Wolfpack sneaks past football

Late in Saturday's football game against North Carolina State, the football team appeared to be experiencing a reverse form of deja vu.

A year earlier in Raleigh, N.C. State had overcome a 16-point third-quarter deficit to top Duke, 24-23. Saturday in Durham, the Blue Devils fell behind 34-17 in the third quarter before storming back to within three points late in the game. As Duke sliced through the Wolfpack defense on its final drive, it seemed likely to pull off a comeback as stunning as N.C. State's 1994 victory.

But with 36 seconds remaining, Wolfpack safety Brandon Davis intercepted Duke quarterback Spence Fischer at the N.C. State five-yard line, ending the Blue Devils' comeback and extending Duke's losing streak to five games.

"I felt like [Fischer] came off his back foot, and I think his receiver fell, and I said, `This is my big opportunity right here,"' Davis said.

The matter of whether Fischer's receiver, tight end Jeff Hodrick, simply fell was a controversial issue. Hodrick may have been held by a Wolfpack defender, but the two players' contact drew no penalty flag, and Davis' interception stood.

"I think Hodrick got held up a little bit," Fischer said. "It was [man-to-man] coverage, and I think that he did get held.

"You are going to get some calls your way, and sometimes you're not."

Turnovers plagued the Blue Devils (2-6, 0-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) throughout the contest, as N.C. State (2-5, 1-3 in the ACC) converted its first three takeaways into touchdowns and sealed the win with the fourth. Duke's most critical turnover came midway through the third quarter, when Wolfpack freshman cornerback Hassan Shamsid-Deen recovered a Laymarr Marshall fumble and returned it 68 yards for a touchdown, giving his team a 34-17 advantage.

Neither team scored on the next three possessions, as the two struggling defenses finally clamped down. With 12 minutes remaining, a 15-yard punt return by freshman Reco Owens gave Duke the ball at its own 27-yard line. The Blue Devils kept the drive alive with three third-down conversions, and just before the eight-minute mark, Fischer connected with junior split end Dominique Flemming for a 23-yard touchdown pass that made the score 34-31.

"We haven't done much in the second half the past few weeks, and we just completely dominated the second half today," Duke head coach Fred Goldsmith said. "Today, we got all the momentum going our way. That's what makes it a little more disappointing."

While the Duke offense generated considerable momentum, the Blue Devil defense could not consistently hold N.C. State. Only five plays after Duke had pulled within three, Wolfpack sophomore Carlos King dashed 28 yards into the end zone, stretching his squad's lead to 10 points.

"Carlos was able to step in--that was a big play for us," O'Cain said. "We caught them in a couple of blitzes, and when you blitz, it's feast or famine, and we were able to hit that run on a blitz."

The Blue Devils countered N.C. State's score, as Fischer capped a 58-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run. Although the drive pulled Duke back within three, it raised two major questions. First, the Blue Devils moved downfield slowly, consuming more than three-and-a-half minutes and maintaining their standard offense instead of employing a two-minute drill. Second, Goldsmith elected to try an extra point instead of a two-point conversion, meaning that Duke would need another touchdown, rather than a field goal, to win.

"I knew [moving slowly] would work in our advantage," Goldsmith said. "I felt like when it came down to the end, if there wasn't much time left, that might get N.C. State into a more conservative mode and give our defense a better chance.

"I felt like we had plenty of time to score [another] touchdown if we needed to. We were going to have the ball with time."

The Blue Devils attempted to regain possession by trying an onside kick, but kicker Tom Cochran failed to send the ball the required 10 yards, and the Wolfpack assumed possession at the Duke 38-yard line. The Blue Devil defense stood firm, preventing N.C. State from picking up a first down, and after Duke stopped Wolfpack fullback Rod Brown on fourth-and-one, the Blue Devils took over at their own 30.

"It was good that we finally rose up as a defense and made a couple of plays in a critical situation," senior linebacker Carlos Bagley said. "I guess that's one positive we can take out of this game."

Fischer completed four consecutive passes to push Duke to the Wolfpack 24-yard line with 48 seconds remaining. But after an incomplete pass and a five-yard sack, the senior threw the interception that clinched N.C. State's victory.

"The turnovers killed us," Fischer said. "Good teams are going to capitalize, and N.C. State did just that."

Duke's first two turnovers, both first-half interceptions, led to a pair of Wolfpack touchdowns. While the Blue Devil defense relinquished 27 points before halftime, Duke's offense--despite its turnovers--nearly kept pace. The Blue Devils produced touchdown drives of 72 and 70 yards, and they advanced 49 yards in just over a minute to set up a last-second Cochran field goal. Also, they improved their much-maligned ground game, gaining 118 rushing yards before the break.

"I believe running the ball has to be a part of any football team," Goldsmith said. "That's one good thing that I did see--we ran the football and blocked well."