Don't be deceived by the final score in Maryland's 20-9 victory over Duke.
This one was a lot closer than the 11-point differential makes it look. Late in the fourth quarter, the Blue Devils were actually in the football game.
But as so often has been the case this year, costly mistakes at critical junctures of the game doomed the Blue Devils.
"[There were] too many mistakes offensively," Duke coach Carl Franks said. " We had a problem getting [our offense] started again. We should have had a lot more points than we did."
In addition to the usual struggles of the offense Saturday, one of the most damaging blunders came from an unexpected source. The special teams-the one group of players that has been a ray of light for this team in an otherwise dark and gloomy season-robbed Duke of its momentum in a contest that was, at the time, anyone's ballgame.
Trailing 10-3 with time running down in the fourth quarter, the Blue Devils marched the down the field in a desperate attempt to tie the game. Duke had been close on at least two previous drives in the second half, but just had not been able to punch the ball into the endzone.
Finally, on third-and-8 at the Maryland 20-yard line, the Blue Devils reached into their magic hat and pulled out a gutsy trick play.
After receiving the ball on a double-reverse flea-flicker, receiver Ben Erdeljac, testing his skills at quarterback, found Bryant wide open near the right hash mark. Bryant had a clear path to the end zone and Duke had what appeared to be the game-tying touchdown.
The score made it 10-9 Maryland with 8:31 remaining and the momentum swinging in favor of Duke. All its special teams had to do was send the ball through the uprights for the extra point.
And then, a funny thing happened on the way to the 10-10 tie-it didn't happen. Freshman Brent Garber shanked the kick and, in a single instant, the complexion of the game changed entirely.
"When the score is 10-9 and we have the ball compared to 10-10, I feel like we are a lot more comfortable," said Maryland placekicker Brian Kopka, who added a field goal on the Terps' next possession to expand Duke's deficit to 13-9. "Even though they had just scored, our team as a whole was a lot more upbeat because we were still winning the game."
The Terrapins took that confidence and scored 10 points on their next two possessions to put the game out of reach.
"I thought it was really a big miss, unfortunately for Duke," Maryland coach Ron Vanderlinden said. "At the time, 10-9 looked really good to us."
Though Garber's miss was critical to the team's chances for getting back into the game, his gaffe was just one of many poorly timed mistakes Duke made throughout the game. It seemed like every time the Blue Devils made a good play, they would turn around and shoot themselves in the feet.
For instance, Franks seemed particularly concerned with some of the decisions that his young QB made late in the game. Franks saw one particular play as proof of Bryant's youth and inexperience.
"It was fourth-and-2 and I called a pass play [that] we thought we could get off," Franks said. "But D. thought he saw an opportunity to sneak the ball and [unfortunately] they were blitzing. We've gotta learn that there is a better play to get there than that."
Franks stopped short of criticizing his quarterback and instead acknowledged it is all part of a growing process for Bryant.
"There's so many new things that he's going through and trying to learn [right now]," Franks said. "It's a very big learning experience for him."
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