith, making his first start of the season, was 12 of 34 for 263 yards.
Baylor didn't convert a third down until less than four minutes remained.
Duke won the only other meeting with Baylor 59 years ago.