CLEMSON, S.C. - As the Clemson football team prepared to enter Memorial Stadium, the crowd rose to its feet in anticipation the Tigers' entrance, "the most exciting 25 seconds in college football."
But the excitement did not end there for the Tigers this weekend.
Before the Blue Devils even knew what hit them, Clemson jumped out to a 21-0 lead and never looked back, stomping Duke 58-7.
Amazingly, the same offense that sputtered for 12 points the previous week in a win over Wake Forest torched the Blue Devil defense for 558 yards.
"I think the credit should go to the players in scoring so many points and holding Duke to seven," Clemson coach Tommy Bowden said. "We did not play well offensively against Wake Forest. The players' efforts in practice during the week were good, and I think the coaches pushed them pretty well. A lot of credit goes to the players for how hard they worked this week."
Clemson's no-huddle style of offense, with Brandon Streeter at the helm, kept the Duke defense on its heels and looking at the back of orange jerseys all day long. The most time-consuming scoring drive for the Tigers was a mere 4:24, but the Blue Devil defense did not do much to slow them down.
"This is very disappointing," coach Carl Franks said. "I don't know that we've shown any progress defensively lately. We've had a hard time stopping the run, a hard time stopping the pass today."
Moving the chains was not a difficult task for Clemson throughout the game, as it averaged 7.1 yards on first down. It is much harder to stymie an offense that needs to gain no more than an average of three yards on second down.
Instead of placing the Tigers in "must-pass" situations in which the pressure would be on Streeter's shoulders, Duke's first down inadequacy allowed for a variety of options in the Clemson offense.
Clemson had success with its ground attack throughout the game, as Zachery had a career day, gaining 141 yards on just 17 carries and finding the endzone four times. And back-up Bernard Rambert picked up 51 yards of his own in relief.
"I think Zachery is doing a better job following his blockers, and he's learning the blocking schemes as the season is going along," Bowden said. "Things might have looked easy in the game today, but I guarantee you a lot of hard work went into today's game before we even showed up."
After the Tigers had established the run with Zachery, Streeter-who threw for 279 yards and two touchdowns-was able to pick apart the Duke secondary without much trouble.
"We had a hard time tackling them, and an even tougher time stopping the pass," Franks said. "It seemed like at times they could just throw it up and come down with it at any time."
In its first drive of the third quarter, Clemson used the same two plays to move the ball effortlessly up the field. Streeter threw two quick buttonhooks to Rod Gardner for eight- and 11-yard gains, respectively. Then Zachery ran the ball twice around the left end for six and 14 yards.
For a change of pace, the next play saw Streeter hit Gardner on a short hook pattern for nine yards. Thus, in a matter of seconds, the Tigers moved the ball from their own 20 to the Duke 41.
For the most part, the Clemson offensive line provided Zachery with holes that even Bowden could have gotten through. On their second possession, the Tigers faced a third-and-goal from the Duke 8. While the defense likely expected a pass, Clemson ran a draw instead and Zachery pranced into the endzone untouched.
Even when the offensive line did not part the Red Sea, Zachery was able to make defenders miss and break arm tackles. Just over six minutes into the third quarter, Zachery took a handoff up the middle and broke three tackles on his way to a 44-yard touchdown run, the longest of his career.
Nearly every time the Duke defense appeared to have held the Tigers, Clemson pulled another rabbit out of its hat. With a fourth-and-10 from the Duke 25 and a 14-0 lead, Bowden elected to go for the endzone rather than call on his unreliable placekicker Tony Lazzara. Streeter took the snap from the shotgun, faked a shovel pass and hit a streaking Mal Lawyer, who had split the Duke defenders in the end zone.
"They got an Outland trophy candidate on the defensive line, eight seniors, 10 starters coming back, there was a lot of concern going in," Bowden said. "They had confidence having beaten us last year. They just caught us at a bad time."
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