CLEMSON, S.C. - When Duke got the football on Clemson's 25-yard line to start the second half of the first overtime period on Saturday, coach Fred Goldsmith must have been feeling pretty good about the Blue Devils' chances to come away with their first win in Death Valley since 1980.
The defense did its job by holding the Tigers to just six yards on their overtime possession, forcing them to settle for a 36-yard David Richardson field goal. Even if the offense sputtered, Goldsmith could call on dependable Sims Lenhardt to force a second extra period.
Unfortunately for Duke, things went badly awry on the very first play. Receiver Scottie Montgomery-who was enjoying one of his best games ever catching the ball-ran an end-around and took a pitch from quarterback Bobby Campbell. Although Montgomery had some trouble handling the ball, he recovered quickly with the intent of throwing a pass to tight end Terrence Dupree.
But Dupree was well covered and a hesitant Montgomery was easily corralled by Clemson linebacker Rahim Abdullah for a nine-yard sack. Abdullah sealed the game for the Tigers two plays later when he picked off a floating Campbell pass and raced 63 yards for an insurance touchdown.
Despite the dramatic finish, it was the botched option pass that truly put the Blue Devils in a bad spot. Losing nine yards on first down forced Campbell to put the ball up on the next two plays and decreased the chances of a game-tying effort from Lenhardt. After the game, Goldsmith defended the trick play.
"We tried to win it quick there at the end," Goldsmith said. "We had a play we felt like we had not shown all year. And we'd worked on it and we felt like it'd be there, and it just wasn't there."
Nor was it the only Duke trick play that wasn't there. After forcing Clemson to punt on its first drive of the second half, the Blue Devils took over on their own 33. Campbell was sacked for a 13-yard loss on first down, but a short pass to Corey Thomas and a shotgun draw by Letavious Wilks advanced the ball back to the 36-yard line.
With the score tied at 13, Goldsmith elected for a fake punt on fourth-and-seven. Goldsmith said he was unable to see what happened, but it appeared the play was designed for punter Brian Morton to throw a pass while rolling to his right. Morton ended up trying to run for the first down when all of his receivers were covered and came up about three yards short. Clemson took over at the Duke 40, but Tawambi Settles blocked Richardson's 47-yard field goal attempt six plays later to prevent any damage.
A few defensive calls also backfired. Trailing by seven in the fourth quarter, Clemson ripped off 37 yards on consecutive completions from quarterback Nealon Greene to receivers Tony Horne and Brian Wofford. The Tigers had a first down on Duke's 34, and the Blue Devils responded with a defensive look that featured ten men near the line of scrimmage.
A blitz from a similar package in the first half resulted in a Kevin Lewis sack and forced fumble that Darius Clark ran in for a Duke touchdown. But this time Greene hit Horne with a short pass to the left side, which left him with effectively one man to beat as he broke back across the middle and raced 34 yards to even the score.
Horne's touchdown would not have mattered if the Blue Devils could have answered. With less than two minutes remaining in the game and two timeouts left, Duke decided to allow Clemson to run the play clock down to one when the Tigers faced fourth-and-two at their own 36. Effectively, Duke was playing for overtime, especially after punter Kevin Laird boomed a 63-yard punt to put the Blue Devils at their own 20 with less than a minute left. Campbell then kneeled down twice to end regulation time.
"I thought we were in the driver's seat in overtime," Goldsmith said. "We had played the whole fourth quarter going into that tough wind, so that's why we took a knee right there with... 30 seconds to go. Why risk it there when the next time we'd get the ball would be on the 25-yard line?"
For his part, Montgomery would not second-guess his coach on the ill-fated option pass in overtime.
"We worked it a bunch [in practice]," said Montgomery, who played some quarterback in high school. "I dropped the pitch but we still had a little time to get that off."
In the end, though, it wasn't quite enough time, and two plays later the chance for a rare road win at Clemson came to an end.
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