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Game commentary
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Officials help stymie Blue Devils' 2nd-half comeback**
On Duke's first play from scrimmage, senior quarterback Spence Fischer found sophomore Corey Thomas slanting across the middle. Fischer fired a pass into his wide-open receiver's hands. Thomas dropped the ball.
From that play, it looked as if Saturday's game against N.C. State was going to be just like almost every other Duke game of late. Last week's success against Virginia was going to be castoff as a fluke, just as many fans have cast off the entire 1995 season. It must be a fact--Duke football cannot be good.
Those same fans were either standing on their feet or on their knees praying as the Blue Devils entered the fourth quarter of Saturday's game down 34-24. They jumped up and down as junior Dominique Flemming made a nice catch in the end zone on a 23-yard pass from Fischer to cut the lead to three. Minutes later, they groaned as the Wolfpack's Carlos King scurried through the Blue Devil line 28 yards to push the lead back to 10. Duke wouldn't win the game. It has the worst defense.
That's true. The Blue Devils entered the game with the worst defense in Division I-A. And through the first half, Duke lived up to its ranking, surrendering 27 points and 278 total yards.
But then something happened. Head coach Fred Goldsmith told his team exactly how it was playing. And no one likes to hear the truth when it's ugly.
"We were tired of playing like the last-place defense in the country," senior linebacker Carlos Bagley said. "We know that we're better than that."
That fourth-quarter touchdown was the only score the defense surrendered in the second half. Still, that wasn't enough to convince Blue Devil fans the defense was back. After a botched onside kick by senior Tom Cochran gave the Wolfpack the ball at the Duke 38-yard line with 2:11 remaining and N.C. State holding a three-point lead. Fans began the mass exodus out of Wallace Wade Stadium. The way the defense had played all year, Duke didn't have a chance.
It turned out a chance was the one thing Duke did have. N.C. State ran three running plays, but managed only nine yards. Goldsmith called his second timeout and set up a play. Rod Brown, who had 71 yards on the day, pushed the ball up the middle. The Duke line pushed back. And when the chains had been brought out, the evidence was clear. The nation's worst defense had made its best play of the season.
"Our defense hasn't played great this year, and when they made that big stop, I was so happy for them," Thomas said. "I knew we had a chance to win. It was coming all back together."
Duke now had 68 seconds left to push the ball downfield. This was the scenario it had been practicing for all year. Goldsmith even said his favorite two-minute drill in practice is the scenario with just over a minute on the clock, one time out left, and Duke needing a field goal to tie.
Fischer opened the drive with a sideline pass to Thomas for nine yards. Even after botching the first play of the game, it was Thomas who was the main man on Duke's final drive. Three times, Fischer called on No. 8, and three times Thomas appeared to have caught the ball on the sidelines. Thomas' third attempt was ruled incomplete as Thomas bobbled the ball out of bounds.
"I had the ball in my hands," Thomas said. "And I had it under control. When I fell out of bounds, the ball fell out of bounds. The referee called it an incomplete pass. I couldn't believe that he called it incomplete, but I couldn't get up and complain too much because I could have gotten a penalty. To me, it was a complete pass, and I was out of bounds to stop the clock."
The officials would later be criticized on the last play of the game for not making a call. Fischer's third-and-15 pass to sophomore Jeff Hodrick was in the air, but there was no Hodrick to be found. Instead, N.C. State's Brandon Davis made the catch and sealed what many thought was Duke's fate.
Fischer immediately took the blame for the bad pass, saying he should have looked for another receiver. Hodrick took some of the blame, saying he should have been open. Goldsmith didn't blame his players--he questioned the officials, who for the second time in under a minute had made--or not made--a call against Duke.
"I don't want to comment on [that play]," Goldsmith said. "I'd have something else to say, but the last time anyone said anything [about officiating, former head coach Steve] Spurrier got suspended. But I do have something that I wasn't really pleased with on the interception."
Both Hodrick and Fischer wouldn't say whether the receiver was held. But it was obvious from their comments that they thought he was. Fischer was asked if last year, riding a wave of success, Duke might have gotten a break on either call.
"I thought we got hurt with some calls, and maybe they wouldn't have happened last year," he replied. "Last year is a different story. We were in a position to win this year, and we didn't."
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