Duke's bid for 1st win falls short

Down 20-15 to Miami with three seconds remaining, the Blue Devils had a chance to capture their first victory of the season.

But on what could have been the play of the year for Duke, the Blue Devils failed to convert.

Facing third down and two on the Miami six-yard line, quarterback Thaddeus Lewis looked left and fired a pass to wideout Eron Riley for the potential game-winning score. But cornerback Willie Cooper read the play perfectly and picked off the throw-ending Duke's upset bid, as the Blue Devils fell to the Hurricanes, 20-15.

"I tried the right side of the field, but I didn't have much to work with on the right," Lewis said. "The safety came down in the zone. I thought I could squeeze it in there, but he made a great play. The only other option I had was to run the ball, but I threw it instead."

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"Coach preached to me all week, just throw it to the back pylon," Lewis said. "So I threw it to the back pylon, and Chestnut made a nice play on the ball."

After the defense held Miami to a three-and-out on the following possession, Duke running back Re'quan Boyette capped off a 32-yard Blue Devil drive with a seven-yard run into the end zone.

Even though Duke could not finish on the two-point conversion after the touchdown, the Blue Devil fans were on their feet as they hopefully anticipated Duke's first win of the season. The Blue Devils trailed 20-15 with 7:06 remaining.

After trading multiple possessions, Duke started with the ball on its own 11-yard line for the potential game-winning drive. Guiding the offense, Lewis completed six out of 10 passes to set up the final play on the six-yard line that resulted in the interception.

"You saw a team that got behind but stayed with it and fought their way out of some bad things," head coach Ted Roof said. "They gave themselves a chance to beat an extremely talented and well-coached football team in the Atlantic Coast Conference."

After a controversial week for Miami following its on-the-field brawl with Florida International last Saturday, the Hurricanes were missing 13 players due to suspensions. Roof said the changed Miami lineup did not affect how his team prepared for the game.

Duke's preparation for Miami, though, was unable to cure the Blue Devils' mistake-prone offense. Similar to losses against Virginia, Virginia Tech and Florida State, Duke was once again plagued by turnovers.

Hoping to jump out on the Hurricanes early, Lewis threw an interception on third-and-three from Duke's 44-yard line-one of four on the day for the quarterback. On the ensuing drive, Miami quarterback Kyle Wright hit wideout Sam Shields in the end zone for the opening score.

The Hurricanes posted two more scores to go up, 17-0, heading into halftime.

But the second-half comeback and the emotion the Blue Devils showed on the final play of the game convinced the players that they could compete with the elite of the ACC.

"We were all down praying, standing up, trying to get the crowd into it before the last play," Boyette said. "We were trying to do a lot of things, just hoping we could get our first victory against one of the dominant teams in the ACC and gain the respect that we need, because we go out and work as hard as anyone else."