After Saturday's 24-20 loss to Northwestern under the lights of Wallace Wade Stadium, senior middle linebacker Michael Tauiliili walked into Yoh Football Center to face the media wearing a black undershirt with block-letter print: "Together Sustain The Strain."
If ever there were a slogan for a back-and-forth game marked by missed opportunities by both teams or the attitude exuded for four quarters by a Duke football team on the rise, sustaining the strain together might be it.
The Blue Devils (1-1) doubled Northwestern's first-down total, racked up 144 more yards on offense and built up almost a 19-minute advantage in time of possession on the night. But when the clock wound down to zero, Duke was still four points short of the Wildcats (2-0) and the energy that had permeated the Blue Devil sideline for nearly 60 minutes vanished faster than the smoke from the post-game fireworks.
And although Duke could not beat Northwestern as it did last September in Evanston, Ill., those sidelines told the real story: that the Blue Devils of 2008 are a completely different-and better-team than the one that eked out one victory in 2007. Even after trailing 17-10 at the half, Duke never seemed to act as if it was out of the game.
"The thing you couldn't sense from where you guys were-[and what] is probably the most frustrating thing for me-is that our energy on the field in the second half, it was phenomenal," head coach David Cutcliffe said. "To come back out of that tunnel, down, not having played as well as we could play. Our energy on the sideline, our focus, our enthusiasm, was phenomenal."
The Blue Devils had two great chances on their final two possessions to wrestle the win from the Wildcats. But a solid defensive stand in the Northwestern red zone at the eight-minute mark of the fourth quarter on one drive and a holding call against Duke's Cameron Goldberg that negated what would have been a Clifford Harris touchdown on the next drive ended any chance of winning.
Harris highlighted a solid Blue Devil running game, amassing 86 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. With running back Jay Hollingsworth and quarterbacks Thaddeus Lewis and Zack Asack, Duke was able to pound the ball in for 178 yards on the ground. Meanwhile, Northwestern's standout running back Tyrell Sutton was held to 72 yards on 16 carries, although Wildcats' quarterback C.J. Bacher said after the game that Sutton's touches were limited in the second half because of cramps.
"We played very well in the trenches: we ran the football, we defended the run," Cutcliffe said. "I would have liked to have gotten more pressure on their quarterback. I think he's susceptible to that at times. We didn't hit him enough."
Bacher was contained by the Duke defense to a 14-for-31, 226-yard effort and never seemed to find his groove. But while he threw no touchdowns, he also was never pressured into turning the ball over. Tauiliili cited the play of the Northwestern offensive line for giving its quarterback enough time to get rid of the football.
"What it came down to was making a few crucial plays at the end of the game to win," Tauiliili said. "That's what we're learning to do now."
The end of Saturday's game stood in stark contrast to its beginning. Duke came out firing on a 72-yard touchdown opening drive over 11 plays and just more than five minutes, led by Harris, who ran for 28 yards and a two-yard scoring punch-in. The Blue Devils would end the first half, however, by letting Northwestern put up a 35-yard field goal as time expired, creating an uphill battle for the second.
Both Cutcliffe and Northwestern's head coach Pat Fitzgerald talked of the importance of small details and how they decided Saturday's contest. Fitzgerald even went as far to say that his Wildcats were "lucky to escape [Durham] with a win."
And in a tired but optimistic tone, Cutcliffe said something after the game that hasn't been uttered around Wallace Wade in quite some time.
"We've got to just keep doin' what we're doin'," he said. "Keep doin' what we're doin'."
Together, sustain the strain.
NOTES
Freshman wide receiver Johnny Williams hauled in 11 passes for 135 yards as star wideout Eron Riley was sidelined with an injury. It was the most productive night for a freshman since Riley's 2005 game against Clemson.... Punt returner Ryan Wood was replaced in the fourth quarter by Leon Wright, who promptly took a kick back 23 yards.... The game's final attendance was 23,614, in stark contrast to last weekend's crowd of 32,571. The student section, however, was just as full as it was in the 31-7 win over James Madison.
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