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Walker Eget was mad at himself.
Eget had taken over as the starting quarterback at Duke this season, was excited about playing Tulane in the opener and then, in his mind, came up lacking despite a 17-3 win.
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Asked to assess his play, Eget said, “Honestly, not very good.”
He added: “Not to the standard I feel like I could have played at. And I think not only I knew it, but everyone else knew it on this team, and the coaching staff.”
That stung. He took it personally. He also was determined to do something about it in Duke’s second game, Saturday on the road at Illinois.
“That was sort of the emphasis I had going into this week, that I’ve got to help out the team, I’ve got to do my job,” he said. “And I feel like if I do that, everybody is playing their damn butts off, and I just want to be a part of that, too.”
Eget did his job. Calm in the pocket, the transfer from San Jose State completed 15 of 21 passes for 206 yards and three touchdowns as the Blue Devils came away with a 31-27 comeback victory to go 2-0 in the season.
Illinois had earned a 19-point win over UAB in its opener and had a loud sellout crowd of 60,670 filling Gies Memorial Stadium for the Duke game. The Fighting Illini twice had 10-point leads in the first half that seemed comfortable enough, but Eget and the Duke offense kept answering.
Running back Nate Sheppard again was a load, smashing through would-be tacklers and averaging 6.1 yards a carry on a 147-yard day. But he burned the Illini by slipping out of the backfield and being a passing target for Eget, making five grabs, including two for scores.
Sheppard also turned a fake punt into a first down, the sophomore taking a direct snap and going 15 yards.
“I mean, what can he not do?” Eget said, smiling. “We might as well get him a QB number out there as well, because he’s an all-around player. He’s Duke tough. Let’s be honest, he’s a tough dude.”
Eget also showed toughness. Sacked in the fourth quarter, he suffered an apparent leg injury and had to be helped off the field. He had knee surgery after last season and the fear was he might have reinjured it.
But when Duke got the ball back, after a fourth-down stop by the defense, Eget was back on the field.
“Don’t worry, I’m just dramatic,” Eget joked. “Things happen in football and you’ve just got to be able to overcome it.”
Things happened in the Tulane game — Eget missing some open receivers, scatter-shooting some other passes. No turnovers by the QB, always a good thing, but no explosive plays, either. Social media wasn’t kind to him.
But his bounceback game Saturday came as no surprise to his teammates.
“We always knew Walker had it,” Sheppard said Saturday. “We’ve been confident from the start, from the time he stepped on (campus) until the time he became the starting quarterback. We had that confidence in him.
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“We all knew it was there. It was just him going out there and executing. I think that first game was just a warmup, getting comfortable in the offense, getting comfortable with our play style and how everything is going to be.”
Against Tulane, Duke won the opening coin toss, took the ball and scored with a long drive to set the tone. Against Illinois, the Blue Devils again won the toss but elected to defer to the second half.
That appeared to backfire when Illinois zipped 75 yards and scored on the first of Katin Houser’s three TD throws to wide receiver Collin Dixon.
But Duke responded by going 75 yards in four plays for a 7-7 tie, Sheppard getting off a 30-yard run before Eget connected with wideout Jonah Burton for a 13-yard score.
Eget lofted a pass to the left side of the end zone and Burton, who transferred to Duke from Idaho State after four seasons at Baylor, made a sliding catch.
“He’s worked so hard. It was meant for him to get that catch and to get us going,” Eget said.
The Blue Devils erased Illinois’ 24-14 lead by scoring in the final minute of the first half, then again early in the third quarter, going 75 yards after the second-half kickoff for a 28-24 lead. Sheppard scored each time on short throws from Eget.
“A 14-point swing,” Eget said. “That’s something that changes games.”
A year ago, quarterback Darian Mensah and a talented, experienced corps of receivers were game-changers for the Blue Devils on their way to an ACC championship. Their mass departure — Mensah entering the portal late after announcing he would stay at Duke — has led to an offensive rebuild, with Sheppard the centerpiece.
Somebody has to run it. This year, that’s Eget.
The Blue Devils open ACC play this Saturday at home against Stanford, which is coming off an open date. The Cardinal (1-1) took a 45-6 loss from Miami in its ACC opener on Sept. 4.
Eget played against Stanford a year ago at San Jose State, passing for 473 yards and three TDs in a 30-29 loss to the Cardinal.
“All we heard the entire offseason was about who left, who left, and the assertion that last year was almost as good as it could ever get and they couldn’t do what last year’s team could do,” Duke coach Manny Diaz said Saturday.
“The fact we’ve already beaten two programs last year’s team couldn’t beat, I think that means a lot to the guys in the locker room. What it shows to them is the program is still developing and still elevating.”
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This story was originally published September 14, 2026 at 5:00 AM.