During the past two years, Duke has relied mostly on its offense to win games. The Blue Devils had an experienced game-manager in quarterback Anthony Boone and a big-play game-changer in Jamison Crowder.
But so far this year, Duke’s game-changers are defenders, and the Blue Devils are doing most of their damage on the defensive side of the ball.
Duke rebounded from last week’s 19-10 loss to Northwestern with a 34-20 victory against No. 20 Georgia Tech at Wallace Wade Stadium Saturday. Although the offense showed improvement after a disappointing performance against the Wildcats, it was the defense that paved the way to victory.
“We certainly continued on the path of getting better defensively,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. “More people involved in making big plays. The big part is when you win that interior battle. I’m watching A.J. Wolf…and company. We played a lot of people, continuously making plays.”
After wearing down in the second half against Northwestern, Duke’s front line proved that it can shut down a strong running attack for four quarters.
The Blue Devil defense wreaked havoc against Georgia Tech’s highly-touted triple-option rushing attack. Led by safety Jeremy Cash, redshirt senior linebacker Dwayne Norman and redshirt junior defensive tackle A.J. Wolf, Duke held the nation’s second-best running team—which averaged 377 rushing yards per game entering Saturday's contest—to 173 yards.
Among the defense’s main areas of success was recognizing the Yellow Jackets’ many disguises and limiting them to short gains on first and second down. As Notre Dame did in its win against Georgia Tech last week, Duke forced the Yellow Jackets to throw the ball on several long third downs.
The Blue Devils shut down Georgia Tech’s potent halfback dive and controlled the line of scrimmage. The Yellow Jackets rely on the dive by their B-backs to open up space on the outside for rushes by its A-back or quarterback Justin Thomas. As the Blue Devils’ defensive tackles stuffed the B-back, the defensive ends, linebackers and secondary on the outside swarmed around Thomas and the B-backs.
“After last week, we lost the physical battle in the second half. And this week here was probably the most physical week of practice we’ve ever had here at Duke,” Cash said. “We watched a lot of Notre Dame film. Our D-line has just been playing tremendously. Especially in a game like this, our defensive linemen were our leading tacklers of the game. They created a whole new line of scrimmage…we were able to play disciplined football and assignment football and tackle the man with the ball.”
Despite the offense’s improved showing from a week ago, Duke relied on its defense to come up with crucial stops. Late in the fourth quarter, with the Blue Devils leading 26-20, quarterback Thomas Sirk threw an interception to give the Yellow Jackets field position at the Duke 35 yard line. But the defense immediately answered the bell, forcing a Georgia Tech turnover on downs.
Later in the quarter, when the Yellow Jackets had another opportunity to take the lead, Cash tackled Thomas in the backfield and forced a fumble. Redshirt senior defensive end Britton Grier recovered the loose ball, which ultimately sealed the win.
“They saved me from having a huge ulcer,” Cutcliffe said. “It was just unbelievable on third down we turned it over. We had gotten to a point where a punt was a good play for us. Our guys did a great job attacking that offense. It was no place for children out there."
When the Yellow Jackets did pass the ball, Duke’s secondary was ready. Junior cornerback Breon Borders collected his eighth career interception, and the Blue Devils limited Georgia Tech to just 143 passing yards and six completions on 22 attempts.
Duke’s defensive leaders, especially, had a huge impact. As usual, Cash was all over the field as he registered 12 tackles. Norman, who converted to linebacker from safety this past offseason, collected nine tackles—including several crucial stops on third and fourth down.
“For the most part, we kept the ball in front of us,” Cutcliffe said. “Anybody would tell you that when you have defensive people that are playmakers, that’s a good way to win games. I can’t say enough about Jeremy Cash. [Dwayne’s] a good football player. He’s a big, fast guy. I told him, ‘Probably your best day as a Blue Devil today.’"
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