#

Game commentary

#

Football should remember, forget last season**

The 1994 Duke football team refused to listen to the pessimists. Instead it believed in itself, and finished its season 8-4 in a New Year's Day bowl game.

This year the pessimists returned--touting Duke football as a one-year fluke. The Blue Devils' running game without Robert Baldwin would amount to nothing, they said.

So far, the pessimists are right.

The Blue Devils suffered their worst lost in recent history Saturday night, losing to Navy 30-9. Sure, there have been more disappointing defeats--like last year's 24-23 loss to N.C. State. But this was a game the Blue Devils should have handedly won. Instead, they were handed their third defeat of the early season.

Last year, new head coach Fred Goldsmith instituted a strict, disciplined program, something that was missing in the Barry Wilson era. Duke won most of its ballgames by getting the little things done--making tackles, not committing penalties, pounding the ball on the ground on offense.

Saturday night, none of those things showed up. The most blatant thing that was missing was the Duke defense. Navy accumulated 377 yards rushing, with quarterback Chris McCoy gaining 144 of those yards.

The Blue Devils knew McCoy liked to run the ball. They knew he was an option quarterback. But time and again, McCoy eluded oncoming defenders, turning a potential five-yard loss into a five-yard gain.

"He's very quick, but I feel like a lot of it was not making tackles," senior defensive tackle James Kirkland said. "We just were not playing our fundamentals. The thing that makes it worse is that we were prepared. Everyone knew their assignments."

Even in the rare moments when the defense did its job, the offense didn't respond. After Kirkland forced a fumble early in the first quarter, Duke took control on the Navy 36-yard line. For a fleeting moment, things looked back to normal. The defense did its job. It was time for Spence Fischer and the Duke offense to put a touchdown on the board.

Duke moved the ball to the Navy one-yard line, but it could not break the plane of the goal line. The Blue Devils had to settle for a 20-yard field goal by Tom Cochran.

Duke can't win when Cochran is the team's entire offense, which he was on Saturday. And the Blue Devils need to be able to capitalize on its opponents mistakes, something it excelled on last year.

"The name of the game is touchdowns," junior wide receiver Corey Thomas said. "You have to get the ball into the end zone to win ballgames. When we can't put it into the end zone, it hurts."

There were two other essential components missing from the Duke offense--the running game and the big play. On the night, sophomore Laymarr Marshall managed only 22 yards on 16 carries, a far cry from Baldwin's impressive numbers last year. And Fischer's biggest pass on the night was a 23-yard toss to Dominique Flemming in the fourth quarter, when the outcome was already decided.

For the Blue Devils there were no blocked punts, no long bombs and no break-away runs. It all added up to no win.

"Our offense has to start making the big plays downfield, get some deep balls thrown," Thomas said. "People are saying we can't throw the ball deep, and we're not."

But the biggest thing the Blue Devils are missing is a belief in themselves. Sometime in the third quarter, the public address announcer at Wallace Wade stadium should have said, "Fred Goldsmith, would you please pick up your team's confidence at the lost and found."

Part of the lack of confidence may come from lack of leadership. As one of the team's seniors, Farmer apologized for not providing the team the leadership that was present last year. He said he needed to demonstrate to the younger players how to play with discipline, and how to play hard, all the time.

Another key is the players' attitude. It's much harder to lose when you know what it feels like to win. Just ask Spence Fischer. Fischer has seen the darkest and the brightest sides of Duke football. In 1993, when the team went 3-8, he talked to the media about the team trying its hardest and just coming up short. Saturday night, Fischer didn't talk at all, leaving the building and standing up the media.

All the players say there isn't anything different from last year. Farmer said the team still gets revved up for every game, ready to go out and play hard. No one seems to have an explanation for why Duke football cannot win like it did last year.

"Last year" is both the Blue Devils' curse and their blessing. Duke football is no longer a surprise. Teams know what Duke can do. So, as Thomas said, that means the Blue Devils need to step up their play, and can't sit back at the same level as last year.

At the same time, the Blue Devils need to go back to last year, when they were winning. Duke needs to find the same confidence it had when it was 7-0, nationally ranked, and going into Florida State. Then maybe Duke will start winning a few more games.

Like last year.