Coming into the 2005 Duke football season, there was reason to be optimistic. Not optimistic in the sense that this was the year the Blue Devils would qualify for a bowl game, but more along the lines that Duke was going to play competitive ACC games and meaningful fourth quarters.
After Saturday's 35-10 loss to Georgia Tech, the Blue Devils have yet to even challenge a conference foe in the second half. Duke may have led 10-7 at halftime, but without five fortunate mistakes by the Yellow Jackets-three turnovers and two roughing-the-kicker penalties-the score could have easily been 21-0 Georgia Tech. The ticking time bomb exploded when the Yellow Jackets outscored the home team 28-0 in the third quarter.
The problem for students and fans-not many of either bothered showing up to Wallace Wade Saturday-is that the team has taken steps backward since head coach Ted Roof took over in the middle of 2003. Roof went 2-3 against the ACC in his interim role that season, but this year conference opponents have outscored Duke 170-24.
"If we come to play, I think there's only one or two teams we can't beat just because they're that much better than us," linebacker Brendan Dewan said after the loss. "Across the board I think we can beat just about anybody."
Roof has been lauded for his ability to recruit highly-ranked prospects, a sign that points to a different source of trouble. The inability to keep games close is usually a talent issue, but when it isn't, then the problem must lie in the coaching, chemistry and morale, all of which overlap.
It's difficult to figure exactly how the coaches have shaped the team's approach, but this squad appears not to have a winning attitude.
Instead of generating excitement over having a halftime lead in a conference game, the team just went through the usual halftime motions.
"We weren't trying to get overly excited in the locker room, there's no point for that," Dewan said. "It was relatively calm."
Duke's inability to make halftime adjustments is the fault of the coaching staff. Despite being ahead 10-7 at the end of the first half, it was clear that Georgia Tech was controlling the offensive and defensive lines, wide receivers were exploiting holes in the Duke secondary and freshman quarterback Zack Asack was having trouble finding a rhythm in the passing offense.
But Duke did not make changes at intermission to counter these first-half trends, and they came back to haunt the Blue Devils after the break.
"We don't usually have a whole lot of adjustments," Dewan said.
So the team puts up little fight against ACC foes, doesn't get excited when there's a chance to win and doesn't like to make too many halftime adjustments? It seems it's only a matter of time before the Roof caves in.
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