As he broke through the line of scrimmage early in the third quarter, defensive tackle Vince Oghobaase was sure he had Clemson running back James Davis trapped in the backfield.
But then something happened that Oghobaase could do nothing about-Davis used his superior speed to bounce outside. No Blue Devil defender could touch him, and 70 yards later down the right sideline, the Tigers had quelled any slim hope Duke had to vanquish a 33-7 lead.
"I thought I stopped him myself, but he has field vision like no one else," Oghobaase said. "He made a hell of a play-hell of a long run."
That long run summed up Duke's day on the field, as Clemson (7-2, 4-2 in the ACC) exploded for numerous big plays en route to a 47-10 victory over the Blue Devils Saturday afternoon in Wallace Wade Stadium.
Since Duke's 16-13 home stunner over Clemson in 2004, the Blue Devils (1-8, 0-6) have not won a game against an ACC opponent.
"Well, it seemed like we were ready to play," Duke head coach Ted Roof said. "We seemed out of sync a little bit and part of that is staying on schedule and making big plays."
The Blue Devils gave up 12 plays of 10 yards or more on the day, a number that does not include 167 kickoff yards on just three returns.
Early in the first period, however, Duke was the squad making the big plays and looked like the team to beat.
With 9:10 remaining and the ball at Clemson's 45-yard line on second-and-6, quarterback Thaddeus Lewis audibled before snapping the ball. Lewis dropped back and lofted it down the left sideline to wideout Eron Riley. Riley out-fought and out-leaped the defender, hauling in the ball near the 10-yard line and stumbling down to the five. Two plays later, Lewis found Riley wide open in the back of the end zone for the 7-0 lead.
Riley, though, would never touch the ball again, and Duke's hopes for an upset seemed to vanish soon after.
The next drive, Clemson started racking up yardage, as wide receiver Rendrick Taylor caught one pass in the middle for 11 yards and then grabbed another for 26 yards. The Tigers' other star running back, C.J. Spiller, also got in the act on a reverse later that drive, when he juked away from linebacker Charles Robinson in the backfield and rushed for 11 yards.
Duke lucked out when quarterback Cullen Harper just missed an open Tyler Grisham for a touchdown and Clemson had to settle for a field goal, but the cracks in the team's defense had become apparent
Over the next 33 minutes, the Tigers turned a 7-3 struggle into a 40-7 cakewalk as they went three-and-out just twice while tallying 298 of their 350 offensive yards. Conversely, Duke went three-and-out seven times over that same stretch and racked up just 70 yards.
"They pretty much capitalized on all the big plays and made points on them," Oghobaase said. "I don't know what the breakdowns were, but they were very devastating to us."
Even if Oghobaase did not know what the breakdowns were, he can point to where they were: everywhere. On offense, defense and special teams, Duke suffered mental lapses that allowed Clemson to make big plays.
In a stretch late in the first half that lasted just over a minute, the team demonstrated just that-allowing a 43-yard pass to a wide open Grisham that set up a touchdown, blocking the wrong defender on the next drive allowing linebacker Corey Vincent to sack Lewis for a safety and failing to cover Spiller on the ensuing kickoff. Spiller then shed would-be tacklers en route to an 84-yard touchdown.
That run transformed a manageable 10-7 deficit into an insurmountable 26-7 hole, and all Roof could do was toss his headgear to the side in utter shock and disappointment.
Duke failed to slow down the Tigers on offense, as the dynamic backfield of Spiller and Davis rushed for 176 yards on 16 carries. Harper, who closed the first quarter with five completions on nine attempts for just 48 yards, finished the game by completing 12-of-17 attempts for 136 yards and two touchdowns.
"We knew we had to go in and correct some things and make some adjustments," Oghobaase said. "There were just some breakdowns and missed tackles in the coverage and the whole defense, but they capitalized on that and made some big plays that hurt us."
Nine games into the season, Duke still cannot explain why the team is making so many mental errors. With 12 penalties for 80 yards highlighting the team's mental woes-including several offsides calls where the defensive linemen simply did not concentrate-the Blue Devils can only wonder how good they would be if they played smarter.
"I don't know the answer," Oghobaase said. "If I did, we'd probably be 9-0 right now."
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