BLACKSBURG, Va. - In any other contest, Duke's stifling defense would have easily led to a rout.
Five forced turnovers in the first half, four sacks and only one offensive touchdown allowed would indicate that Duke played a near-perfect game against Virginia Tech.
But in a contest that head coach David Cutcliffe called "an unusual game," near-perfect wasn't good enough.
In fact, perfect probably wouldn't have gotten the job done, either.
The Blue Devils made the drive-altering plays, yet could not make them game-changing plays-and that was ultimately the difference between a 3-0 victory and the actual 14-3 loss.
"Give Virginia Tech credit-when the big plays were needed to be made in the fourth quarter, they made them," Cutcliffe said. "They got that touchdown, daggum it, right before the half, and if we'd run the clock out and carried [the] 3-0 [lead] at the half, we feel like we'd have a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter."
That touchdown drive painfully illustrated the lack of timeliness on the defensive side of the ball.
Up to that point, Duke had played its best defensive half of the season. The Hokies' drives had resulted in an interception, punt, fumble, interception, fumble, punt and interception. Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer removed Tyrod Taylor, his multi-threat quarterback, and inserted the less mobile Sean Glennon in an attempt to spark some change.
It came with just more than a minute left in the first half.
Facing third-and-11 from the Hokies' 42-yard line, Glennon took the snap and was immediately swamped by blitzing Blue Devil defenders. The redshirt senior chucked the ball down the right sideline, and as it wobbled in the air, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for the sixth turnover of the half.
But wide receiver Jarrett Boykin, running a go route, adjusted for the underthrown pass-and cornerback Catron Gainey did not. Boykin picked up 26 yards on the play, and most importantly, placed Virginia Tech in scoring range. Four plays later, Glennon found Boykin in one-on-one coverage due to another heavy blitz and hit him in stride on a slant route for a diving 19-yard touchdown pass, the first of the year for any Virginia Tech wide receiver.
"That drive right before the half was basically the difference in the ballgame," Beamer said.
As the game wore on, even though it didn't force turnovers, Duke's defense got better. It didn't allow any more points, and the Hokies never advanced past Duke's 33-yard line. But with an offense whose longest drive amounted to 27 yards and built only three drives of more than 20 yards, the defense needed something more than a solid effort that shut out Virginia Tech-it needed to be the offense as well, to score points knowing that its actual offensive counterparts would likely not be able to.
Instead, it was the Hokies who did just that, as Victor "Macho" Harris intercepted Zack Asack with just more than a minute left and returned the pick 23 yards to ice the game-though the game was arguably over by that point given the Blue Devils' offensive woes.
"They capitalized and took one of their [turnovers] to the house, and that was something we probably needed to do a little better," linebacker Michael Tauiliili said. "Once we get the ball, we've got to try to score with it once. We get that turnover, and we've got to try and scoop and score or take the interception back."
Instead, those five turnovers were returned for a combined 11 yards-and when the offense took over, the ensuing drives went 11, 22, six, negative-four and seven yards. Not surprisingly, the one drive that went for more than 20 yards also resulted in Duke's only points of the day, a 39-yard field goal from Nick Maggio.
But that's all the Blue Devils ever got. And on a day when they used all they could have out of their defense, it still wasn't enough.
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