Cavalier 4th quarter push denies football 3rd win

In the week leading up to the Virginia game, the Blue Devils were still dwelling on their 26-21 loss at Northwestern Sept. 14.

Duke will have more chances to gripe for the rest of the season with the Blue Devils' 27-22 loss to the Virginia Cavaliers Saturday afternoon in Wallace Wade Stadium.

As in every close loss, "what-ifs" flooded the team's thoughts. The subject most discussed by the coaches and players after the game was Duke's handling of its last two downs of a drive with about eight minutes left in the fourth quarter.

Duke had the ball on Virginia's two yard-line on third down when Adam Smith threw an incomplete pass to wide-receiver Lance Johnson. Smith expressed his disappointments when he immediately realized he should have thrown to a wide-open Khary Sharpe instead.

"I tried throwing it to the underneath guy when Khary Sharpe was wide open in the endzone," Smith said. "If we had those extra four points, it would have been a tied game, and it might have gone into over-time or we might have won."

On fourth and two, head coach Carl Franks, who is known for his liberal attitude on attempting fourth-down plays, decided to go for the field goal. Brent Garber was successful on the kick, dwindling Virginia's lead to 20-16.

Franks said he kicked the field goal because of the confidence he had in his defensive unit. The Duke defense held Virginia to minus-four yards and zero points in the third quarter. The plan seemed to work, with the Blue Devils forcing the Cavaliers to punt after three plays.

Things fell apart for Duke, however, when it regained possession. Smith's first pass attempt was deflected, and instead of batting the ball down, Smith caught the ball for a 12-yard loss. The Blue Devils went from a first and ten on the Duke 45 to second down-and-22 from their 33. Smith's next two passes were incomplete, and Duke was forced to punt.

The play was followed by a flee-flicker to Michael McGrew for 54 yards, putting the Cavaliers on the two yard-line.

"Sometimes if you follow one big play with another one, it increases your chances," said Virginia head coach Al Groh. "We knew we had to be bold in the second half, and take our shot at them."

Alvin Pearman ran the ball in on the next play, putting UVa up 27-16.

The Blue Devils continued to fight, going 80 yards in 11 plays, highlighted by Smith's 15-yard pass to Sharpe with 1:28 left in the game. Duke was unsuccessful in its attempt at a two-point conversion, and decided to kick-off to Virginia, rather than attempt a risky onside kick.

"We had two timeouts left," Franks said. "There was 2:50 something left on the clock. The odds of us getting the ball back that way are a lot better than getting the ball on an onside kick. We kicked it deep and they were at the 20. Eventually we got the ball back, just not soon enough."

The Duke defense forced a punt from the Cavaliers after five plays, but Virginia still managed to take two minutes and eighteen seconds off the clock.

When Duke finally regained possession of the ball, there was only 29 seconds left in the game. With no time-outs left, the Blue Devils ran out of time when Almondo Curry intercepted Smith's pass at the end of regulation. It was Smith's only interception in a 26-for-42, 256-yard performance-his first game with more than 200 yards passing.

Smith was not the only bright spot in Duke's close loss, with junior Chris Douglas having a breakout performance, running for 125 yards and receiving for 89.

Fullback Alex Wade, who had taken over Douglas' roles as featured back since the junior was hampered by injuries, was forced to leave the game with ailments of his own. Wade, who was averaging nearly 100 yards a game was held to 53 yards on the day.

"I definitely feel a lot better," Douglas said. "Unfortunately sometimes it just takes a while to get over certain injuries, especially with a guy like me."

The defensive line also had its most impressive game of the season, netting two sacks and holding the Cavs to only two yards on the ground.

"It hurts a lot worse than it did last year, or the year before, because we're a lot better," Franks said. "When you expect to win and you know you're good enough to win, it hurts a lot more."