In front of a crowd that was a third Death Valley and two thirds just plain dead, the football team finally notched the ACC victory that has eluded it all season. But the paltry Duke fan base did not witness a battle decided by which team played the best. Instead, the contest hinged on which team made fewer mistakes.
Two major improvements distinguished the win from prior Blue Devil efforts: the turnover margin and the accuracy of kicker Matt Brooks.
After turning the ball over five times last week, including a critical pick on a first-and-goal, Duke snatched two interceptions and forced two fumbles against Clemson. The Blue Devils gave up only one interception—on a fourth-down conversion attempt.
Retaining possession was the primary focus of head coach Ted Roof, who speculated after returning from Tallahassee that his team would have put in a much better performance against Florida State if they “had taken care of the football.”
Duke’s ability to force turnovers was critical in securing the win, as corner Deonto McCormick’s interception in the last minutes of the game set Duke up for Brooks’ last-second field goal.
Brooks’ accuracy and late-game heroics help to compensate for the missed 36-yard field goal that cost Duke a win against Connecticut Sept. 11. The kicker, who was 9-for-16 on the season coming into the game, was perfect Saturday, going 3-for-3. The game-winning 53-yard field goal was a career-long for the senior, whose previous best was 45 yards.
Recurring problems still plagued the victorious Duke squad, however. Quarterback Mike Schneider was sacked five times, the offense squandered three touchdown opportunities and gained only 21 yards rushing in 38 attempts.
In the final quarter of the game, the offense exploited Clemson’s weak pass coverage down the middle and against the screen pass, leading to the Blue Devils’ only touchdown.
Earlier in the game, however, the Duke coaching staff made several questionable play calls and seemed unwilling to adjust to the Tigers’ defensive schemes. The Blue Devils continued to launch unsuccessful rushing attempts down the middle on first down, resulting in either no gain or tackles-for-loss. Duke also wasted a fourth-and-goal scoring attempt by executing a questionable halfback pass. Tailback Cedric Dargan attempted to pass the ball into the end zone, where it was intercepted by Charles Bennett.
The Tiger man-to-man coverage often left Schneider searching for a receiver, forcing the sophomore to throw the ball away or scramble for yards as the pocket collapsed on him. Schneider made several poorly executed tosses under heavy pressure that luckily landed beyond the reach of Clemson defenders. This offensive scheme resulted in a game characterized by drives ending in punts.
The Blue Devil defense, on the other hand, put forth its best performance of the year. It was successful in stopping the Clemson offense in the red zone and only allowed the Tigers to convert 1-of-12 third downs.
A stop in the first quarter epitomized Duke’s strong defense in the clutch. On third-and-goal, John Talley pushed Clemson tailback Reggie Merriweather back from the one-yard line for a loss to force a field goal attempt.
Duke kept the pressure on Clemson quarterback Charlie Whitehurst, sacking him twice. The defensive pressure kept the talented passer off-balance and prevented him from making big plays.
The Blue Devils added to their growing reputation for intercepting passes. In addition to McCormick’s game-changing pick, freshman Chris Davis picked off Whitehurst in the second quarter, and another Whitehurst miscue barely glanced off McCormick’s hands just prior to Duke’s touchdown run.
Although the Blue Devils continued to struggled against the run, allowing Clemson to gain 133 yards on the ground, the defense was definitely the success story of Saturday’s game.
The Duke football team still has a long way to go before it can offer any kind of real competition in the ACC. But Saturday’s win showcased the team’s steady improvement and may have gained the Blue Devils some much-deserved respect among their competition and their own fans.
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