CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.—Early in the season, the Blue Devils’ defense was put on a pedestal, considered by many to be the greatest strength of a team that had graduated two of last year’s top offensive weapons.
But the same defense that appeared so dangerous in the beginning of the season has been exposed during Duke’s four-game losing streak.
The Blue Devils ceded 502 yards to Virginia in their 42-34 loss to the Cavaliers Saturday, including six plays of more than 20 yards. Of those explosive plays, three resulted in Virginia touchdowns and the other half were all part of scoring drives.
Those big blows came back to bite the Blue Devils, as the Cavaliers needed some insurance to hold off a late-game comeback set up by Duke quarterback Parker Boehme.
“I’m proud of our team for responding and never letting up, responding with heart,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. They really play hard, and I never question that. The thing that you have to do—the fine line between winning and losing—is [the fundamental things]. If you do not tackle well in this league, you’re going to give up yards.”
Virginia put up 21 unanswered points against the Blue Devils in the first quarter—the most in the first period by a Cavaliers team since 2007. The first of those trio of touchdowns was set up by a 48-yard completion to Virginia sophomore Daniel Hamm that put head coach Mike London's squad in the red zone, and the second was scored on a 26-yard touchdown run by senior T.J. Thorpe.
Junior quarterback Matt Johns anchored the Cavalier offense all game, completing 23-of-34 passes for a career-high 344 yards against the Blue Devils and displayed the power and precision of his arm throughout the contest.
In the second quarter, Johns connected with junior Taquan Mizzell for a 36-yard touchdown. But his longest completion of the night came in the third period when he found freshman Olamide Zacchaeus 50 yards down the field. Zacchaeus then used his legs to finish the play, leaving two Duke defenders in his dust as he sprinted into the end zone for the first touchdown reception of his career.
“Right now you also look at personnel,” Cutcliffe said. “When people lose their confidence, it’s very difficult to play over there. You don’t give people confidence—you make them earn it.”
Duke played a significant portion of Friday’s contest without the most decorated member of its defensive personnel—redshirt senior Jeremy Cash.
The Miami native was ejected in the third quarter for targeting after a high hit against Johns with significant contact made to the head and neck. Cash left the game with six tackles and a pass breakup, but his ejection left the Duke defense without one of its most vocal leaders in the huddle.
The Blue Devils’ defensive woes also extended to their pass rush, which recorded just a single sack allowed Johns time in the pocket to make many of those deep passes that sunk Duke’s chances of righting the ship in Charlottesville.
“Somebody’s got to win a battle occasionally when a guy is trying to hold a ball,” Cutcliffe said. “We had some explosive offense—I think we could have more—but a couple of guys up there won some battles and hit our quarterback. That’s just part of it. You have to win those battles occasionally.”
The Blue Devils pulled together late, however, showing a lot of grit in the fourth quarter, when they held the Cavaliers to 25 yards of total offense—a complete shutdown of the high-octane offense that had burned Duke early.
The late-game success on defense was instrumental in setting up Boehme’s final drive that sought to put Duke a two-point conversion away from tying things up in the final 10 seconds of the game.
But after Boehme led the Blue Devils right up to Virginia’s doorstep—coming as close as the Cavalier’s six-yard line with eight seconds remaining in the game—the comeback came up short.
On Duke’s final play of the game, Boehme’s pass fell incomplete, Virginia took over on downs and the Blue Devils’ losing streak extended to four games.
Now, with only one game left on the regular season schedule, Duke has just one more chance to secure a coveted seventh win and guarantee a winning season.
The Blue Devils play their final game of the regular season at Wake Forest Saturday.
“We have to be all in,” redshirt senior center Matt Skura said. “We have to be together as one. Attitude has got to be positive, we really just have to learn what it is going to take to win a football game. We’ve got to limit the mistakes and capitalize on our opportunities.”
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