Duke didn't have an answer for Georgia Tech on either side of the football.
Anchored by a strong rushing performance and four passing touchdowns from quarterback Vad Lee, the Yellow Jackets thumped the Blue Devils 38-14 Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium.
"We're all frustrated to some degree, but frustration won't last," Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. "We are focused on moving forward, and we will bounce back from this."
Duke's first loss of the season was a homecoming for two of Georgia Tech's key contributors. Lee, who graduated from Hillside High School in Durham and was high school teammates with former Blue Devil wide receiver Desmond Scott, ran the Yellow Jackets' spread-option scheme to perfection, as his team racked up 344 yards on the ground.
On the other side of the football, it was defensive coordinator Ted Roof who had the last laugh in his first return to Durham since being fired as Duke's head coach following the 2007 season. Georgia Tech's defense held the Blue Devils to just 254 yards of total offense as Duke (2-1, 0-1 in the ACC) posted its lowest point total of the season.
"They really play almost one defense most of the game," Cutcliffe said. "There was no change schematically, so they mixed very little different things in. The most aggressive they got was that second drive in the first half when we went down there and scored."
After leading the Blue Devils to a win against Memphis a week ago, quarterback Brandon Connette could not get the job done for Duke against the Yellow Jackets (2-0, 1-0), completing just 15-of-28 passes for 128 yards and picking up a touchdown on the ground.
Connette missed a wide-open Brandon Braxton on third down to end Duke's first drive, and a 22-yard shank by punter Will Monday set Georgia Tech up with excellent field position. The Blue Devil defense allowed the Yellow Jackets to pick up 19 yards on five plays, forcing a 49-yard field goal by Harrison Butker.
Duke was able to convert just 3-of-14 attempts on third down in the game.
"The biggest thing that turned us from moving the ball on a more consistent basis was third-down production," Connette said. "And a lot of that was just me being inaccurate on third down and missing guys that were open."
Duke responded with its most efficient offensive drive of the game, as Connette led the Blue Devils 72 yards down the field in nine plays to take a 7-3 lead. Running back Jela Duncan took the ball into the end zone on a 1-yard touchdown. Duncan was one of the lone bright spots for Duke on the afternoon, picking up 90 yards on 16 carries.
The Yellow Jackets mounted a quick response, trekking 79 yards down the field in just 3:11 to take a 10-7 lead when Lee found the end zone from four yards out—his first of five total touchdowns on the afternoon.
Duke had a chance to tie the game on its ensuing drive but chose to keep its field goal team on the sidelines on fourth-and-1 from the Yellow Jackets' 21-yard line. Duncan took the handoff but was stuffed at the line and could not pick up the first down as the Blue Devils came away empty.
Georgia Tech would go on to score 28 unanswered points to put the game out of reach. Running back Robert Godhigh gashed the Duke defense for a number of runs to the outside, gaining 79 yards on just four carries on the afternoon. Godhigh was also a threat catching the ball out of the backfield, adding 59 yards and a touchdown on four receptions.
"Offensively I think they're the same. It's the same spread-option, cut offense with the line coming out and trying to take your legs out—you just have to stay alive," defensive end Kenny Anunike said. "They came out in a few different formations that we hadn't seen on tape."
Many things prevented Duke from clawing its way back into this game, but penalties and missed opportunities were near the top of that list. Too many Blue Devil drives in the second and third quarter were killed by costly mistakes to keep the game within reach long past halftime.
After allowing just 2.7 yards per carry in its first two games, the Blue Devil defense was no match for Georgia Tech's ground-and-pound attack, allowing the Yellow Jackets to average 5.7 yards per carry in the game.
As Duke looks forward to a home matchup with Pittsburgh next season—the first ACC matchup between the two teams—the team will go back to the drawing board in search of its first conference win.
"We're definitely going to bounce back and get ready for our next game," Anunike said. "We're chomping at the bit to get right out there, get back to practice learn from these mistakes and keep on playing football."
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