ATLANTA -- With five minutes remaining in the first half, Duke had played its most sluggish football of the year. Rain fell in sheets the previous 24 hours, but barely a drop fell from the clouds that covered the downtown Atlanta sky line during the game. Although acknowledging that the game conditions were adequate, the Blue Devils' play reflected that of inclement weather. Balls were bobbled through players hands and the running game struggled to get the leverage it normally has. It was a mudfest without mud.
"The field was relatively dry," quarterback Adam Smith said, confusing observers.
With the half winding down, Duke seemed to finally take advantage of Smith's statement, converting a third down by Smith throwing a bullet across the middle to Lance Johnson for a 24 yard gain and first-and-ten from the Duke 47. Until that play, Smith had either thrown an incompletion or an interception on his last five attempts on third down.
Two short Chris Douglas runs later, it was third down again, and the Blue Devils had three yards to go. With pass-happy head coach Carl Franks at the helm, most thought that the Blue Devils would throw the ball again. But Duke had a trick up its sleeve.
Douglas got the ball again, and on this play he raced through a hole in the offensive line, and sprinted past the secondary. Ahead of the pack, it looked as if Duke was going to make it a one possession game, and that Georgia Tech would have to pay for embarrassingly snapping the ball into the back of its end zone for a safety in the first quarter. As Douglas sped closer to the goal line, free safety Jeremy Muyres began to catch
Owning two of the top ten leading rushers in the ACC, things were still in Duke's favor. With four plays to go four yards, it was no problem for Duke to put seven more points on the board.
On first down, Alex Wade bulled himself to the two yard-line. So far so good for the Blue Devils.
But then Franks decided to get tricky again. Using the Franks' school of logic, Tech had been fooled on Douglas' monster run because the entire team felt Smith would pass. Now with the defense sure that the Blue Devils would run, they would be fooled by a pass. Right?
Wrong.
Smith could not find a receiver and had to run on his own, being stopped on the two for no gain. Although there was no net change in yardage on the play, Duke's momentum took a step back.
On third-down-and-two, Franks had another decision to make. Should he pass and know that if a touchdown was not scored, a field-goal attempt would be the only option. Or should Franks have had the attitude of touchdown or bust, and run the ball on third and fourth downs.
Franks was faced with almost the exact scenario against Virginia when Duke had third-and-goal from the two while losing 20-13 midway through the fourth quarter. Then Franks had opted to pass, and Smith did not convert. Duke kicked a field-goal, and then eventually lost the game 27-22.
The team has also has had problems with its field-goal unit of late, making the decision even easier for Franks.
"We've had more problems on short field-goals then I've seen in a long time," Franks said. "Problems with the snap, problems with protection, problems with the kick. We've got to find some way to get it corrected, but I don't know what to do."
Not learning from the past, Franks called a pass play again, and Smith, who was 2-for-8 in the first half on third down conversions, once again came up short. Duke's momentum took another step back.
Salvaging three points out-of-the possession was better than nothing, though, as Duke's offense needed to get its first points on the board.
Then the Blue Devils snapped the ball high, and the field goal was easily batted back along with Duke's momentum.
"If we got down there again, I was going to go for it on 4th down," Franks said, as if the 'third times a charm' rule worked in his assessment of mistake sublimation.
Duke had several chances to score later in the game, but none would have changed the course of the game more than this possession. Making the contest a one possession game just before the half would have made the second half much more than a collection of desperation plays.
The team, however, is not down on itself, and feels that it will learn from its mistakes, even though the ACC losing streak is now eight-fold of the "three times" standard Franks has given for correction.
"We didn't play nearly as well as we have been playing," Smith said. "It may have appeared to be a step back, but this was the type of game you learn a lot from it. From a quarterback stand-point I made a lot of mistakes that I can learn from."
Hopefully with this week's mistakes, Franks will know "what to do."
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