Early in the second quarter Saturday with Duke already trailing 14-0, Vanderbilt quarterback Chris Nickson dropped back to pass, dodged one man in the backfield, and carried two others into the end zone for a five-yard touchdown and a 21-0 lead.
The scramble was emblematic of a day when Nickson and the Commodores sailed through the Blue Devils' defense, turning Wallace Wade into a sea of missed tackles.
Duke was never able to corral Vanderbilt's agile sophomore quarterback, who amassed 400 yards of total offense-despite sitting part of the second half-in the Commodores' 45-28 win.
"We couldn't tackle their quarterback," head coach Ted Roof said. "We had guys coming free-we just didn't tackle very well. [Nickson] made us miss, and I thought he was the difference in the ballgame.... When you have a spy on him, you've got to be able to tackle him."
The Commodores capitalized on Duke's defensive lapses from the very start of the game, using flanker screens and quick slants to give their playmakers opportunities on the outside.
That strategy was rewarded when a quick slant to Earl Bennett went for 77 yards-Vanderbilt's second touchdown of the first quarter. Bennett broke through an arm tackle by John Talley on his way into the endzone.
Bennett, who caught nine balls for 184 yards, was given more one-on-one coverage on the outside, though, because of the threat Nickson posed to the Blue Devils' front seven.
"When you load up the box to try to tackle their quarterback, you isolate your coverage at times," Roof said. "We did that a couple of times and [Bennett] made us pay."
Duke's stacking the box didn't do much to stifle Nickson, either, as the quarterback threw for 250 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 150 yards and three more scores. His scrambling around the pocket and his quickness in the open field routinely left the Blue Devils grasping for air.
"We need to execute and tackle in the open field, which we didn't," senior linebacker Jeramy Edwards said.
After Duke scored three quick touchdowns in the fourth quarter to cut the Commodores' lead to 38-28, Nickson put any thoughts of a miracle comeback to rest. On a third-and-three from the Duke 40-yard line, Nickson avoided linebacker Codey Lowe, who came unblocked on a blitz, and scrambled for 39 yards down the right sideline. The run set up the game's final touchdown-again from Nickson-and sealed the victory for Vanderbilt.
"We had a guy that came free," Roof said. "He was in a position to make a play. You just got to find a way to get [Nickson] on the ground."
Poor tackling and a lack of defensive execution represented a step back from last week, when Duke limited Miami to three second-half points and only 30 yards rushing. Vanderbilt ran for 235 yards, many of them coming after contact.
"It's disappointing certainly," Roof said. "This is not how we expect to play. This is not how we prepare to play. We gave up way too many yards after missed tackles.... That game came down to our not tackling very well."
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