Luck was the football team's lady Saturday night. Although Frank Sinatra was not present to send the Blue Devils off into the night, Duke left Wallace Wade Stadium victorious for the second week in a row. Duke (2-1) survived a late fourth quarter surge by Rice (0-2) before watching Owls kicker Brandon Skeen boot a 34-yard field goal wide left to clinch the win.
"I said in the ACC [preseason media conference] that we needed to get in a close game early and win it," head coach Carl Franks said. "We have had a lot of bad things happen to us. We have been getting some good pressure on kicks, but he [Skeen] just missed it. I am glad it worked out that we won it."
Blue Devil kicker Brent Garber opened overtime with a 30-yard field goal through the uprights that gave Duke the only three points it would need for the win. Blue Devil fans were delighted after Duke won back-to-back games for the first time in five years. The victory last week came against Western Carolina, a division I-AA squad that traveled to Durham, N.C.
Even after that win, Franks opted to start redshirt freshman Mike Schneider at quarterback. He willingly took over the offense for Adam Smith, who did not take a single snap Saturday night. The Blue Devils' offense was poised for most of the day, running the ball 43 times for 222 yards and utilizing the aerial attack for 188 yards on 31 plays.
One of Duke's most crucial plays came on a punt return from junior Lance Johnson. With the Blue Devils leading 17-14 at about the 10-minute mark in the fourth quarter, Johnson caught the ball at his own 45-yard line and proceeded to break several tackles in the open field before being brought down at the Owls' 31-yard line.
Starting their drive already in field-goal position, the Blue Devils did not hesitate to take advantage of the Owls' lagging secondary. On the first play from scrimmage, Schneider dropped back into the pocket and completed a pass to junior Khary Sharpe on the Rice one-yard line. On the following play senior Chris Douglas, who netted 114 rushing yards on the ground, ran in for a touchdown to give Duke a 24-14 lead.
"When the chips were down, Duke stepped up," Douglas said. "The defense stepped up when the offense was struggling and when the defense was down the offense stepped up. You have to be in close games and you want that to happen early in the season. When it happens you want to come out with a win."
The Blue Devil defense, led by safety Terrell Smith's 16 tackles (seven solo), was able to dig deep in the overtime. After Rice drove the field and tied the game at 24-24 with three seconds in regulation, the Owls were in complete control of the momentum.
Garber's field goal to open overtime did not give Duke much breathing room since the Blue Devil defense had the task of keeping the Owls from moving the ball 35 yards for a touchdown. On third-and-three in the extra period, the Owls handed the ball off to senior running back Robbie Beck. Duke senior Ryan Fowler and freshman Casey Camero made a huge stop one yard short of the first down.
"[Rice] has a quick-hitting offense," Fowler said. "It is hard to emulate that in practice. It took a while to get used to it. We shut them down in the second and third quarters, but they came back hard in the fourth. They fought hard the whole game and had a whole bag of tricks for us. We just came away with a lucky win. We will take it."
On the ensuing fourth down play, Rice head coach Ken Hatfield decided to kick what was supposed to be a guaranteed 34-yard field goal to send the game into double overtime. Kicker Skeen had already hit a vital 46-yard field goal in the fourth quarter which would lead many coaches to kick the field goal instead of trying a do-or-die fourth-and-one.
"It is a heartbreaker...the biggest thing you find out right now is what you can do about it," Hatfield said. "The best thing you can do right now is turn around and love your teammate. It wasn't the one field goal, there were a lot of plays. It wasn't just one play that did it."
Although the scene after Saturday's game was not filled with nearly as much jubilation as last year's victory over East Carolina, which ended the Blue Devils' streak of futility, it is equally important that Duke is gaining confidence in the early stretch of its schedule. Another home game next week against Northwestern holds the possibility of winning three games in a row, a feat that has not happened at Duke since Fred Goldsmith coached the team in 1994.
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