It always seemed just slightly out of reach for the Blue Devils Saturday.
It could have been N.C. State quarterback Russell Wilson, who had enough speed to elude whatever pass rush Duke sent his way. It could have been the ball in the air, which on nearly every play wound up in a Wolfpack player's hands despite blanket coverage from a Blue Devil defender.
But mostly, it was the amount of talent and size Duke needed to compete with N.C. State. The discrepancy was on display all evening and especially in the first half when the Wolfpack rolled up a 24-10 lead en route to a comfortable 27-17 victory at Wallace Wade Stadium.
"Big, strong guys-I'm going to start fertilizing and watering some of our guys," head coach David Cutcliffe said. "All I can say is daggumit.... N.C. State played really well. They took their open date and got better and executed really well."
The difference between the two teams first showed itself late in the first quarter, with the game tied at three after Duke's Nick Maggio made a 29-yard field goal. On the kickoff, Wolfpack return man T.J. Graham fielded the ball at his own 6-yard line and advanced to the 11-yard line before handing the ball off to J.C. Romero. Cutcliffe mentioned that his team was prepared for special teams trickery and had seen it on film, but Romero simply had too much speed and beat every Duke defender down the right sideline for a touchdown-it was a sign of things to come.
After the Blue Devils (4-5, 1-4 in the ACC) failed to convert a fourth-and-1 at the N.C. State 10-yard line, the Wolfpack again utilized their extra size and talent in arguably the play of the game both in terms of sheer execution and impact on the course of the contest.
Facing a third-and-7 at Duke's 30-yard line, Wilson took the shotgun snap and scanned the field. Immediately, however, the Blue Devil line broke through and forced the redshirt freshman to rapidly backpedal. At the last possible moment, Wilson threw the ball up for grabs over the middle of the field-an easy interception if there ever was one. N.C. State tight end Anthony Hill and Duke safety Adrian Aye-Darko were both in the area with a chance to grab the ball.
But two things came into play at the moment the ball fell into their vicinity: Hill had a four-inch advantage over Aye-Darko, and Aye-Darko never even turned his head to look for the ball. Hill came down with an incredible catch over the senior, setting up the Wolfpack (3-6, 1-4) with first-and-goal at the 5-yard line.
"It felt like [David] Tyree's catch in the Super Bowl," Hill said. "I ended up going up just a tad bit higher and catching it."
"I've always used the term 'play to the point of the ball,' you can't play the receiver," Cutcliffe said. "It's hard for our guys to break old habits. They laid the ball up more than once. Those could've easily been turnovers."
Instead, the Wilson-Hill connection struck again for a five-yard touchdown, putting N.C. State ahead 17-3 and in complete control of the game.
At that point, the Blue Devils were forced to throw. Although quarterback Thaddeus Lewis finished with 317 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions, it was the touchdowns that never materialized that cost Duke dearly.
Running back Jay Hollingsworth hesitated at the line of scrimmage on the first attempted fourth down 10 yards from the pylons, and later in the game, facing fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line, Lewis underthrew a wide open Brett Huffman under heavy pressure from the Wolfpack's defensive linemen.
"Concentration... is what I would say the difference is between executing and not executing," Lewis said. "You can know everything about what the defense is going to do and what you have to do, but if you don't execute, it is not going to happen."
And as the offense failed to execute, Duke's bowl hopes seemed to slip further. Its remaining games against Clemson, Virginia Tech and North Carolina figure to be more of a challenge than this one or the Blue Devils' 33-30 overtime loss to Wake Forest Nov. 1-the three teams have a combined record of 17-10.
But there's still one thing that hasn't gotten away yet, not as long as Cutcliffe remains the coach of the team: the belief in the team's potential.
"We already work hard enough, we just need to work smarter," Cutcliffe said. "I think we're better than 1-4 in the ACC. I don't think it, I know it. We're capable of beating people."
But Saturday, that was just out of Duke's reach.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.