EVANSTON, Ill.-It was a night that took Duke's breath away.
At the end of the game, defensive end Patrick Bailey struggled to find the air-let alone the words-to put Duke's first win against a Division I-A opponent in three seasons in the proper perspective.
The senior's euphoric laughter said more than any words.
Bailey and the Blue Devils were forced to hold their collective breath throughout a heart-stopping fourth quarter in which Northwestern ran up 173 yards of offense.
Duke redefined the bend-but-not-break defense, twice stopping the Wildcats inside the 10-yard line in the final 2:30. After Northwestern quarterback C.J. Bacher scrambled down to the Duke 7-yard line with under 25 seconds to go, the Blue Devils went all-in with four consecutive blitzes, forcing Bacher to misfire each time.
"I wanted to make them earn it," head coach Ted Roof said. "Match up man-to-man, let's bring one more than they can block and let's see what happens."
Linebacker Vincent Rey didn't get to see what happened on the final play, a fourth-and-goal from the Duke 7.
"The last play I blitzed and I fell, and I came and went to the quarterback and I got knocked to the ground as he threw," Rey said. "I got up and looked, and I couldn't see anything. All I did was see out of the corner of my eye-I saw all our guys jumping up and down. It didn't hit me until they started running on the field."
Rey was a defensive star on a night when Duke spent much of its time in the nickel with a fifth defensive back to counter Northwestern's spread offense. Bacher was in the shotgun for 70 of the Wildcats' 85 plays, and Northwestern had three or more receivers on the field for all but six snaps.
The spread offense isolated Duke's defenders, but Rey, Bailey and the rest of the defense was more than up for the task. Northwestern running back Brandon Roberson-who gained 128 yards on just 13 carries a week earlier-failed to break any long runs and ended up with 80 yards on 21 rushes.
Bailey was especially active, recording 12 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble.
"[Bailey] was all over the field," Rey said. "He really showed some senior leadership today."
On the perimeter, Duke's defensive backs tackled well to prevent the athletic Wildcat receivers from gaining yards after the catch. Safety Glenn Williams and cornerback Leon Wright combined for 17 tackles and accounted for several key deflections on passes.
The Blue Devils did give up 506 yards of offense, but they stiffened in the game's most critical moments, stopping the Wildcats on four separate fourth downs. In the second quarter with Duke leading 20-7, Northwestern elected to go for it on fourth-and-three on the Duke 11. Williams broke up Bacher's pass for Omar Conteh, however, and the Wildcats sorely missed the three points of a potential field goal later in the game.
With 2:20 to play in the fourth, the Blue Devils halted a 14-play, 79-yard Northwestern drive at the 11-yard line yet again. But even then, they knew their night was far from over.
"I went right to our defense and said, 'Hey look, you be prepared to go back on the field and win this one on defense,'" Roof said.
Bailey said he recalled scenes from the movie "300" for motivation during the frantic fourth quarter, when the Wildcats continuously invaded the Duke red zone.
Rey, meanwhile, was inspired by the hunger he saw in his teammates' eyes.
"Your back is against the wall, but your confidence comes from other players," Rey said. "When you look at someone in the eye, and they believe they can win, you say, 'If they believe, I've got to believe, too.'"
That desire seemed to wane in the third quarter, after a controversial call by the replay official. Thaddeus Lewis' fourth-down quarterback sneak appeared to net the Blue Devils a first down, but the spot was overturned and the ball awarded to Northwestern at the Wildcats' 35-yard line. Bacher quickly moved his team down the field to cut the lead to 20-14.
But the Blue Devils forced their first three-and-out on the next possession and seemed to build a wall on the Northwestern goal line in the game's closing minutes.
"There's going to be ebbs and flows of ballgames where momentum is going to flip," Roof said. "The wind's not always going to be at your back. When it turns and you're working into the headwind, you've got to fight it, and we did. We just made one more play than Northwestern did. But it sure feels better than making one less."
Duke had been in a position to win games at Wake Forest and against Miami and North Carolina last season, but each time fell one play short of a victory.
Lewis was quick to point out the difference Saturday.
"This time," he said, "the defense was on the field."
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