In a 38-0 loss no one did their job well-no one.
Everyone screwed up: the coaching staff, the offense, the defense, the special teams, the training staff and whomever sets up the Gatorade cups at halftime.
Having conceded that no aspect of the game held up to the Blue Devils' expectations, the question becomes what aspect of Duke's performance bears the most responsibility for the humiliating loss to the East Carolina Pirates at Wallace Wade Stadium Saturday night.
Initially it is tempting to blame the less-than stellar offensive performance. The Blue Devils never advanced past the East Carolina 41-yard line. They managed only nine first downs, due in a large part to going only one-for-13 on third down conversions.
But the truth is, you can win a college football game without your offense playing well, but you can't win if your defense gets run-over the whole game.
Although the defense was not particularly successful against either the run or the pass, the exceptional performance of the East Carolina passing attack makes the secondary a focus.
East Carolina's quarterback combination of David Gerard throwing and Richard Alston running the option, combined to go 22-30 passing for 264 yards.
"Most of the times guys will tell
Some problems in the defensive secondary had to be expected. Duke used Ronnie Hamilton, Derrick Lee, D'Juan O'Donald and Terrell Smith at cornerback. Only Hamilton had any prior game experience at the collegiate level.
Nonetheless, the result was rather disappointing.
"We struggled out there tonight," said head coach Carl Franks. "I thought they gave a great effort. I can't fault them for how hard they played. We had some cornerbacks that had never played before but they played hard and they didn't back down."
The Blue Devils may have played hard, but the Pirates entered the game unafraid of Duke's secondary, and exploited the weakness from the opening possession on.
"I thought they were kind of soft in the secondary," said Gerard. "I thought we could exploit that a little, and we did."
Despite the consistent success that the East Carolina passing game enjoyed, Duke could not adjust its defensive strategy for the pass given that the Pirates were on their way to racking-up 204 yards on the ground.
"Our linebackers had to respect the run," said Hamilton. "So the success they had with the run setting up the pass made it hard for us."
Throughout the game the corners gave East Carolina's receivers a 10-yard cushion at the line, and in many instances that cushion did not close until after the reception was made. The end result was that Gerard managed to find an open target almost every time he dropped back.
"They were playing pretty far back from the get-go," said Gerard. "I thought if we pushed it at them we could come back under them.... My receivers came out and ran exceptional routs, and they caught the ball."
The only major surprise in the Pirate passing attack was that Gerard threw so many balls to Hamilton's side, given that the junior is Duke's only experienced corner.
Gerard said that he was not targeting the junior cornerback.
"I wasn't looking to throw to [Hamilton's] side," said Gerard. "He was playing off a little bit. He was on the shorter side, so it was a natural read to go the shorter side of the field. It is an easier throw."
But as bad as the secondary was, it cannot shoulder all the blame for either the defensive woes, or the final score.
Both victories and losses are team efforts.
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