KNOXVILLE,Tenn. -- Duke should have beaten Tennessee on Nov. 1. This does not mean that the Blue Devils could have won or maybe had a chance of winning. It means Duke blew an opportunity at an unexpected victory--one more vexing than any other shortcoming in the previous five seasons.
Starting the game with confidence and energy not seen in the program in the recently finished Carl Franks era, the Blue Devils battled the national powerhouse to a standstill in the first half, ending the interval in a 6-6 tie. Duke had more rushing yards and more first downs than the Volunteers in the first 30 minutes, and the 104,772 fans that packed the third-largest stadium in the nation sat in stunned silence, contemplating a loss to the inferior Blue Devils on homecoming weekend.
"I was shocked [at how quiet the crowd was]," said senior Duke running back Chris Douglas, who ran for a game-high 128 yards in one of the most determined performances of his career.
The second half saw the Blue Devils perform even better at moments. Duke began the half on offense, but was quickly forced to punt. The team then seemed to be losing control of the contest when the Volunteers quickly drove to the Blue Devil 12 yardline. But just as the first Volunteer touchdown seemed imminent, Duke did not allow another Tennessee yard for three straight plays, forcing the home team to settle for a field goal.
The Blue Devils then countered with what began as their best offensive drive in recent memory. Starting the possession on its own 20 yardline against the athletic Tennessee defense, Duke methodically and brilliantly drove the ball to the Volunteers' two yardline behind a combined 34 rushing yards from Douglas and Cedric Dargan and a 31-yard play-action pass from quarterback Chris Dapolito to tight end Andy Roland.
On first-and-goal, Duke had the ball on the Tennessee two yard line down 9-6. The Volunteer fans and players were scared stiff, as a spooky Halloween hangover seemed to preside over the normally festive Neyland Stadium crowd. Tennessee was about to fall behind to the butt of the college football world's jokes with no apparent answer as to how the orange-clad team would respond.
This victory was not within the Blue Devils' grasp--it was in their hands. But Ted Roof's boys dropped this treasured W, leaving the Blue Devils with nothing to account for on what should have been one of the greatest football victories in the school's history.
The first play inside the five saw Douglas lose a yard. On second down, Duke was issued an illegal formation penalty before a Dapolito pass to Roland was ruled out of bounds. The Blue Devils were issued another illegal procedure penalty on third down, but Tennessee declined this flag because Mondre Dickerson had already sacked Dapolito for a nine-yard loss. The Blue Devils still could have salvaged a field goal to tie the game at nine with 2:00 left in the fourth quarter, but Matt Brooks missed a 34-yard field goal.
Just as Duke's chances were severely hurt when the team failed to score on a goal-line stand against N.C. State, the Blue Devils failed to score a point in what proved to be the most crucial time in the game.
"It looks like a recurring pattern: We're down inside the five, and we have to get seven points," Douglas said. "I don't know exactly what's going on. We'll watch it on film, obviously, and try to correct those things again. But we just basically have to get a surge at the ball to get into the endzone."
The resilient Blue Devils by no means gave up at this point, as senior Matt Zielinski sacked Tennessee quarterback Casey Clausen on a crucial third-and-four play on the Volunteers' first possession after the Duke field goal miss. After the sack, Tennessee, which only had a three-point lead, punted to the hungry Blue Devils. But Duke freshman Jamin Pastore fumbled the punt return, which gave Tennessee the ball back on Duke's 37 yardline.
The Duke defense had played a great game all night, but the violent momentum swings starting with Zielinski's third-down sack juxtaposed with Pastore's fumble proved too much for the Blue Devils to handle. The Volunteers quickly scored the first touchdown of the game, pushing their lead to a comfortable 10 points.
"It was a panic thing," Zielinski said about the defense's mentality after Pastore's fumble. "To go down there and know we're on a short field. You get into a little bit of a panic, and you start thinking too much sometimes."
The Blue Devils were able to mount another productive drive, but Brooks missed yet another field goal. Roof selected Brooks to kick despite the fact that Brent Garber had already kicked a 54-yard field goal earlier in the game. Roof said the decision to use Brooks in short kick situations had been made after considerable thought in practice, and the interim head coach said he did not regret his kicking decisions.
Tennessee would capitalize on this mistake, scoring the final points of the game on a Gerald Riggs 12-yard rushing touchdown to give the Volunteers a deceptive 23-6 victory.
"That game right there was won on momentum," Zielinski said. "They had a momentum swing, and just carried it into the final minutes and ended up making the points off it."
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