Had it not been for the JP Sports signs lining Wallace Wade Stadium, those in attendance would have never guessed that they were watching the ACC Game of the Week.
The Blue Devils (2-2, 0-2 in the ACC) committed an incredible eight turnovers in losing to No. 10 Virginia (4-0, 2-0), 24-0, extending their conference losing streak to 20 games. Duke has only been shut out three times this decade, and all three have come at the hands of the Cavaliers.
Those fans that managed to stay for all three-and-a-half hours Saturday saw two teams combine for a .265 third-down percentage and a whopping 20 punts. For most of the game neither team could generate any offense as they played to a 3-0 Virginia lead late in the third quarter. Duke's defense kept the Blue Devils in the game, but time and time again, the offense failed to generate any kind of rhythm.
"You're sitting there in a dead-even football game and you keep turning the ball over," coach Fred Goldsmith said. "It's going to get you sooner or later. It's a wonder it didn't get to us sooner."
It finally caught up to the Blue Devils in the form of quarterback Aaron Brooks. With under three minutes left in the third, the Cavs finally broke the game open with two touchdown runs in the span of 1:10. The first was a Brooks scramble that went 57 yards into the endzone. The Blue Devils pressured Brooks as they had been doing most of the game, but this time the mobile senior managed to escape.
"We got caught in a blitz," linebacker Kevin Lewis said. "We missed a couple of tackles and they're off when you blitz."
Both Lewis and Gannon Shepherd converged on Brooks at the same time, but the two bumped into each other and neither one could bring the Cavalier quarterback down for the loss. Brooks stepped up into the pocket and had plenty of room to run. He easily juked freshman Ronnie Hamilton at the 15-yard line and marched in for the score.
"I thought [the touchdown] was a great individual effort by Aaron," Goldsmith said. "We harassed him all day long. We came after him, had him back there, and he broke two or three tackles. It was a great play on his part."
On the ensuing kickoff, Montgomery caught the ball in the endzone, hesitated and then decided to run it out and was tackled at the six-yard line. The Blue Devils went three and out and Morton's 39-yard punt was returned 32 yards by Terrence Wilkins. The very next play, Thomas Jones ran straight up the middle for a 12-yard touchdown, extending the Cavalier lead to 17-0.
Although it was this score that put the game officially out of reach, Brooks' scamper looked like it would be enough to hold off an anemic Duke offense. Quarterback Spencer Romine threw for only 102 yards on 13-of-29 passing with three interceptions. The team had seven fumbles total, five of which were recovered by the Cavaliers. Of Duke's 18 offensive drives, seven ended in turnovers and seven more went three and out.
"We just didn't execute and have good poise offensively," Goldsmith said. "I don't think I've ever, ever, ever coached a team that had that many turnovers."
Duke finally crossed midfield for the first time with 1:53 left in the first half. No sooner did Letavious Wilks run over the median did he fittingly cough up the ball, which Virginia recovered. Duke got the ball back one play later after recovering a Virginia fumble and drove to the Virginia 31-yard line. Sims Lenhardt's 49-yard attempt to tie the game with 51 seconds left in the half was on the mark, but fell short of the goalposts.
Duke would only get that close to the endzone twice more, and both times ended in calamity. In the third quarter, with the game still 3-0, Bobby Campbell, who came in for Romine for three drives in an effort to spark the offense, drove Duke 52 yards down to the Virginia 29.
On second down, however, the Blue Devils attempted to run a screen to Duane Epperson. The defense rushed Campbell and knocked down Epperson, so there was no receiver for Campbell to hit. Instead of taking the sack, Campbell threw the ball away and was called for intentional grounding.
The flag pushed Duke outside of field-goal range and on the very next play, Campbell fumbled the ball after a six-yard gain and Virginia safety Anthony Poindexter recovered. Two plays later, Brooks was off sprinting to the endzone making the game a 10-point contest.
In their final drive on the afternoon, the Blue Devils drove down the field 63 yards to the one yard line. On second-and-goal, Romine tried to hand the ball off to Epperson but the exchange was botched and Poindexter recovered Duke's fifth fumble lost on the day.
"We had a good plan coming in, we just didn't execute at all," Romine said. "We just stunk."
Poindexter was a terror, grabbing two interceptions, recovering two fumbles and forcing another one. He led the defense with 11 tackles and certainly gave more than enough evidence that he is one of the nation's elite defensive players.
"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. He's a great player."
While the Duke offense continually sputtered, the defense played as well as it has all season while holding the Cavaliers to just three points. The Blue Devils held Aaron Brooks, the highest rated quarterback in the conference headed into the game, to just 13-of-35 passing for 165 yards. Virginia was just 4-of-16 on third downs and was forced to punt 11 times. At times the Duke defense was aided by some Cavalier sloppiness, including two dropped touchdown passes by Wilkins, but the defense did its job.
"It sort of makes you sick," Romine said. "As a team, the defense is doing their part and we can't help them out. It's sort of like watching a friend die on you."
Now fans are left to wonder if Duke's momentum and confidence that seemed so high against Northwestern has died on them.
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