In a season in which the Blue Devils are expecting to reach new heights, they hurt themselves this weekend by making old mistakes.
Northwestern's running backs rushed for nearly 300 yards and three touchdowns, and Duke (2-2) failed to convert on many of its scoring chances, as the visiting Wildcats (2-2) beat the Blue Devils 28-10 in Wallace Wade Stadium Saturday afternoon.
A Blue Devil win would have given the team a three-game winning streak--the program's first since 1994--but Duke could not overcome Northwestern's strong start and finish of the game or, more importantly, its own mistakes.
"I think the whole team knew that this was a game that we could have won, and we should have won, and we didn't," Duke receiver Ronnie Elliot said. "It was frustrating."
After falling behind 14-0 for the second time in as many weeks, the Blue Devils tightened up their defense and began to rally.
The hosts continued their push in the third quarter, forcing Northwestern into a punting situation on the Wildcats' first possession. Duke freshman Derek Bryant blocked the ensuing punt, creating favorable field position for the Blue Devils. Duke's offense was unable to capitalize, though, going three and out. "We could not score any points offensively," Duke head coach Carl Franks said. "We had some opportunities; it should have been about 28-28. We just made a lot of mistakes offensively.... The team that rushes for the most yards usually wins the game between these two teams, and they certainly did that today." The Blue Devils regained possession of the ball just two minutes later after their defense forced Northwestern wide receiver Ashton Aikens to fumble at the Wildcats' 39-yard line. Duke looked to be stymied once more after going three and out, but a Northwestern lineman jumped on Schneider after the whistle, giving the Wildcats a roughing the passer penalty and the Blue Devils 13 yards and a new set of downs. The Duke offense stalled, though, and had to settle for a 26-yard Brent Garber field goal, which cut Northwestern's lead to 14-10. "I would have hoped that we could've gone and scored after we blocked the punt and after we forced the turnover on the fumble," Franks said. "I certainly thought that we would've been able to tie the score up at 14-all, but we just didn't have that opportunity." After the tri-fecta, the Blue Devils would not score again. Northwestern kept the ball on the ground and kept Duke's offense off the field. The Blue Devil defensive line was not at full strength and appeared to wear down late in the game, Franks and Northwestern head Coach Randy Walker said. According to Franks, the fatigue led to poor tackling by Duke. "We had to use a lot of guys on the defensive line to rest a couple of our guys," Franks said. "We didn't play the way were capable of playing....We missed way too many tackles and way too many opportunities offensively." Duke's Schneider finished with 130 yards with one touchdown on 12-of-24 passing while Northwestern's Basanez was 15-of-23 for 177 yards. Schneider left the game after getting tackled in the open field on a scramble late in the game. He would have returned if the game's outcome was still in doubt, the red-shirt freshmen said following the loss. With five seconds left and his team down 28-10, Franks called a timeout with the Blue Devils deep into Northwestern's territory in order to get his squad one last scoring chance. This did not sit well with the Wildcats, especially their defense. "We did not want them to score, so we were going to do whatever we had to stop them. That is why we called a blitz on the play," said Wildcat defensive coordinator Greg Colby.
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