Every time it seemed as if the Blue Devils might be gaining some momentum Saturday afternoon, North Carolina media director Steve Kirschner would interrupt the media at Wallace Stadium with another broken record: most points scored in a half in any ACC game (52), first time since 1968 that a UNC quarterback notched 100 rushing yards and 200 passing yards (Ronald Curry), most tackles for a loss in a season (Julius Peppers with 24).
For the second time in five years, Duke's season ended Saturday without a win. Like last season, the Blue Devils finished with a game against North Carolina. In the way that last season ended and this season began, they were trounced by a 38-point margin. But throughout the wreckage that was Duke's final game, painful as it was, it had to have been toughest on this year's seniors. They will not be coming back next season; they will not be at Duke to reap the benefits and the glory of the rebuilding process, when and if it ever materializes into something more.
Yet for the back seat that many of them took this season to allow the rookies to accrue some experience, they were the ones who led Duke Saturday, to a degree not seen since earlier in the season.
How fitting, on Senior Day. Unfortunately, the dark, subdued blue-on-blue uniforms said it all. Not even experience could rally Duke in its one final chance for a win.
While D. Bryant's passing yardage had increased steadily in every game since Vanderbilt, culminating in a 310-yard effort in Raleigh the previous weekend, with 6:34 to go in the second quarter, he had managed to throw for only 18 yards against Carolina. He had also tallied minus-25 rushing yards on numerous sacks and sailed a pass into the waiting arms of UNC star defensive end Julius Peppers, who promptly leapt into the endzone.
Bryant, as it turned out, had suffered a hand injury. But after four Duke penalties, two of which were for delay of game, in a game where both sides produced more flags than a United Nations summit, it was clear coach Carl Franks had seen enough. So into the game went Spencer Romine, who probably thought his quarterback days had ended.
His statline was by no means grand: the offense never really took off, he threw two interceptions and, in the fourth quarter, he conducted nine plays in the red zone without making it into the endzone.
"I was very proud of the way Spencer played," Franks said. "I didn't want to see him go out there and get hit in his final game."
But Romine brought something to the game that Bryant's superior athleticism, arm strength and speed could not: poise, the kind that only experience can bring. In five years at Duke, he had endured every experience, from throwing a 400-yard game in his junior season to roaming the sidelines as a redshirt freshman while watching the Blue Devils go 0-11 in 1996.
"Along the way this season, I was letting it soak in," Romine said. "I don't regret a bit coming back for my fifth year."
Bobby Campbell, another fifth-year senior and one-time quarterback turned kickoff return specialist, recovered his first fumble Saturday, 11 seconds into the second half. Campbell, who can usually be found mentoring younger players alongside Franks on the sidelines, set up a situation coming out of the locker room that gave Duke some momentum. Off his fumble recovery, Duke was able to score its second touchdown of the game, a seven-yard pass from Romine to Ben Erdeljac.
While Chris Douglas came through on a 69-yard run, Duke's longest play from scrimmage this season, it was senior Duane Epperson who broke through for the lion's share of grueling work. Douglas' total yardage came to 78 and included two touchdown runs, but it was Epperson's 15 carries for 66 yards that set up so many potential breakthroughs, even if Duke could not capitalize on them.
Of course, there is no doubt who the star of the senior class was Saturday. Punter Brian Morton broke the ACC career records for punts and punt yardage with totals of 282 and 12,000, of which Saturday's contribution was six punts for a total of 278 yards.
So where do the Blue Devils go from here?
Time and time again, Franks has said this is a rebuilding season, and beneath the carnage of Saturday and all the Saturdays before it, there is evidence of just what he has built.
Next year, Bryant will return to the gridiron with a little more poise, a heck of a lot more experience and a greater knowledge of the Duke system. Not only that, he will have a more tested gang of wide receivers to work with. Both Jeremy Battier and Reggie Love have shown hints of excellence. Mike Hart, a possible All-ACC contender, led the conference in receiving yards among tight ends going into Saturday's game. He will return, as will Kyle Moore, whose 53-yard reception in Saturday's third quarter was his career best. B.J. Hill and Nate Krill, two medical redshirts, also will be back next year to add some additional seasoned presence on the defense.
In fact, on the other side of the ball, Duke returns leading tacklers Todd DeLamielleure and Ryan Fowler, the former a junior who has taken on a tremendous amount of leadership and the latter the team's sack leader with seven. Fowler's four tackles Saturday underscore the fact that he was everywhere on the field when a tackle was being made; two of those tackles were made in the backfield.
All in all, it has been a disappointing season for seniors and younger players alike. But Saturday's game was one final opportunity for those seniors, and their leadership was the one final lesson for the younger members who will take over next year. No, a winless season is no fun for those seniors, but the best thing next year's team can do is go out and prove just how much they took the Class of 2001's lessons to heart.
"I certainly hope we can play better next year than we did this year," Franks said. "Hopefully, the next game we play, we'll get to win one."
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