Homecoming weekend brought many alumni back to Durham, but Wallace Wade Stadium was surprisingly only about a third full to begin the game.
But as fans began to trickle in as the contest progressed, surely enough, Duke eventually woke up, turning an early deficit into a showing of pure domination.
The Blue Devils bounced back from a heartbreaking loss to easily put away the Yellow Jackets 41-23 Saturday afternoon in what was a one-sided battle for most of the matchup, highlighted by a 28-point second quarter for Duke. The Blue Devils defense, headed by senior linebacker Koby Quansah, showed up when called upon to make big plays, and only allowed 173 Georgia Tech yards on the ground.
“I think we just really believed in our game plan and we were executing really well,” Duke redshirt senior Quentin Harris said. “The linemen did a great job clearing holes for the backs and you know, there were a lot of running lanes out there and the guys made some great plays when they needed to.”
The exclamation point for Duke’s superior play came near the end of the first half, when Duke blocked a Georgia Tech punt on fourth down, and junior safety Javon Jackson recovered the punt for a touchdown. Not only did the Yellow Jackets struggle to move the chains, but they also found it difficult to execute simple football plays such as kicking punts, picking up clear blitzes or hitting wide open receivers in stride.
It’s easy to become complacent when your competition is clearly inferior, and it seemed as though the Blue Devils would have some issues staying focused and energized in the opening minutes of the game. Georgia Tech opened the game with an 11-play, 75-yard drive ending with a touchdown and putting up the first points on the board, despite entering Wallace Wade favored to lose by 17.5 points.
“I told our team at halftime three things, discipline, assignments and effort will keep you playing at the top of your game,” head coach David Cutliffe said. “You just can't afford to lose your discipline right now, have an assignment error and certainly play any less level than what you had been.”
Instead of panicking, Cutcliffe and shot caller Harris responded immediately with a quick scoring drive of their own, ending in a field goal. The Blue Devils did not look back and continued to torch the Yellow Jackets through the air and on the ground.
Harris continued to target freshman wideout Jalon Calhoun all day, who seems to be his favorite receiver, regularly throwing up 50-50 balls to the Greenville, S.C. native. Harris’ trust in his young pass catchers paid off, as he finished with 176 yards in the air, evidenced by a 42-yard connection between Harris and Calhoun which helped set up the Blue Devils' first field goal.
Duke (3-2, 2-1 in the ACC) really earned its money on the ground though, as the Blue Devils finished with 197 rushing yards due to the explosiveness of backs Deon Jackson and Mataeo Durant along with triple-option play calling sprinkled into the mix. A combination of a few big rushing plays by Harris and Durant was capped by a six-yard sprint into the end zone by freshman Eli Pancol for Duke’s first touchdown of the game, giving it a 10-7 lead that would only get bigger.
After a pretty embarrassing start by the Blue Devils front four, they found their groove quickly, getting into the backfield with ease and pressuring Georgia Tech’s quarterback on what seemed like every play. As Duke ran up the score in the second quarter, the Yellow Jackets tried to stay in the game with a third down conversion. Unfortunately for Georgia Tech (1-5, 0-3), junior Victor Dimukeje had other plans in mind. The Baltimore native went virtually unblocked and lit up Yellow Jacket quarterback for a sack, his first of three on the day.
While Duke clearly played better and harder than its opponent, its execution wasn’t perfect by any means. The Blue Devils are still prone to allowing big plays as evidenced by the 23 points Georgia Tech scored—23 more points than Duke would have liked to give up to the worst team in the ACC Coastal Division.
“I think the lesson for us is that we play well with an edge and we have to have that edge and you gotta learn to play well,” Cutcliffe said. “The best football teams get better when you get a lead.”
As Duke looks to face a much more talented team in Virginia next weekend, the team must clean up its errors if it wants to have similar results.
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