Last weekend, the football team traveled to Tallahassee and came away limping with a 62-13 defeat and a bad case of gastroenteritis.
And although the team came into its game Saturday against Virginia healthy, it was Duke's offensive performance that made fans, players and coaches alike sick to their stomachs.
Always frustrating, occasionally comical and, at other times, just plain bad, the offense stumbled, fumbled and crumbled, leading to the team's 24-0 loss to the Cavaliers. The offensive goose egg was the first the team had laid since 1993, when Virginia blanked Duke 35-0.
Frustrating, predictable and just plain bad.
And it didn't exactly take the Blue Devils offense too long to show all three of those aspects Saturday.
On Duke's first play from scrimmage after the opening kickoff, the Blue Devils lined up in the five-receiver set and quarterback Spencer Romine found tight end Mike Hart with a perfectly placed lob for a 33-yard gain. Duke could not have scripted a better way to open the game.
One problem, however. Illegal motion on the Blue Devils negated the big gain and instead of a first and 10 at the Virginia 32, Duke faced a first and 15 at its own 30. Frustrating.
Apparently undeterred, Duke started from the exact same formation on the next play, and ran the exact same play. Hart again gained a step on his defender, but Romine overshot him with his throw this time. Predictable.
On the next play, the Blue Devils emerged from the huddle and lined up in the five-receiver set again. Romine had time to throw but tried to force the ball downfield to Letavious Wilks out of the backfield. Virginia safety Anthony Poindexter broke on the ball and hauled in one of the easier interceptions of his career. Just plain bad.
"Our scouting report said he's the best safety in the nation, and after today, I'd have to agree," Romine said. "He watches your eyes and I could just feel him out there."
Romine certainly had reasons to feel Poindexter's presence-the All-American safety lived up to his reputation by picking off two passes, recovering two fumbles and causing another one.
"[The turnovers] were big," Poindexter said. "I just decided to come in and be a little more aggressive to the ball today, not really changing the game plan, not really changing any plays. The guys gave me a couple of opportunities to make some plays, and I came up with them."
Duke might have given Poindexter a couple of chances to make plays, but it was Poindexter who was able to make the most of his opportunities. On Duke's second offensive possession, the Blue Devils picked up a first down and were on their way to another before Poindexter got in the way again.
On a second and five, freshman running back B.J. Hill scampered through a hole on the right side and picked up a first down before he ran smack into Poindexter, who taught Hill a lesson many others already know-it's tough to hang onto the ball when Poindexter is in the neighborhood. Hill's fumble made it two turnovers in two possessions, and things only got worse from there.
"I don't think we've ever had this many turnovers in a game," Duke coach Fred Goldsmith said. "When you're in a dead-heat football game and you keep having turnovers, it's going to get you sooner or later. We just didn't execute or have a whole lot of poise on offense."
To wit: Duke began the second quarter with five-straight possessions where it went three-and-out, and on the Blue Devils' sixth possession of the second quarter, they advanced the ball to midfield before Wilks lost a fumble. By halftime, Duke had turned the ball over five times and its deepest penetration was to the Virginia 31 yard-line.
The second half was more of the same; Poindexter picked off another Romine pass on Duke's first possession. Goldsmith then inserted Bobby Campbell in at quarterback, but Campbell fared no better. On Campbell's three possessions, Duke only picked up three first downs and lost another fumble.
"The turnovers, I couldn't believe that," Campbell said. "We've got to secure the ball. No way you're going to win making eight turnovers."
And in a fitting and ironic finish to the game, Duke turned the ball over on all three of its possessions in the fourth quarter, including the Blue Devils' final drive when they advanced the ball to the Virginia one. Running back Duane Epperson tried to punch it in from there, but he lost the handle on the ball and it was recovered by, who else? Anthony Poindexter.
"I didn't feel I was around the ball the whole day, they spread it out pretty well-throwing little screens here, screens there," Poindexter said. "I was lucky to get a couple of plays. He threw the ball in my direction, I was lucky to get a break on them and make some plays."
In a game decided on a few monumental plays, the Virginia defense made eight of them and the Duke offense shot a complete blank.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.