Try as I might, there's no kind way to spin what took place Saturday evening at Wallace Wade Stadium.
No amount of searching for the right words, no amount of looking for the "positive angle" and no amount of sympathy can change what occurred on a rain-soaked field in front of more than 30,000 fans. The 38-0 shellacking by visiting East Carolina was, in no uncertain terms, Duke's most humiliating and lopsided home defeat in exactly seven years.
That's not to say that the Blue Devils haven't lost by 38 or more points since 1993, but in each of those four contests, they were either playing on the road or at a neutral site against Florida State.
But in what was dubbed the "1993 Toilet Bowl," those Seminoles from Florida State made the trip north to Wallace Wade on the first Saturday in September. Amidst lightning, torrential rainstorms and against a hunted Blue Devil quarterback named Spence, Florida State buried Duke 45-7 in the first game of the final year in the Barry Wilson era.
Two nights ago, not all that much was different. There were still brilliant streaks of lightning that lit up the sky as gametime approached; there were still the untimely downpours that turned the newly painted lines on the freshly cut grass into a mud-trodden mess; and, yes, there was still a quarterback named Spence doing his best to survive multiple sacks by the opposing defense.
But unlike 1993, when a solid contingent of Blue Devil faithful turned out to be the majority of the 26,000 fans in attendance, the "home crowd" wasn't disappointed Saturday. After driving more than an hour up the coast to out-number Duke fans by about a three-to-one margin, East Carolina fanatics watched the Pirates drive right over the
"Any loss is one that never sits well with you," second-year coach Carl Franks said. "I don't know that you look to find positives out of a loss. You look at where you are as a football team and see how you can get better. We just have to stay the course."
The course was a rocky one right from the start last night.
On the third play of Duke's opening series, senior quarterback Spencer Romine, who was sacked four times, misread the Pirates' coverage and floated a pass right to ECU redshirt freshman Kelly Hardy. Hardy intercepted the pass and strutted 26 yards down the sideline without a Blue Devil in sight for the game's first score.
Fifty-nine minutes of play later, the road was no less treacherous. With Romine long since having taken a seat on the sidelines to protect him from injury, sophomore D. Bryant lined up under center. In a play that was as fitting as the final play could have possibly been, Pirates linebacker Reggie Hamphill grabbed Bryant by his shoulder pads and flung the inexperienced quarterback 16 yards backward, simultaneously registering East Carolina's fifth sack of the game and enabling the clock to mercilessly wind down to 0:00.
In between the stunning beginning and the appropriate ending, the mayhem was no less severe for Duke. The Blue Devils never got within field goal range as they failed to advance past ECU's 41-yard line, while total yards were, just like the fan differential, three-to-one.
"When you're down there in my shoes, that wasn't easy," East Carolina coach Steve Logan said.
Much like last season, when an out-of-sync offense took three weeks to finally click and reach the endzone, the Blue Devils looked confused during the first two series Saturday.
On Hardy's interception, the first of the defensive back's career, Romine threw the ball into the flat while his receiver ran the correct route by cutting upfield. When the Blue Devils got the ball back seconds later, freshman Chris Douglas' impressive kick return was called back to the 14-yard line after an illegal block in the back. After Duke moved the ball past its own 30 on several nice plays by senior running back Duane Epperson, three consecutive penalties forced the offense into first-and-22.
A stifled draw play and two incomplete passes later, Duke punted for the first time of the evening. It was the first of nine times, a streak interrupted only by three interceptions and the conclusions of each half.
Afterward, Franks and his upperclassmen highlighted a laundry-list of things the Blue Devils need to improve upon. They included running the ball, protecting the quarterback, tackling and defending against the pass.
But, for a team that played several first-time competitors on both sides of the ball, the most important lesson Saturday may have been a hard one to learn. With an incredibly young team, building the football program of the future is going to require some bumps and bruises in the present.
"We played a lot of people that have never played in a college football game before," Franks said before pausing. "And it definitely showed."
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