The 24 points Duke scored Saturday were its most in over a month and third-highest total on the season.
Statistics, though, can be misleading-in this case, they flat-out lie.
The Blue Devils had fewer net yards on offense than they did against Clemson, Florida State and Virginia Tech-games in which they combined to score 30 points with just two touchdown passes.
Much of the blame goes to the passing game, which had one of its worst games of the year. Receivers dropped catchable balls, quarterback Thaddeus Lewis held the ball too long and the offensive line could not stop the Georgia Tech pass rush.
"It's not any one group's fault," head coach Ted Roof said. "Our receivers have got to get off the line better, we've got to get rid of the ball quicker and we've got to protect better."
On the day, Lewis finished 12-of-29 for 122 yards-64 of those coming on his lone touchdown pass to wide receiver Eron Riley. Lewis' inability to make quick decisions played a large factor in the Yellow Jackets' eight sacks.
Riley, however, hesitated to place the blame on his quarterback.
"We could say Thad was down, but I put the blame on us-the receivers," Riley said. "We dropped a lot of passes."
Riley himself was culpable of several key drops, particularly on Duke's opening drive.
After Georgia Tech took just 39 seconds to score in the first quarter, the Blue Devils got the ball at their own 29-yard line. On the very first play of the drive, Lewis took a seven-step drop, looked around the field and launched a rocket down the left sideline to Riley.
The Yellow Jackets' cornerback was in good position, but the junior wideout, as he has done so often this season, kicked into another gear, sped past the defender and had the ball land right in his hands.
It was the perfect play-a swift response to get the crowd back into the game on Senior Day.
Except Riley forgot to bring in the ball.
And when Riley dropped another ball two plays later on third down, any potential momentum for the Blue Devils dissipated.
The dropped passes haunted Duke throughout the day. Riley dropped three balls and freshman Austin Kelly had three as well-two of them coming on third down.
One byproduct of the drops was an inability to sustain drives. For the day, the Blue Devils had just one drive last longer than five plays-and that gained only 16 yards.
All four scoring drives took five plays or fewer.
But the whole offense had to share the blame this day, as even the offensive line struggled to provide Lewis with any time in the pocket.
"We've got to block better," Roof said. "Nobody is very good when the down situations get to where they were."
On the day, the Blue Devils lost 44 yards on eight sacks. Five of those came in the fourth quarter-three coming on a critical fourth-quarter drive.
With 9:40 left in the game, Duke had the ball at Georgia Tech's 39, trailing by 10. Two plays later, however, it had the ball on its own 48-yard line thanks to two consecutive sacks. The Blue Devils were forced to punt, and the Yellow Jackets put the game away with a touchdown pass on the ensuing possession.
"We've got to continue to work on [execution], hammer it home and get it done because we've got two more opportunities," Roof said.
During those remaining two games, Duke should have multiple opportunities to win against teams with a combined record of 4-16. The biggest question is, can they take advantage?
If Saturday's offensive showing is any indication, the players may not want to hear the answer.
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