I didn't want to have to write this.
I'd love to be feigning excitement over the football team's prospects this season, and making bold claims that after victories over two weak football teams, the Blue Devils were ready to take on Florida State and the world. I'd love to be gearing up my bandwagon, unfolding maps to New Orleans and telling the Blue Devil faithful that there's still plenty of room available for the trip to the Sugar Bowl. I'd love to be pledging my allegiance to the head coach, Steve Spurrier reincarnated, who would lead us to the promised land.
But it ain't gonna happen, folks; if you'd like to maintain some sort of deluded optimism, put on your ear muffs.
After coasting through the two happiest weeks in recent Duke football history, the wheels came off against Northwestern. In case anyone got too carried away by the victories over Western Carolina and Rice, Saturday's loss reminded us that Wallace Wade hadn't magically turned into the Big House, and the Blue Devils' helmets still read Duke and not Miami or Oklahoma.
While Carl Franks would have you believe otherwise, this wasn't just another loss; this was an old fashioned butt-whooping at the hands of a team that finished 3-9 and in the cellar of the Big Ten last year. The defense missed tackles left and right, and made an art form out of allowing third-and-long conversions. The offense seemed to sustain drives only when Northwestern was gracious enough to hand it 15 yards on personal fouls, and came away with a grand total of three points on two critical third-quarter drives that started inside the Northwestern 40 yard line after a blocked punt and a fumble recovery.
"They had a lot more than we had today," Franks said. "We didn't play the way we were capable of playing. We missed way too many tackles, and way too many opportunities offensively. It should have been about 28 to 28."
The third quarter was a microcosm of the game. Somehow, after being pretty soundly beaten for most of the first half, and with less "excitement on the sidelines than I would have liked," according to Franks--how a team gunning for its first three-game winning streak since Britney Spears was 13 years old fails to come out with some passion at home, I don't know--the Blue Devils rallied for a touchdown right before halftime, and entered the break with a little momentum trailing only 14-7.
On the first possession of the second half, the Blue Devils forced the Wildcats to punt--and then blocked the punt, taking over at the Northwestern 36 yard line. With the crowd getting into the game for the first time, and a huge opportunity to erase first-half mistakes and even the score, here's what Duke's offense was able to muster: on first down, quarterback Mike Schneider was sacked for a five-yard loss; on second down, Chris Douglas ran for no gain; and on third down, Schneider's pass to Khary Sharpe fell incomplete. On a possession that started a first down or two away from the red zone, the Blue Devil offense went backwards, and couldn't even manage three points.
Northwestern, however wasn't through trying to hand the game to the Blue Devils. Right after getting the ball back following Duke's aborted drive, Wildcat receiver Ashton Aikens caught a 20-yard pass on third and fourteen, but fumbled. Once again, the Blue Devils sent their offense onto the field already in Northwestern territory; and once again, Duke's offense stalled. A 16-yard pass to Reggie Love gave the Blue Devils a first down at the Wildcat 21, but on third and six, Schneider fell down while dropping back to pass. Fortunately for Duke, an ingenious Wildcat defender jumped on Schneider as he lay on the ground, resulting in a 13-yard roughing the passer penalty and a Duke first down.
Handed yet another brilliant chance to tie the game, Schneider tossed three incomplete passes and Duke settled for a field goal.
So after Northwestern surrendered a blocked punt, a fumble, and one of the dumbest penalties college football has ever seen, Duke emerged with a grand total of three points.
"We really need to put more points on the board," Schneider said. "I'll take responsibility for that. I mean, three points, we really need touchdowns in there. We can't settle for field goals. We needed at least 10 points out of those two chances."
If Duke can't put points on the board against a mediocre Northwestern defense, and if it can't tackle against the less-than-imposing Wildcat offense, what hope do the Blue Devils have now that the remainder of their schedule looms with Florida State instead of Western Carolina, and Tennessee rather than Rice?
It's going to be hard [to bounce back]," sophomore wideout Ronnie Elliott said. "But as a team, we've been through so much adversity that this is just another speed bump that we're going to have to go through."
Elliott wasn't the only Duke player to characterize Duke's loss as a "speed bump". But unfortunately for the Blue Devils, the road doesn't get any smoother in the next eight weeks. And if Duke can't navigate Northwestern, with Florida State and the rest of the ACC looming on the horizon, the future doesn't look nearly as bright as it did just one week ago.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.