Duke finally reaches endzone, still winless after 3 games

The Chronicle

Dreams of a successful football season have suddenly turned into coach Carl Franks' worst nightmare.

Saturday's crushing 31-14 defeat at the hands of Vanderbilt (3-1) spoiled Homecoming celebrations at Wallace Wade Stadium and closed out an extremely disappointing non-conference schedule for Duke (0-3), which now must try to right a rapidly sinking ship against No. 1 Florida State.

Following the Seminoles, the Blue Devils face Virginia and Georgia Tech. Realizations that Duke might be 0-6 before it ventures to Maryland for Halloween weekend have Franks and his players pondering how two short weeks turned visions of Bowl games into questions about when and if they will win a game.

"These were three games we didn't expect to lose," quarterback Bobby Campbell said. "If you would've told me we would be 0-3, I wouldn't have believed you."

Duke's first two losses resulted largely from an inefficient offense that struggled to move the ball and failed to reach the endzone. Against the Commodores, however, the offense finally seemed to click under Campbell, while the previously stellar defensive and special teams units were exploited.

After Campbell led the Blue Devils to their first touchdown of the season, both units completely melted down as Vanderbilt quickly recaptured a seven-point lead seconds before halftime. On fourth-and-six from their own 45-yard line, the Commodores caught Duke's punt return team napping when they called a fake to the right side that went for 34 yards to the Blue Devil 21.

Cornerback Ronnie Hamilton then allowed Vanderbilt to move to the four-yard line after he was called for a 15-yard pass interference penalty. Quarterback Greg Zolman put an exclamation point on the 85-yard touchdown drive with a four-yard run to an empty right side.

Before they knew it, the defense was right back on the field, after Campbell overthrew Richmond Flowers on the first play of the ensuing possession. Cornerback Rushen Jones intercepted the pass and returned it 37 yards down to the six-yard line. Vanderbilt wasted no time as Rodney Williams provided the knockout punch with a three-yard touchdown run on the next play.

"I don't know exactly what happened [on the interception]," Franks said. "That was one play I wish we could take back. That was a major turning point in the game."

Only 7:16 after it had tied the game, Duke was suddenly down two touchdowns. During that time span, the offense was on the field a mere 16 seconds.

After the Commodores added a field goal, Campbell tried one last time to execute a comeback. He moved the team 65 yards on seven plays to get into striking range, but on second-and-five from the 15 he misread the route run by Flowers and his pass was intercepted again by Jones.

"Richmond ran a hitch and Bobby threw a fade," Franks said. "It wasn't a very good play on [Campbell's] part.

"We made a lot more mistakes this game than we made the previous games. We still had enough problems on offense to not give us a chance to win the game."

Duke's problems on offense began on the first possession of the game. Kevin Thompson started the game, but he failed to complete a pass as the team's first three possessions netted a total of three yards and failed to produce a first down. On the Blue Devils' fourth possession, Thompson was relieved by Campbell, who completed a one-yard pass to Flowers for Duke's only completion of the first quarter.

The offense finally began to rally around Campbell midway through the second quarter. Beginning with a 22-yard completion to Flowers, Campbell engineered a nine-play, 67-yard drive capped by Duane Epperson's six-yard touchdown, Duke's first of the season.

Despite the two touchdowns on drives of 67 and 69 yards, Campbell said the output still isn't where it needs to be for the Blue Devils to win games.

"We're still hoping for more than 14 points," he said. "We can't expect the defense to hold them to nine points. Fourteen points is not going to cut it."