Telling the difference between the eighth-ranked team in the nation and a squad looking for its first home win is not supposed to be difficult.
But the lines were blurred Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium, thanks to an apparent mismatch that turned into a terrific duel: the nation's top-rated passer and leading Heisman Trophy candidate against a signal-caller in just his third game with a brand-new offense.
"It fires you up a little bit," Duke quarterback Spencer Romine said of playing against Georgia Tech's Joe Hamilton, the latest Heisman frontrunner.
On this afternoon, Hamilton was everything you could ask for in a Heisman candidate, tossing a pair of touchdown passes to go with his 383 yards total offense.
And when Tech needed it most, the 5-foot-10 Hamilton stood tall, rallying the Yellow Jackets for game-tying and game-winning drives in the fourth quarter.
Of course, this was nothing new for the Alvin, S.C., native, who has directed fourth-quarter victories in six of the Jackets' last 13 games.
The surprise lay in the fact that Tech, after its top-rated offense staked it to a 21-0 lead, needed a comeback at all against the Blue Devils.
The reason? A career day from Romine, still recovering from a separated shoulder and just now developing a rhythm in Carl Franks' new offense.
The junior completed 25-of-43 passes for 294 yards and a touchdown, engineering
His big-play knack was impressive. Of Romine's 14 carries, seven went for a Duke first down or touchdown.
"It was a gutsy performance by [Romine] again," Franks said. "He's as tough as they come. He took some shots on that shoulder, and he kept bouncing back.
"He certainly gave us a chance to win the game."
Few could have expected Romine, whom Tech recruited at the same time as Hamilton, would rally Duke in such dramatic fashion, nearly stealing Hamilton's spotlight.
Few except for Romine, that is.
"We felt like we could move the ball on their defense," Romine said. "Last week [against Virginia] we gained a little confidence on offense.
"When the offense isn't clicking we can't even get to some of the good stuff this offense has to offer. We're just getting to some of that now."
The Blue Devils posted season highs across the board offensively, including points scored (31), total offense (395 yards), first downs (23) and touchdowns (four).
It was a predictably mixed atmosphere in both locker rooms. There was little celebration for Tech, whose players used words like "awful," "disappointing" and "embarrassing" to describe their performance. They were the same words uttered last week
For the Blue Devils, who missed a shot at a 2-1 ACC record, the satisfaction of improvement was muted by the sting of missed opportunities.
"We're not big on moral victories," Romine said. "It makes you feel good to know you had the No. 8 team with their back to the wall, but it's not sweet enough."
Still, Romine's performance was the most complete by a Duke quarterback since Bobby Campbell's 312-yard, two-touchdown day against Vanderbilt last Oct. 31. And it drew unavoidable comparisons to Hamilton, who escaped Durham with his ACC title and Heisman Trophy hopes intact-barely.
"The difference is he's Joe Hamilton and I'm not," Romine said, shrugging off comparisons. "He's a great player, and if he doesn't win the Heisman, I don't know who will.
"Bobby [Campbell] and I were watching him on the sidelines in the first half, saying to each other, 'Does he ever miss?'"
Romine completed passes to 10 different receivers on the afternoon, but Franks bemoaned several squandered opportunities, including Devin Pierce's third-quarter drop that would have been a game-tying touchdown.
"We played well enough to win if we make some plays," Franks said. "[Romine] did a lot of things that Hamilton is able to do. He just doesn't do it with quite the flair Hamilton does, or the speed."
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