The Duke football team looks to avoid its second winless campaign in as many seasons as it travels to Death Valley to take on Clemson Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
A loss could send Duke (0-10, 0-7 in the ACC) into a tie with Northern Illinois for the seventh-longest losing streak in Division I history at 22. But a win could turn around everything for the 27-point underdogs from Durham, as they face off against a Clemson team with a three-game losing streak of its own.
"[A win] would change everything, all last season and all this season," said defensive end Charles Porter, one of 12 seniors playing in their final game as a Blue Devil. "Our guys that have only been here two seasons haven't even gotten a win. I'd love to have them experience a first win, and I'd love to go out from Duke with a win."
Porter and the Blue Devils are coming off a thrashing at the hands of archrival North Carolina, which beat Duke 52-17 to earn its 12th consecutive win in the matchup. In that game, Duke also lost one of the most important pieces of its offense over the past few seasons when Mike Hart suffered a season-ending ankle injury. Hart, recently named to the All-ACC first team, was one of the highest-ranked tight ends entering the NFL draft but now may be forced to miss out on all the senior bowls and combine workouts.
Clemson (5-5, 3-4 in the ACC) has had for the most part a disappointing season and faces the possibility of not earning a bowl berth for the first time in coach Tommy Bowden's three-year tenure. Even if Clemson manages to win Saturday against Duke, the Tigers are still not guaranteed a bowl bid, as seven ACC teams managed to garner winning seasons, though only six teams will likely get invited to bowl games. As if the possibility of not playing in a bowl game is not enough, pride alone is reason enough for the Tigers to come out fired up for the Blue Devils according to Clemson freshman linebacker Eric Sampson.
"We will be the most embarrassing team in the country if we lose to Duke," Sampson said in The State newspaper on Tuesday.
The Tigers are led at quarterback by senior Woodrow Dantzler, whose uncanny ability to pass and run out of the shotgun with equal productivity earned him Heisman status earlier this season though he has fizzled of late. Realizing that Dantzler is the key to 75 percent of Clemson's offensive force, many teams have effectively employed a spy to just guard the player many coaches call a running back playing QB.
Last year's matchup of these two teams saw Duke hang with the Tigers for the first quarter and a half before Dantzler took the game over with his breathtaking moves. Two scrambles for touchdowns by the All-ACC first-team quarterback, including one heart-stopping spin move around defender Darryl Scott that left Scott on the short end of a Sportscenter highlight, followed by a touchdown pass gave Clemson an insurmountable lead at halftime en route to a 52-22 victory. Stopping Dantzler will be the top priority for Duke's shaky defense, which has given up an average of 50 points over the past five games.
"He is a tremendous weapon," said Duke coach Carl Franks. "We have to make sure we contain him. No one's done a great job of containing him. One thing we have to do is wrap him up when we get a hold of him. We haven't been the greatest tackling team, so we also have to get a bunch of people around him."
On the other end of the ball, though, the Clemson defense will have to deal with quarterback D. Bryant, who has already passed for 2,000 yards this season, good enough for fourth in the ACC, as well as multi-dimensional running back Chris Douglas, whose 1,700 all-purpose yards are tops in Duke history. But with the running game slowed in the past few weeks, Bryant looks to take to the air against a Clemson secondary that has been lit up like a light bulb.
"Their DBs don't look that tough on film," said Bryant, who made his first career start in last year's game versus Clemson and passed for 168 yards. "They're definitely not a Clemson team of old. They are not even the team from last year, and we are better than last year."
One of the bright spots for this year's Duke squad has been the play of linebacker Ryan Fowler. Following a promising freshman season, Fowler has had the breakout year his coaches expected, leading the team in tackles with 119, forced fumbles with three and tied for the team lead with two sacks and one interception. The sophomore from Redington Shores, Florida has seen his share of individual success but has yet to earn a win in his two seasons at Duke.
"I'm pleased [with my season], but I'm not satisfied," Fowler said. "I won't be satisfied until the team wins. If you do a good job, at least you can look back and say, OI did something to help the team.' But if the team didn't win, you didn't do enough."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.