Football keeps close, then falls 23-6

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Even with all the orange blanketing the mammoth Neyland Stadium Saturday, a bunch of blue poked through. But a poke couldn't overcome 99 bigger, faster men and the 104,772 folks surrounding them.  

Duke held its own against No. 19 Tennessee, but a failure to score from the goal line followed by a missed field goal, a fumbled punt return, a Volunteer touchdown and another missed field goal turned a halftime tie into a fourth-quarter meltdown. Homecoming didn't belong to Tennessee (6-2), but Duke (2-7) made enough mistakes in the defensive struggle to send the orange mass home happy with a 23-6 escape.  

"We went mano-a-mano with them the whole time," said running back Chris Douglas, who trudged through the Volunteer defense 29 times for 128 yards. "And I think that's a testament to our talent level on our team and how well we actually can execute. We just have to put it together for the whole game and not let up in the fourth quarter."  

Two plays after Tennessee took a 9-6 with a field goal midway through the third quarter, Chris Dapolito hit tight end Andy Roland with a 31-yard play action pass to move Duke into enemy territory. Running back Cedric Dargan moved the Blue Devils to the Volunteers' two yardline, but they would never get that close again. Five attempts and two illegal formation penalties later, Duke would have to settle for a 34-yard field goal attempt, which Matt Brooks promptly missed.  

But the Blue Devil defense didn't back down--nor did it all day--and forced a three-and-out after Duke's nifty new safety coverage led to defensive tackle Matt Zielinski sacking Tennessee gunslinger Casey Clausen to start the fourth quarter. But Jamin Pastore promptly fumbled the punt return, only to have Jabari Davis run over and around Duke and set up a Clausen touchdown pass with 11:10 remaining.  

"That seems to be our problem. We hold 'em, hold 'em, hold 'em, they hit a big play, and we just can't recover from that," Zielinski said.  

They tried to recover, as Adam Smith and Dapolito alternated snaps just to hand off to Douglas, who was involved in nine of the 10 plays leading up to another promptly missed field goal by Brooks, this attempt from 37 yards. Clausen stepped up two plays later and chucked a deep fade pass to James Banks, who burned Alex Green for a 42-yard completion. Then Gerald Riggs scooted into the endzone untouched to give the Volunteers an insurmountable 17-point lead.  

The game had been Duke's to win through much of the afternoon, though, as Douglas piled up 71 yards in the first half while the defense walked Tennessee into trap after surprising trap. Davis ended up with 113 yards on the ground, but he couldn't bail out the Vols' offense single-handedly.  

Clausen failed to find a passing rhythm with the Blue Devils moving safeties in and out of the box and back and forth in coverage. He tried to audible his way out of the secondary's pressure, but the Volunteers went 2-for-8 on third down conversions in the first half and had to settle for only a pair of field goals.  

Duke matched that with Brent Garber's 54-yard floater and the field goal that Matt Brooks actually hit after Dapolito and Douglas led a 91-yard drive to end the second quarter. But mistakes kicked in soon thereafter, and any hopes of a miracle were soon draped in orange, no matter how much of a clumsy fight the Blue Devils put up.  

"I'm not into moral victories and neither are our kids, so let's not mistake anything about that," new head coach Ted Roof said. "Our goal is to win, and our players felt they had a chance and believed they could--and then obviously ended up short. But I think that we understand how we have to play in order to have a chance to win, and that's we have to play together and we have to play smart. And when we do that, I feel real good about our chances to win."