Five weeks later, Duke is back on schedule.
After a respectable performance in the season opener against national powerhouse Florida State, Duke appeared ready to return to the form that had worked so well in 1994.
But the next four weeks were nothing but blowout losses and excuses from the young Blue Devils, as they gave up more than 46 points per game and lost by an average of 26.5 points.
After Saturday's performance against Clemson, though, Duke may have regained some of the momentum it had after week one.
"I think we got our self respect back," Duke coach Fred Goldsmith said. "At least now we know that we can play football again.... We took a big step today."
Saturday, there were no monumental collapses like the 43 points Navy scored in a row against Duke two Saturdays ago. There were no punts or turnovers returned for touchdowns against the Blue Devils, as has happened seven times this season (3 punts, 2 interceptions, 2 fumbles.) There were no fundamental mistakes like in weeks past for Duke-just one missed assignment on defense and a few missed opportunities on offense.
The big mistake on defense occurred just 58 seconds into the second quarter.
For the first time all season, the Blue Devils held their opponent scoreless in the first quarter. It didn't remain that way for long.
After eight first quarter rushes yielded just 27 yards for Clemson, quarterback Nealon Greene went up top to junior wide out Tony Horne on the Tigers' first play of the second quarter. Horne took the pass and eluded two Duke defenders, zig-zagging across the field for the only touchdown of the game.
It was a play that had become typical for Duke this season-but not for this game. That play alone accounted for over a third of Clemson's yards through the air.
"We just had a breakdown on that one play," defensive tackle Chris Combs said.
The rest of the game was reminiscent of the defensive performance that the Blue Devils managed against Florida State, when they held the powerful Seminoles and Heisman hopeful Warrick Dunn to only 221 yards of total offense.
The key to the defense may have been the front seven, as it held Tiger tailback Raymond Priester to a mere 82 yards and kept pressure on Greene for much of the game.
Priester was mostly silent until late in the game when Clemson was trying to run out the clock. He only mustered 31 yards before the fourth quarter.
"By God, that's the way I like to play defense," Goldsmith said. "You go out there and you play hard nosed. That 's the way I want our football team to play."
The Duke secondary was suspect at times, allowing Greene to have his best game of the season. Twice, Clemson receivers had senior Brandon Pollock beaten near the end zone, but both times the receiver couldn't reel the ball in.
"We definitely had plays that we could've made," Greene said. "We missed on a lot of deep passes."
But the Duke defense managed to keep up the pressure and prevent any more touchdowns. The defense sacked Greene once, forced one interception and batted down two more passes.
"We were blitzing a lot," Settles said. "After the first quarter, we started getting more pressure in there on the quarterback. I guess the player might look open, but the quarterback doesn't have enough time to make accurate throws. We were covering our men as long as we could."
With this type of defensive effort, brighter days may be ahead for the Blue Devils after all. The squad played well enough to win, and Duke might have if Reco Owens had changed his shoes at halftime.
Duke is finally back to playing up to its expectations, as illustrated by the fact that the Blue Devils covered the point spread for the first time since the FSU game.
Alumni from the Homecoming crowd were asking prior to the game whether Duke would go 0-11 this season. The answer will be a resounding "no" if the defense can continue the level of play that it displayed against Clemson.
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