WINSTON-SALEM - It was the game.
When the Blue Devil football team and its supporters glanced over their schedule for the 2000 season, they knew that if any game would be winnable, it would be their Nov. 4 contest against Wake Forest.
However, after losing to the Demon Deacons 28-26 despite their strongest offensive output of the season, Duke must now truly consider an outcome that seemed unlikely to even its most ardent supporters in the preseason-the specter of a winless season, the second in only five years.
Needless to say, the defeat at the hands of their in-state rival was a bitter pill to swallow.
"It's truly indescribable how upset I am right now," Blue Devil tight end Mike Hart said after his team's loss. "All year we've been given opportunities and all year we've found ways to destroy them. I don't know how to describe how I feel right now, but I feel pretty lousy."
And this lousy feeling has only been augmented by the number of big plays that the Blue Devils have sacrificed or have not taken advantage of throughout the season and more specifically, in its bout with the Deacons.
Time after time, Duke proved that it could dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, stifling the Wake Forest running attack and having variable success passing the ball against their opponent's inexperienced defense. But only a few plays can change the entire outcome of a game, and this phenomenon could not have been truer Saturday.
An example of this inability to take advantage of important opportunities occurred midway through the first quarter, when Duke received the football inside Wake's territory after Duke linebacker Ryan Fowler's sack of quarterback Anthony Young forced the Deacons to punt from inside their own red zone. At first, the Blue Devils seemed destined to capitalize from
Three plays later, another freshman wideout got into the mix, as Bryant hit Jeremy Battier for a 10-yard gain and another Blue Devil first down, this time at the Wake 14. Then, after a five-yard run by Chris Douglas, the Demon Deacons gave Duke a valuable opportunity to put points on the board when a member of the Wake Forest secondary was called for pass interference on an attempt from Bryant to Battier, giving the Blue Devils a first-and-goal from the five-yard line.
However, three incomplete passes later, one of which was dropped by Hart near the end zone, Duke was forced to settle for a field goal instead of the seemingly inevitable touchdown they had desired. Instead of tying the Deacs, it would have to settle for cutting the lead to 7-3. Clearly, the Blue Devils had failed to capitalize on a great opportunity to steal the lead, as well as the momentum, away from the home team in Groves Stadium.
"If it was physically possible, then I wanted to catch it," Hart said of his crucial dropped pass. "It might have been a difficult catch, but it was a catchable ball and I dropped it. If I had caught it, then maybe we would have had a different outcome in the first half and maybe we would have been a little more optimistic about things."
Of course, the members of the offensive weren't the only ones who were unable to capitalize on generally solid play. The Duke defensive and special teams also performed admirably throughout most of the game, but sacrificed a few game-breaking plays that allowed the previously winless Deacons record their first victory. Included among these big plays were a 45-yard punt return by Wake receiver Fabian Davis (which came after a 51-yard boom by Duke punter Brian Morton) and a decisive 72-yard touchdown rush by Deacon running back Tarence Williams, which padded his team's lead just enough to secure a victory.
"As a defense, I think we're pretty solid most of the time," Fowler said. "It's the few times that we're not that the few plays break. That's where we lose the game-the big plays. Not many teams drive on us, it's just a big break here or there."
Despite giving up the plays that broke its back, Duke can take away a few positive aspects to build upon for its remaining schedule. Foremost among these aspects was the consistently hard play demonstrated on both sides of the ball, an asset that the Blue Devils have exemplified throughout the season.
And with this competitive effort, the Blue Devils can relish the fact that they almost came away with a victory even though they made a number of mistakes. In fact, after narrowing Wake's lead to 28-26 with less than two minutes left in the contest, Duke almost came away with an onsides kick attempt that would have given them one more chance to steal the win.
But when the Deacons recovered the football from the onsides kick, reality reared its ugly head and the Blue Devils knew that they had let another one slip away. They can only hope that this will be the last time that this all-too-familiar outcome would occur, especially since they conclude their season with battles against their two most-hated rivals, N.C. State and North Carolina, two games in which Duke will be the considerable underdog.
"We got to dig down these last two games and just play with a lot of heart, because we got chances," wide receiver Kyle Moore said. "If we don't give up these chances, we'll be in these games and we can win these games. If everybody on the team believes that, we'll be fine."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Sign up for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.