EVANSTON, Ill.—For the second straight week, the Blue Devils will be left wondering what might have happened if not for a slew of mistakes.
Duke surrendered 17 unanswered points in the second half before falling to Northwestern 24-13 Saturday night at Ryan Field. After scoring a touchdown late in the second quarter, Duke’s offense went cold in the second half, at one point recording four straight drives without a first down. Two turnovers and a missed field goal prevented the Blue Devils from taking advantage of scoring chances when they did cross midfield after halftime, allowing Northwestern to build a 24-7 lead and put the game away.
“We have shown flashes, unfortunately, of doing things that bad football teams do,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. “We are consistently inconsistent.”
Although Daniel Jones finished 27-of-48 for 279 yards, the redshirt freshman often looked unsettled in the pocket and had a fumble and an interception for the second straight week.
Defensively, Duke—which fell 24-14 to Wake Forest at home Sept. 10—registered two turnovers and had five sacks but struggled to prevent big plays against Wildcat quarterback Clayton Thorson, who finished with a career-high 320 passing yards and matched a career high with three long touchdowns.
“They did some max protection stuff. They did a good job of trying to keep people in there,” Cutcliffe said. “They kept a tight end and running back in to protect, which is smart on their part. I thought again we got a little beat up and tired in the front.”
True to form, Northwestern (1-2) came out running the ball. After several rushes—including a 21-yard gain by All-Big Ten running back Justin Jackson—Thorson found Garrett Dickerson for a 26-yard touchdown.
Like the Blue Devil defense, Duke’s offense also experienced a slow start, struggling to finish drives after crossing midfield in the first 12 minutes. On four total drives Saturday, the Blue Devils (1-2) moved across midfield but failed to come up with any points.
But in the second quarter, Jones and company found a brief rhythm, using a 12-play 99-yard drive to knot the game at a touchdown apiece after an interception at the goal line by cornerback Bryon Fields.
“They set the tone. They got us with the first drive,” Cutcliffe said. “And then we settled in pretty darn good.”
But that was the most success the Blue Devil offense would have Saturday night.
In the second half, Jones and company struggled to find any consistency and put pressure on Northwestern’s defense. When the Blue Devils finally did sustain a drive and had a chance to cut into the 10-point deficit early in the fourth quarter, freshman kicker A.J. Reed missed a 34-yard field goal—his third miss this season from inside 45 yards.
He also missed the extra point after Duke scored a touchdown in the game’s final minutes.
“[Reed] is physically a really good player.,” Cutcliffe said. “So it’s a combination of mental and consistent technique. With A.J. you got to just strike the ball.”
Punter Austin Parker also struggled, dropping the snap on a punt to give Northwestern good field position in the third quarter.
The Wildcats went ahead 14-7 on the next play when Thorson found Solomon Vault behind safety Deondre Singleton for a 44-yard touchdown. Singleton was later ejected from the game for targeting.
After adding a field goal late in the third quarter, Northwestern continued to expose Duke’s secondary when it left wideout Austin Carr—who finished with 135 receiving yards—all alone for a 58-yard touchdown with 4:56 left in the game.
“A lot of times, they would try to look to see what [coverage] we were in and would check to a particular call. So when we were in man or outside leverage, they would run digs,” redshirt senior safety DeVon Edwards said. “They did a great job sort of scheming what we like to do.”
Now 1-2 for the first time since 2011, Duke will face another road test at Notre Dame Saturday.
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