WEST POINT, N.Y. - Going into the game, the Blue Devils conceded that Army would get its share of yardage on the ground behind their bruising rushing attack, but they were not ready to face Army's aerial assault.
The Cadets (2-0) attacked by air and on the ground as they wore down Duke (0-3) and capitalized on the Blue Devils' defensive inexperience to beat Duke 35-17 on Saturday at Michie Stadium.
The Cadets, who had lost to the Blue Devils five straight times, were sparked by a career-day by senior quarterback Ronnie McAda, who accounted for 313 total yards. McAda delivered the fourth-most potent offensive day in Army football history, as he threw for 225 yards passing and ran for 88 more, accounting for Army's first three touchdowns.
McAda's success was set up by Army's rushing game, as the Cadets ran for 304 yards on the day, averaging nearly five yards per carry. McAda then capitalized on Duke's run-wary defensive set to complete seven out of eight passes to receivers often left wide open while the Blue Devils keyed on the run.
"Duke wanted to play us tight so we thought we could throw the ball," McAda said. "It just so happened we got some big plays out of it. I don't think we threw the ball that many more times than we normally do-we just made them count."
Duke's offense also had its potent moments in the first half, but the Cadets managed to wear down the Blue Devils in the second half and capitalize on their mistakes.
Army jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead on the first drive of the game, as McAda immediately set the theme of mixing the run and the pass. The Cadets pounded the ball at the line of scrimmage for the first five plays until McAda completed a 19-yard pass to Ron Thomas, who had slipped past the coverage. McAda surprisingly returned to the pass just two plays later, as he found Brad Miller for a 38-yard gain, after Miller had beaten Tawambi Settles.
McAda ran the ball in from nine yards out on the next play on an option keeper. In all, McAda accounted for 67 of Army's 78 yards on the drive.
The Cadets picked on Duke's coverage problems again on their next possession, as McAda found Ron Thomas alone deep in the secondary for an 82-yard score. Desi Thomas was the only Blue Devil even close to Thomas on the defensive breakdown.
"I just ran my route right and [McAda] just put it in there," Ron Thomas said. "In a wishbone offense like ours, when you get an opportunity to make those plays, you only get one opportunity. The line gave [McAda] time and Ron just put it up there. My job was easy. All I had to do was catch the ball.
"At first I thought I was out of bounds [after the catch]. Then I looked down and my feet were in and I said, 'Oh darn, I'm still in.' When I first caught it, there was a guy on my hip and I thought he was on me and I heard the crowd yelling. I thought he was catching me so I started running faster and faster because I thought that he was getting closer and closer."
Duke did manage to pull closer after forcing an Army fumble on its third possession.
Mike Steinbaugh pounced on a Joe Hewitt fumble on the Army 27, and Duke quarterback Dave Green did the rest. Green scored on a 15-yard bootleg run, spinning out of a tackle at the five after a Reco Owens block sprung him around the left end.
Duke continued to apply the pressure, as they closed to 14-10 in the second quarter on a 27-yard Sims Lenhardt field goal.
But that was as close as the Blue Devils would get, as Army responded with a methodical march down the field, in typical Army fashion, that squelched Duke's momentum.
The 91-yard drive took over six minutes, as the Cadets pounded the ball right down Duke's throat, capitalizing on a 13-yard McAda run on a third-and-13 situation. Army converted four of five third down conversions in the first half.
"Basically, we just pounded the ball at them," McAda said. "Our offensive line comes out hard and they were doing a great job of blocking Duke's defensive line off the ball and our running backs were hitting the holes and blocking the linebackers.
"We're gonna pound the ball, we're gonna waste a lot of time, were gonna get four to five yards a carry and we're gonna make a lot of first downs. For some reason on third down, we just get a little more focus than we are on first or second. We know that we have to make this play in order to keep the drive going."
Army kept their offensive momentum going in the second half, as McAda again hit a timely pass to torch the Duke secondary.
After freshman Darius Clark bit on a fake reverse and a pump fake, McAda found Coby Short for a 28-yard gain.
On the next play, Bobby Williams scooted through the Duke front seven to find clear daylight, and 26 yards later, Army led 28-10.
Duke coach Fred Goldsmith then turned to backup quarterback Matt Rader to lead the offense, and Rader responded, leading Duke on a 14-play drive down to the Army 15. But then inexperience bit the Blue Devils again, as sophomore Reco Owens bobbled a perfect pass, and Jerrold Tyquiengco grabbed it in mid-air. Duke receivers dropped at least four catchable passes on the day.
Duke's hopes were nearly broken, as McAda nailed a 25-yard pass, but when the play was called back for an offensive holding penalty, the Blue Devils got life again.
The defense forced the Cadets to punt, and Rader executed another impressive drive to close the gap to 28-17 with 12:22 to go in the fourth quarter. Rader found Owens in the end zone for the nine-yard strike.
Duke's back breaker came on the next Cadet possession, though, as McAda took advantage of the worn-down defense to engineer yet another methodical drive highlighted by timely passes.
Williams drove the ball in from two yards out, and only four minutes after Duke had a chance, its back was to the wall.
"When we made even the smallest mistake, they were able to capitalize on it," senior Duke linebacker Billy Granville said. "The quarterback made some really good decisions-he's an experienced leader."
But the Blue Devils kept battling, driving the length of the field only to sputter in the red zone. Laymarr Marshall was stopped for a one-yard loss on fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line.
"Right now, we don't have that killer instinct to finish off drives," Green said. "I know that each play is a new play, but sometimes you just have to ride off some emotion. We really need to let emotion from big plays carry over and use that momentum, especially down in the red zone."
On this day, Army was just able to dominate the young Blue Devils with its aggressive style, and Duke was unable to adjust.
"In the wishbone offense, were just pounding it every play, every play and once we started doing that we said, 'Hey, were can pound Duke,'" Ron Thomas said. "We played our game. No matter what they did, we didn't have to make a lot of adjustments. We just played our football."
With the loss, the Blue Devils drop to 0-3 for the first time since 1983, and having lost 10 out of their last 11 games, the outlook for the rest of this season is not bright.
"I'm real concerned," Goldsmith said. "[Lack of confidence has] already affected us. When nothing positive happens, you don't get positive reinforcement. You get negative reinforcement from negative things.
"That's the problem I've got now. We are young and we've lost our confidence. You cannot make the amount of mistakes we made."
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