The crowd at Wallace Wade Stadium looked exhausted Saturday afternoon as small droves of fans flocked to EMS stations around the field looking for treatment after having spent over three hours in 90-degree heat.
But the Blue Devils, led by a stellar offensive duo in Thaddeus Lewis and Eron Riley, never slowed down and brought their own heat against a perennially nagging Navy team-beating the Midshipmen 41-31 in their first win against the program since 2002.
With Lewis and Riley connecting for three scores in the game, they became the most productive quarterback-wide receiver combination in the history of Duke Football.
"It feels good to come out here and get a big win," Lewis said. "Last year they got us at the end, and we felt like we didn't finish the game. Last week, we felt like we didn't finish the game, and we did it today."
A lot has changed in a year and in a week, as Duke proved it was able to close out a game against a quality opponent. In last season's matchup against the Midshipmen, the Blue Devils posted over 500 total yards, but let an 11-point, fourth-quarter lead slip away in a 46-43 shootout loss sealed by Navy kicker Joey Bullen, who hit a 44-yard field goal as time expired.
"All the seniors-they hadn't beaten them," said redshirt senior tight end Tielor Robinson, a former Army player who transferred to Duke in 2005. "We pulled it out in the end and finally got the Navy monkey off our backs."
Heading into halftime, Navy (1-2) had garnered a 24-20 lead by attacking the Blue Devil defense on the ground with its triple-option set. Having accumulated over 170 yards rushing in the first half, including a 73-yard touchdown sprint by tailback Shun White in the opening quarter, the Midshipmen came back from the break with confidence in their backfield.
But Duke (2-1) reentered the game with new life and a tweaked defensive game plan.
"We had a great scheme, but they had their long run [and] we did make a change there," head coach David Cutcliffe said of the halftime adjustment. "We just executed in the second half. We were fresh, we got fresher as the game went on-we got faster."
Just 10 minutes into the third quarter, with the ball on their own 38-yard line and starting quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada sidelined by heat exhaustion, the Midshipmen made a bizarre decision to go for it on fouth-and-1.
Crashing through the line of scrimmage, defensive tackle Charlie Hatcher and linebacker Michael Tauiliili made a momentum-reversing stop, tackling backup quarterback Jarod Bryant to force the turnover on downs.
Seven plays later, Duke hit pay dirt when Robinson wrestled his way into the end zone from three yards out to earn his first rushing touchdown as a Blue Devil, which gave his team a 34-24 advantage. It was the first two-score advantage for any team in the game.
The Blue Devil defense stifled the Midshipmen for nearly the entire second half, allowing just one score and less than 40 yards rushing. In the second quarter, Duke's defense provided a score of its own as linebacker Vincent Rey recovered a fumble by White and returned it 37 yards for the score.
"This offense... is very difficult and we gave them about 40 yards [rushing] in the second half. It's the best I've seen, and I've seen a lot of tape of Navy Football," Cutcliffe said. "I haven't seen anybody stop them as well as our defense did."
Offensively, Duke had trouble getting anything started in the running game-scrounging just 79 yards on 34 carries. But the unit still looked strong and efficient throughout the contest. Lewis repeated last year's performance against Navy by picking apart the Midshipmen secondary, hitting nine different receivers on his way to amassing 317 yards through the air.
The Blue Devils jumped out to an early lead, assembling a 12-play, 78-yard opening drive that was capped off by Riley's first touchdown of the day-a 27-yard catch and run over the middle. In the second half, Lewis and company took care of business, capitalizing on great starting field position, scoring touchdowns on three drives of 51 yards or less.
Even when Duke was stalled on its way to the goal line, special teams stepped up in a big way. Nick Maggio hit a 46-yard field goal in the first quarter, and senior Joe Surgan executed perfectly on a 52-yard attempt as the first half came to a close.
Surgan was just 4-of-15 on field goal tries over the last two seasons and hadn't made anything longer than a 40-yarder in that same span. Connecting on those long attempts prevented Navy from ever pulling away. It was enough to keep the Blue Devils believing.
"Winning is a mindset," Lewis said. "We know we can win and we know in the tight ball games like this... you have to make the big plays sometimes. We kind of buckled down and did that today."
Notes:
Of the 17 touchdowns Lewis has thrown to Riley over the last three years, seven of them have come against Navy.... Wide receiver Donovan Varner, a true freshman from Miami, hit the field in stride to start his career at Duke, making a 36-yard catch in his first collegiate play.
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