ATLANTA - With under five minutes remaining in Duke's game against Georgia Tech Saturday, the sky opened up and a torrential downpour enveloped Bobby Dodd Stadium.
Unfortunately for the Duke defense, the floodgates had opened up on them about three hours earlier.
Joe Hamilton beautifully orchestrated a Georgia Tech offense that hit on all cylinders and moved the ball downfield almost at will. In a 60-minute blitzkrieg in Atlanta, a Duke defense that had given sparkling performances against Northwestern and Virginia was riddled for 465 yards of total offense and 41 points.
And the Blue Devils didn't even know what hit them.
"We came in here with a defensive plan and they kind of came out with a twist," safety Darius Clark said. "We had been keying on things the whole week, and they came in and did a little bit of those things but they got us out of our defense.
"We knew Hamilton was going to be a big threat. They came out with a little bit more option today. They hit us with the little quick passes. They didn't really try to go deep, which surprised us a little."
Indeed, after seeing Tech receiver Dez White beat North Carolina's all-world cornerback 'Dre Bly on two deep patterns last week, coach Fred Goldsmith did not want to see his corners burned for long pass plays. Instead, the Duke corners, senior Lamar Grant and true freshman Ronnie Hamilton, consistently played 10-15 yards off the line of scrimmage and all but invited the Yellow Jackets to complete underneath passes.
Tech's All-ACC quarterback candidate Joe Hamilton was more than happy to oblige. On the game's opening drive, Hamilton hit David Powell with a quick eight-yard strike and hooked up with a wide-open White on a play-action roll out for a 14-yard gain.
The two underneath passes and a couple of running plays on that first drive set up Tech's longest offensive play of the day when White streaked right past Grant and reeled in a 53-yard touchdown heave from Hamilton. The bomb capped the 92-yard drive which took all of 1:32 off the game clock.
"Duke gave us the short stuff, and then we were able to run the ball at will on them, [run] misdirection on them," Hamilton said. "Whatever we wanted to call out there today, it was pretty much pick 'em.
"For the most part, what we wanted to do out there was pretty basic, and we did everything right. We were all on one page, and we executed well."
Hamilton certainly wasn't lying. Tech's assortment of options, misdirection roll-outs and standard drop-back passes had the Duke defense confounded all day. Had it not been for the six dropped passes by Tech receivers, the margin of victory could have been even larger.
Even with the mishandled passes, Hamilton put up numbers that would make any offensive coordinator salivate and any defensive coordinator reach for his Maalox. He completed 20-of-32 passes to nine different receivers for three touchdowns, and piled on 36 more yards on the ground.
"When you are in a groove like I was in today, and [offensive coordinator Ralph] Friedgen was in the groove calling plays, and everybody wanting the ball, it's easy to spread the ball around," Hamilton said. "When we were throwing, it was so wide-open, I could choose who I could throw to. Anytime that happens, you want to be out there all day."
What may have hurt the Blue Devils even more than their conservative play in the secondary was the overly aggressive pursuit of their front seven. On more than one occasion, Hamilton would fake a play-action to one side of the field, then roll out the other way and find nothing but green grass and a wide-open receiver downfield.
"Some of the times that we broke down today we weren't very disciplined," Goldsmith said. "There are certain times you've got to be very aggressive, [but] playing the triple-option, you better be ready to play assignment ball."
Hamilton took full advantage of Duke's eager pursuit, directing a fluid option running game and finding a wide-open receiver on most of this throws.
"Our play-actions, our roll-outs, our boots threw them off-balance and we were able to get some cuts across the middle and outside," Hamilton said. "It's just a matter of we practiced all week. We had a good gameplan going in there, we knew what they were going to do."
When the offense knows exactly what the defense will attempt to do, and the defense has no clue what the offense is doing, it usually means a long day for the defense. Saturday was no exception.
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