Northwestern took advantage of several Duke miscues to rally from an early seven-point deficit and leave Durham with a 19-10 road victory. The Blue Devil defense continued their strong start to the season, holding Northwestern’s offensive unit to just one touchdown. But, the Blue Devils could not find many holes in a strong Wildcats defense and fell to 2-1 on the season.
Revisiting the three keys to the game:
- Force Northwestern to throw the ball
It was a tale of two halves for the Duke defense against Northwestern’s running attack. In the first half, the Blue Devils bottled up running back Justin Jackson and forced Wildcats freshman quarterback Clayton Thorson to throw the ball on passing downs. Thorson struggled all game, finishing just 9-for-23 with only 70 yards passing and two interceptions. One of these interceptions came on second-and-long early in the first quarter and gave Duke great field position for its only touchdown of the game. However, Jackson slowly began to find holes in the second half as the Blue Devil defense tired and finished with 120 rushing yards. Wildcat running back Warren Long also broke off a 55-yard touchdown run to put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter and take the pressure off of Thorson. Northwestern ended up running the ball a whopping 54 times which helped them control possession after finally taking the lead in the second half.
- A strong rushing attack
Shaquille Powell, Shaun Wilson and Thomas Sirk combined for 177 yards on 35 carries with Sirk finding the end zone on the ground for Duke’s only touchdown of the game. Powell and Wilson had their moments in the contest and broke off long runs of 30 and 11 yards respectively. Although the running backs turned in a solid performance and averaged a respectable 5.1 yards per carry, the unit eventually suffered due to predictable play-calling that allowed the Wildcats to commit heavily to the run.
- Win the special teams battle
It's safe to say the Blue Devils did not accomplish this key to victory. The only lead change of the contest came when Northwestern returned the opening kickoff of the second half for a touchdown to jump ahead 9-7. Duke was never able to regain the momentum and struggled playing catch-up for the rest of the half. Blue Devil punt returner Ryan Smith made matters worse when muffed a punt with 5:56 left in the game and essentially ended any hope of a late Duke rally.
Three key stats:
- Duke held to 3.8 yards per completion
Thomas Sirk completed 24 of his 39 passes, but none of the completions were downfield for big gains. The vast majority of the redshirt junior's passes were simple swing passes or short check-downs that were easily contained by the stout Northwestern defense. As a result, Duke could only muster a paltry 150 passing yards for the game and had a difficult time converting on third-and-long. With their passing game effectively limited to short routes, the Blue Devils had very little hope of coming back once they fell in a 19-10 hole.
- Three turnovers for Duke
Although Duke outgained Northwestern’s offense 327-271, the difference in the game was three costly turnovers. An interception and a fumble late in the second quarter cost the Blue Devils a golden opportunity to extend their 7-0 lead and take some momentum into the halftime locker room. Wilson's fumble—albeit the result of a great play by a Wildcat defender—came at an ill-advised time and hurt the team just as it appeared to be moving the ball. These turnovers were out of character for a normally disciplined Duke offense that did not have commit a turnover in its first two games.
- Six touchbacks for Will Monday
Blue Devil punter Will Monday was busy against the Wildcats, punting 11 times for an average of 55 yards per punt. But the normally reliable Monday put a little too much power on a couple of his kicks and prevented Duke from effectively flipping the field. Monday had been extremely accurate in pinning opponents deep into their own territory to start the season, but six punts on Saturday flew straight into the end zone for touchbacks, allowing Northwestern to start many of their drives from the 20-yard line. In a cruel twist of fate, the one time Monday did manage to punt the ball out of bounds at the one-yard line, it was the final play of the first half and the Blue Devils did not have the chance to take advantage of his excellent kick.
Three key plays:
- 4:45, second quarter: With Duke knocking on the door of a valuable two-touchdown lead, Sirk’s second-down pass couldn’t make it past the line of scrimmage as Wildcat defensive end Dean Lowry batted the ball in the air and picked it off to force a momentum-changing turnover.
- 15:00, third quarter: Northwestern kick returner Solomon Vault took the half’s opening kickoff to the house, cutting towards the left sideline early in his run and seeing a lot of green grass in front of him, as no Blue Devil defender was there to contain the play.
- 5:58, third quarter: Faced with a 12-7 deficit and a fourth-and-seven play at Northwestern’s 32-yard line, Duke elected to go for it instead of attempting a 50-yard field goal with two-time all-American kicker Ross Martin. The play was snuffed out from the beginning, and all Sirk could do was tuck the ball and gain one yard to give possession back to the Wildcats.
And the Duke game ball goes to…Devon Edwards
The junior safety led Duke’s defense against Northwestern with 11 tackles and an interception. Edwards returned his interception for 24 yards in the first quarter to set the Blue Devils up for their first and only touchdown of the game. The Covington, Ga., native also helped bring down the Wildcats’ strong running backs countless times near the line of scrimmage. With the Duke secondary holding Northwestern to only 70 yards through the air, Edwards once again provided shutdown coverage on his receiver and made life tough for the opposing quarterback.
And the Northwestern game ball goes to…Warren Long
The junior running back didn’t get many touches during Saturday’s game, but made his presence felt in a big way. One of Long's two rushing attempts was a 55-yard scamper that broke the game open in the fourth quarter. The run was the result of a beautiful misdirection play call that caused a gaping hole on the right side of the line on a third-and one for the Blue Devils. Long exploited this opening and outran the Duke defense the rest of the way. The junior was also heard from on special teams when he stuck the nail in the coffin by recovering the Blue Devils muffed punt.
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