CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.-Virginia did its best to give its ACC opener against Duke away. Unfortunately, the Blue Devils were not prepared to take advantage.
Duke (0-2, 0-1 in ACC) failed to capitalize on a series of Cavalier special teams miscues, dropping its 22nd consecutive game 24-13 Saturday against Virginia (1-1, 1-0 in ACC) at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville.
The Blue Devils blocked two kicks, recovered two fumbles and benefitted from two errors on long snaps but struggled miserably to cash in on those errors.
One of the most critical errors came after Virginia long snapper Danny Aiken snapped the ball over the head of his punter and out of the back of the end zone, giving Duke a safety and the ball with 2:11 to go in the first quarter,
But after an 11-play drive that put the Blue Devils in field-goal range at the Virginia 27-yard line, junior kicker Joe Surgan missed the ensuing 45-yard field goal attempt short and to the right. Saturday proved to be a tough day for Duke's placekicker, who finished the game 1-4 on field goal attempts with one successful 21-yarder to go with additional misses from 26 and 40 yards.
"I've got to go back to look at the film to see what exactly what went wrong," Surgan said. "I want to help the team win, and it's a long season. If I wanted to quit, I could have quit last offseason after what happened last season. We're going to keep going. We've got 10 more games. If I quit now, it's going to be a long three months."
Despite Surgan's struggles, the Blue Devils special teams unit turned in a pretty strong effort that kept the team in striking distance entering the fourth quarter. Sophomore linebacker Vincent Rey blocked Chris Gould's 22-yard field goal attempt midway through the second half, and a second errant snap by Virginia's Aiken gave Duke the ball on the Cavalier 16-yard line. The Blue Devils scored on that drive when sophomore quarterback Thaddeus Lewis hit junior receiver Jomar Wright for a 16-yard touchdown on a crossing pattern at the 2:41 mark in the third quarter. Lewis then found senior fullback Tielor Robinson in the flats for a two-point conversion to draw Duke within a score at 17-10.
Things continued to work in the Blue Devils' favor on the ensuing kickoff, when freshman linebacker Adam Banks forced and recovered a fumble at the UVa 16. Although two rushes by Robinson got Duke to the six-yard line, the drive sputtered and the Blue Devils were forced to kick a field goal that set the score at 17-13 heading into the final quarter of regulation.
Those points would be Duke's last of the game, however. Virginia quarterback Peter Lalich, who came in for starter Jameel Sewell in the second quarter, led the Cavaliers on a 15-play, 82-yard drive capped by a four-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tom Santi that put the score at 24-13. Lalich was 8-of-10 on the drive, which shaved 6:18 off the clock. Surgan missed his final field goal attempt on Duke's next drive, and the Blue Devils only moved the ball 25 total yards in their final two possessions.
"The way the game started off, our kids just kept hanging in there and fought their way back, which is what we're supposed to do," head coach Ted Roof said. "We blocked two kicks and recovered a fumble on the kickoff. They had a couple of miscues in their special teams. We gotta take advantage of those."
Although Duke's mistakes in the kicking game may have been the most glaring, Roof said that no single unit was to blame for the team's disappointing performance.
"The effort was good. There's a fine line between winning and losing, and we go back to looking at the chances we had to do it. For whatever reason, in several different instances, it didn't happen. Football is a game of 60 minutes for a reason. Whatever happens, you've got to play through it."
Duke will travel to Evanston, Ill. next weekend for a non-conference tilt with Northwestern. If the Blue Devils were to lose that game, they would tie the school record for consecutive losses at 23. But Saturday, Roof could not get over how consecutive loss No. 22 slipped through the fingers of his team.
"We came to win, and we didn't do it," Roof said. "The missed opportunities just rip your guts out."
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