As linebacker Glenn Williams kneeled on the sideline of Groves Stadium last year with a chance to beat Wake Forest, he was too nervous to even watch--.
But with the final play resulting in a blocked Joe Surgan kick, not watching was probably a good decision.
"I just had my eyes closed, and when I looked up and it was missed, my heart dropped," Williams said of the 14-13 loss. "When that happened, you just think to yourself, 'Not again.' We were so close. Just a gut-wrenching feeling. It's hard to shake it."
Despite the closeness of the Sept. 9, 2006 contest, Duke and Wake Forest went in opposite directions after that. The Demon Deacons surged to an 11-3 season and the ACC title, while the Blue Devils dropped their remaining 10 games en route to a perfectly imperfect 0-12 season.
One year removed from its close call with Wake Forest (2-2, 1-1 in the ACC), Duke (1-4, 0-2) returns to Wallace Wade Stadium Saturday for the first time in nearly a month, looking for its second win of the year.
"I know you're supposed to get over the games, but it just resonates in you," Williams said. "We go into this game thinking about what happened last year, and how it affected Wake Forest, so we use that as motivation."
Another benefit of Duke's narrow defeat a year ago was the emergence of quarterback Thaddeus Lewis, who threw for 305 yards and a touchdown in his first collegiate start. Lewis' success this weekend is critical for the Blue Devils to challenge the Demon Deacons, and his development since that first start has been dramatic.
"Thad's gotten a lot more comfortable and has made us a lot more comfortable," running back Re'quan Boyette said. "He's our quarterback, and he's leading us, so we're going to lean on him."
Lewis, however, will be missing the services of slot wide receiver Raphael Chestnut Saturday. Chestnut suffered a non-contact knee injury during the second half of last week's game at Miami and will be "out for a while," head coach Ted Roof said.
Roof also said that wideouts Sheldon Bell, Jeremy Ringfield and Ryan Wood need to pick up the slack for Chestnut, who has 12 receptions for 188 yards on the year.
Chestnut was a major contributor for both the punt coverage and return units, which means there is more than one void to fill.
"Really you lose three starters, not just one," Roof said. "The impact of that, especially on our punt team, to have he and Eron [Riley], that's one of the reasons our punt coverage has improved."
With injury troubles at wideout, Duke needs to duplicate the success it found on the ground against Miami. When adjusted for negative rushing yards incurred on sacks, the Blue Devils ran for over 100 yards against the Hurricanes. For Duke to win Saturday, Roof knows that similar rushing success is imperative to keeping his team fresh enough to pull out a victory.
"When you look at the number of plays, we were playing about 20 more snaps of defense than we were on offense," Roof said. "If you look at last week, the plays were about even-very close to being exact in the first half and the second half.... That's something we need to continue to work on."
But with their first home game in four weeks, Williams and his teammates simply want to make sure that they play well and stake claim to a home turf that has seen virtually no action during the month of September.
"We always go and talk about protecting our house, and when we're on the road, we talk about going into their house and taking it over, making their field yours," Williams said. "We've been on the road for so long that we basically want to go and make that field ours."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.