Playing under grey, rainy Durham skies, Duke found its footing early and upset Georgia Tech to capture back-to-back wins against the Yellow Jackets for the first time since 1988.
The Blue Devils took down No. 20 Georgia Tech Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium 34-20. Thanks to numerous big plays from a pair of defensive studs and consistent gritty interior play, Duke held the Yellow Jackets to 173 yards on the ground and tacked on a pair of monster returns on special teams to secure its first conference victory of the season.
"The line of scrimmage was vicious. It was no place for children out there," Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. "Our defense was flying around. You can hear it. I don't always hear it in a game, but you could hear the line of scrimmage. Our guys did a great job of attacking that offense."
In a game of the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object, the immovable object won. The Blue Devil defense, namely its front seven, stole the show throughout the game. Georgia Tech (2-2, 0-1 in the ACC) entered the game as the top-ranked rushing offense in the nation, and Duke (3-1,1-0) entered with a defense that allowed just 2.7 yards per rush.
Safety Jeremy Cash and linebacker Dwayne Norman led the way for the defense, as the duo consistently wrecked havoc in the Georgia Tech backfield and combined for 21 tackles—including 5.5 for loss.
"We just wanted to play a complete game," Cash said. "Last week, we saw that the defense stumbled a little bit toward the end of the game, so we came out with the mindset that we weren't going to let that happen again."
Norman came up big, most notably on third and fourth down throughout the game, as he stuffed Yellow Jacket running back Marcus Marshall and quarterback Justin Thomas many times by the time the final horn sounded. He also stopped an attempted reverse by Georgia Tech on second down in the third quarter, knocking the Yellow Jackets back 10 yards in the process.
"About halfway, I was running back, and something looked a little funny—then the receiver popped up," Norman said. "In my mind, I just knew reverse. I almost missed him, but thankfully, I got him."
And while the defense was out holding the No. 1 rushing offense in the nation to less than half of its season average, the offense—coming off a forgettable performance against Northwestern—did more than enough to both show improvement from a week ago and secure the Blue Devils' third win of the season.
After going 3-of-17 on third down conversions against the Wildcats, Duke stepped up on the crucial downs Saturday, opening the game 3-of-3 on third down and finishing 6-of-16.
Despite stumbling on the first drive of the game with a fumble that led to a Georgia Tech 52-yard field goal, Blue Devil quarterback Thomas Sirk bounced back quickly, tossing for 100 yards and a score to freshman wide receiver T.J. Rahming on 11-of-16 passing in the first half. One of the more welcome sights for the Duke fans that made the rainy trek to Wallace Wade came at the end of the first quarter, when Sirk roped a well-placed strike over the shoulder of senior receiver Max McCaffrey for a 32-yard gain.
"We knew we had to be more successful on offense," Sirk said. "We knew that we had to execute higher on third downs. We had to get the ball moving. We can't go three-and-out, three-and-out. We have to keep our defense off the field against a Georgia Tech team. They're going to run the ball and maintain possession a lot of the game."
On the ground, Duke rushed for 165 yards, led by senior running back Shaquille Powell, who did the majority of his damage in the first half. In one drive alone, Powell rushed on seven straight plays for 42 yards, culminating in a score to put Duke up 7-3 with 6:14 left in the first quarter.
Powell would tack on another score in the opening frame, but not before Sirk found Rahming streaking across the middle on a slant for an 11-yard touchdown strike. Two minutes later, Ryan Smith provided the second-most electrifying play of the day, as he fielded a Georgia Tech punt and, after shaking a couple would-be tacklers, streaked up the right sideline 69 yards to the one-yard line. Powell capped the drive with his second score of the day to put Duke up 19-3 after one quarter of play.
After Georgia Tech closed the gap to six with a 12-play, 74-yard touchdown drive to end the half and a 48-yard field goal in the third quarter, Duke kickoff return specialist and safety DeVon Edwards brought Wallace Wade to its feet when he took the ensuing kickoff 100 yards for the score to push the Blue Devil lead to 13 and secure his seventh career score.
"Special teams came through for us," Sirk said. "DeVon Edwards, he's such a playmaker every time you get the ball in his hands. Guys on the sideline, as soon as any team kicks it short, we're just expecting a return. We're just like, 'Oh no, they kicked it short, there goes DeVon.'"
Sirk, though improved, still had a pair of costly interceptions, both coming in Duke territory in the second half. He finished 17-of-25 through the air for 114 yards with the touchdown to Rahming and two interceptions, plus an additional 52 yards on the ground.
Luckily for the Blue Devils, the defense stood strong on both occasions following Sirk's interceptions, holding the Yellow Jackets to a field goal and a turnover on downs—the latter coming with less than six minutes remaining in the contest.
But it was Georgia Tech who would have the game-ending turnover. With 2:12 remaining and Duke's lead at just 26-20, Cash stripped and tackled Thomas, allowing defensive end Britton Grier to jump on the loose ball and give the Blue Devils back the ball.
Powell added his third rushing touchdown of the day—this one a 30-yard dash—on the ensuing Duke possession following Cash's forced fumble.
Just a few plays prior, wide receiver Johnell Barnes—who is a gunner on the punt team—was disqualified for targeting after Georgia Tech fumbled a punt return. He will have to sit out the first half of next week's contest as a result.
"I was disappointed that Johnell Barnes was going to have to sit out the first half next week against Boston College, because I don't think that was premeditated," Cutcliffe said. "I thought that was good, hard football—that he was going after the football. By rule, they probably made the right call. I get that, I really get that."
The Blue Devils will return to action next Saturday when they cap their four-game homestand against Boston College at 3:30 p.m.
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