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Game commentary

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Few highlights seen among snores from football game**

Duke sports fans would have been wise to hit the snooze bar Saturday morning, because the Duke-Wake Forest football game was a sleeper of epic proportions.

In a battle for sole possession of last place in the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Blue Devils and Demon Deacons limped through a prolonged struggle, proving that Duke may be bad, but at least Wake is worse.

Despite Duke's 42-26 win--a rare victory which broke a five-game losing skid for the 3-6 squad--the near-capacity crowd was barely entertained with a mix of oafish miscues, nearly-blown leads and poor execution.

How boring was this game?

"In terms of performance, that was one of the finest," Wake Forest head coach Jim Caldwell said. "He was really sharp, and did a nice job, particularly in the situation we were in, because we did a lot of no huddles. It was just an excellent performance."

LaRue, operating out of the no-huddle for the first time in the third quarter, managed to rally the Deacs from a 35-0 deficit to within 35-20 with 12:06 remaining in the fourth quarter. Relying nearly exclusively on the short pass, LaRue racked up 478 passing yards for the game.

"One time I thought we had been on the sideline the whole third quarter," sophomore wide receiver Corey Thomas said. "It just seemed like the defense had been out there all day."

Despite the stellar numbers, LaRue and the Wake offensive gurus managed to turn the no-huddle into a plodding offense with numerous gains of three or four yards per pass. Two Wake drives--in the supposed fast-break, two-minute drill offense--lasted 14 and 17 plays, respectively, eating up the clock for Wake's dwindling chances and lulling the audience to sleep.

• The Duke defense. Now this unit was the real star of the afternoon. Duke fans were able to witness one of the worst defenses in the country sink even lower. As if being ranked 106th in the nation in total defense weren't bad enough, the Blue Devils allowed the ACC's worst offense to pile up huge numbers. The Demon Deacons' 494 total yards easily surpassed their best total of the year, bettering even their performance over lowly Tulane.

"Our guys up front did a nice job with their pass rush," Caldwell said. "They didn't pressure us a whole lot. They tried to early on, and we caught a couple of deep ones on them, so they got away from the pressure."

With senior free safety Ray Farmer knocked out of the game in the first quarter, LaRue was free to pass at will. And with little Duke pressure--the Blue Devils had slipped into the prevent defense by the third quarter--the Demon Deacons seemed to not even be challenged on pass route after pass route.

"They blitzed a few times," Caldwell said. "It just wasn't a factor. Our guys did a good job of picking it up and delivering the ball in key situations."

It seemed as if the Blue Devils were just happy with their 35 straight points, and would be content to sit back while Wake stormed from behind.

According to Thomas, the Blue Devils may have "looked like we were complacent," but "we really weren't."

Regardless, if the offensive output propelled by LaRue proved to be too much, what can the Blue Devil defense expect to do against much better teams like Clemson and North Carolina?

At least fans Saturday got an early glimpse of the gloomy future awaiting the team.

• Alonzo Moyer. This freshman that was converted to safety provided what may have been the lone heart-stopping, replay-worthy highlight of the game. After Wake had crawled within 15 points in the fourth quarter, Moyer intercepted an errant LaRue pass and streaked down the sideline 40 yards, knifing past defenders with an uncommon burst of speed. The touchdown vaulted the Blue Devils to an insurmountable 42-20 lead, sealing the game.

"When someone's throwing it that much, for a freshman safety to keep his poise and make play after play, and then make the big one and return it for a touchdown--you've got to be proud of a kid like that," head coach Fred Goldsmith said.

For Moyer, who played so many minutes because of the injury to Farmer, the play was the first in what he hopes will be many.

"They put me in there for a reason," Moyer said. "I was just at the right place at the right time."

He provided a lone spark late in the game, when the thinned-out crowd seemed more interested in getting good seats to the Blue-White basketball scrimmage than in watching the clash of the cellar-dwellers.