As the football team took the field for its season finale against North Carolina, the big blue helmet through which the players run onto the grass began to deflate. By the time the team was entirely out on the field warming up, the helmet was flat on the ground, completely out of air.
There couldn't be a more perfect metaphor for Duke's season, or Saturday's game. Once a 4-4 team with bowl aspirations, the Blue Devils lost their third consecutive game Saturday, dropping a listless affair to the Tar Heels, 28-6.
"We had a bad finish, there's no doubt about that," coach Fred Goldsmith said. "I thought our kids came prepared well. Obviously we were distraught after last week, but we came back. We bounced back and prepared well.
"I thought they fought hard. We got beat by a pretty good football team. There's a lot of good players out there playing for the University of North Carolina. It was tough."
Once again, Duke (4-7, 2-6 in the ACC) struggled mightily on offense, unable to find the end zone all day. The closest the Blue Devils came occurred in the first quarter. Following a Na Brown touchdown reception for Carolina that gave the Tar Heels (5-5, 4-3 ACC) a 7-0 lead, the Blue Devils were forced to punt from their 39-yard line.
Punter Brian Morton booted a 36-yard punt, which was fielded by UNC's Bosley Allen. Allen raced down the middle of the field and appeared on the verge of breaking a big return. At midfield, however, he was corralled by Blue Devil senior Dawud Rasheed, who stripped Allen of the ball and subsequently recovered it for Duke.
With the drive kept alive on the turnover, a Bobby Campbell nine-yard scramble and a B. J. Hill 30-yard sprint gave the Blue Devils the ball, first-and-goal, on the
"It was very, very frustrating," Campbell said. "The offense just didn't perform. That drive, when we got the field goal, it was very disappointing not to get a touchdown in that situation. I just missed Terrence.
"That was off of a turnover, and you've got to capitalize on that, you've got to put the ball in the endzone."
The Blue Devils entered the Carolina red zone only once more on the afternoon. That came when a 17-play, 63-yard drive brought Duke to the North Carolina 16-yard line. But all that the Blue Devils could manage was another Mapes field goal, this time from 34 yards, which made the score 7-6.
From there, Duke's offense ground to a halt. The second half featured three punts for the Blue Devils and three failed fourth-down conversions as Goldsmith tried to keep his team's chances alive.
North Carolina scored a touchdown in each quarter, twice through the air on Oscar Davenport passes to Na Brown and twice on the ground. Like Duke, the Tar Heel attack was also primarily based on the run, as the team racked up 170 yards rushing, led by freshman tailback Rufus Brown, who gained 83 yards on 17 carries. UNC also rotated its two quarterbacks-Davenport and freshman two-sport sensation Ronald Curry-effectively, with Davenport throwing for 101 yards and Curry rushing for 50.
Despite the fact that the Tar Heels boast the ACC's second-lowest-rated pass defense, the Blue Devils went almost exclusively with a rushing attack against
"The problem, we knew going in, was beating their coverage," Goldsmith said. "They're down there in one-on-one coverage, and we have to beat it. We had seven interceptions last week. Then we struggled on the practice field; Campbell struggled on the practice field.
"We did not want to put Bobby in the position to force footballs. In all the games that we've been out of, they've been due to a bunch of turnovers, and we didn't want to do that."
Wideouts Richmond Flowers and Scottie Montgomery were largely left out of the gameplan, catching a combined four passes for 31 yards.
"I'm happy to do whatever they ask me to do out there," Flowers said. "This thing's not a statistical race. They asked me to go out there and block a little bit more than regular, so I take it upon myself to go out there and block the best that I can and things in the end just didn't turn out our way.
"Whatever my job is, I have to go out there and go all out, and if it's blocking, then I'm just as excited about going and knocking somebody down than I am about catching a pass."
In closing out their fourth consecutive losing season, the Blue Devils managed only 248 yards of net offense. When UNC's Deon Dyer scored a fourth-quarter touchdown to put the final points on the scoreboard, the fans headed for the exits, waiting for next year when Duke can start the season with a clean slate.
"It would have been a heck of a lot more fun ending it with a win," Goldsmith said. "It's not my choice to end it this way."
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