The Blue Devils let a golden opportunity for an upset slip through their hands Saturday, blowing a 10-point second-half lead in a 49-31 loss to Miami at Wallace Wade Stadium.
Hurricanes' backup quarterback Jacory Harris threw for four touchdowns and ran for another as Miami outscored Duke 35-7 in the game's final 29 minutes.
"I'm really frustrated," head coach David Cutcliffe said. "I'm mad. To be honest with you, I'm really mad. I'm angry. That's all I can say."
Cutcliffe's frustration stemmed from a snowball of a second half, as the Hurricanes (4-3, 1-2 in the ACC) did the one thing the Blue Devils (3-3, 1-2) could not: respond. Miami twice answered Duke scores with touchdowns of its own, and once the Hurricanes seized momentum, they didn't relent.
Harris' 15-yard touchdown run in the third quarter atoned for an earlier interception and cut the deficit to 24-21. One possession later, he hooked up with Aldarius Johnson on a 6-yard fade route that put Miami up for good 28-24 with 2:52 to go in the third quarter.
The Blue Devils fell apart once they fell behind, dropping passes and committing costly penalties that allowed the Hurricanes to run away with the game.
"When somebody gets ahead, you have to go back and respond," said quarterback Thaddeus Lewis, who finished 12-of-28 for 130 yards. "When somebody throws a blow at you, you have to throw one back. We didn't do that."
"We absolutely didn't play in the fourth quarter," Cutcliffe said.
On the possession after Miami took the lead, Eron Riley dropped two passes and committed a 15-yard penalty that negated a big run by Tony Jackson. A 19-yard punt return set the Hurricanes up inside the Duke 30-yard line, and it took only three plays for Harris to find Travis Benjamin in the back of the end zone for Miami's third touchdown of the third quarter.
Riley, usually Duke's steadiest receiver, was charged with four drops on the afternoon-several of them in key spots.
"We don't drop them in practice," Cutcliffe said. "I know Eron has been hurt, but he was catching the ball well in practice.... Whether it's confidence or whatever circumstances are, we've got to look at that and see if we can turn things around quickly."
The Blue Devils outplayed the Hurricanes for much of the first half, using some nifty playcalling and an opportunistic defense to take the lead. On a second down at the Miami 44, running back Clifford Harris took a handoff from Lewis, ran right and threw the ball deep to Riley for a 39-yard gain. Three plays later, Lewis found Harris out of the backfield on a swing pass for a 4-yard score-the first touchdown reception of Harris' career.
Safety Adrian Aye-Darko came up with the first of his two interceptions on the day on the ensuing Miami possession, and the Blue Devils marched the ball down the field again with some big runs by Jackson. An apparent Tielor Robinson touchdown run was overturned, but on fourth-and-goal, Lewis executed a beautiful fake to Harris and rolled right for an easy score and the lead.
Duke took a 17-14 lead into the locker room at halftime, thanks in large part to a running game that accumulated 94 yards and helped the Blue Devils hold the ball more than twice as long as the Hurricanes.
"The game for about two-and-a-half quarters played out like I thought it might," Cutcliffe said. "I knew it was going to be very difficult, but our plan was to try to stay on the field offensively. We played much more physical on both lines of scrimmage at times than we have been."
Aye-Darko got his second interception on the first play of the second half, allowing Lewis to find Raphael Chestnut in the right corner of the end zone for a 24-14 advantage.
The Hurricanes' rebuttal was a three-play, 69-yard drive that took just 63 seconds and culminated in Jacory Harris' touchdown run.
The momentum swung for good, however, on a swing of Miami punter Matt Bosher's leg. Both teams struggled to move the ball in the middle of the third quarter, but Duke was winning the battle of field position. But Bosher changed that with a 76-yard punt that, with the help of a penalty on returner Donovan Varner, pinned the Blue Devils at their 8-yard line.
A three-and-out set up the Hurricanes' go-ahead touchdown, and Miami never looked back.
"They flipped the field on us with that long punt," Cutcliffe said. "It's hard to play offense anywhere; it's really hard to play offense against a team like that once you're backed up."
The schedule gets even tougher for Duke the next two weeks, as the Blue Devils travel to Vanderbilt and Wake Forest. Cutcliffe is anxious to see how his team will respond to some adversity and who will rise from the mat of Satudrday's loss ready to fight again.
"I understand where we're coming from," Cutcliffe said. "But I don't plan on being real patient."
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