With a few minutes left against Notre Dame it became apparent that one of two things was going to happen in Wallace Wade. Either Duke was going to pull off one of great wins in modern Duke history or suffer one of the most devastating losses.
It was the latter.
Duke overcame a 13-0 deficit against Notre Dame to take a 14-13 lead over Notre Dame with minutes left. Duke needed one play to wrap it up.
They didn’t get it. Duke pooched a punt on 4th and sixth from the Notre Dame 30, with 2:41 left. It was a great kick by Leonard and great coverage by Duke. Notre Dame took over at their five.
But they did so with wooly veteran Sam Hartman at the helm, needing 65 yards or so get into field-goal range.
“That pooch punt is something we’ve worked on since we got here with Riley,” Mike Elko said. “We felt confident that if we could pin them back there, we could get a stop because we had playing really good on defenses. And their kid [Sean Shrader] had such a strong leg--that guy could probably have made it from 55 or 60 or so--if you give them the ball on the 33 or so yard line, that didn’t look like a recipe for success for us.”
A great call if it works. Not so great if it doesn’t.
And it came so close to working. Duke almost got a sack in the end zone. Duke almost got an interception. Duke forced Notre Dame into a 4th and 16 at the Duke 47.
Duke rushed three, dropped eight. Hartman isn’t the fastest guy around and his scramble took some time to develop. Tackle DeWayne Carter said that Duke didn’t do a good job of sealing the edge but with eight defenders back, someone should have been able to take down Hartman short of the line to gain.
He made it with a yard to spare.
The first down put Notre Dame in position for a long field goal and Shrader is 5 for 10 on the season, so not automatic by any means. But two plays later Audric Estime removed all doubt with a 30-yard TD run. A two-point conversion, a sack and a Riley Leonard fumble and Notre Dame escaped with a 21-14 win.
Leonard went down hard on the sack and hobbled off, sort of on his own power. Elko wouldn’t venture a guess as to the severity of the injury and said Duke would know more as the week progresses. And having a bye week doesn’t hurt.
There’s no question that Duke went mano-a-mano with Notre Dame for most of the game but came up short on a handful of key plays, especially at the beginning of the game and the end.
Speaking of the beginning of the game. Duke appeared to have a stop on Notre Dame’s first possession. The Irish were pinned back 3rd and 17 before picking up 13 on a pass from Hartman to Estime. The punting unit came on but a perfectly executed fake punt picked up 34 yards to the Duke 13.
The Irish punched it in two plays later and led 7-0 four minutes into the game.
“We didn’t even really challenge it,” Elko said. “Disappointing.”
Could Duke recover from this gut punch?
Sort of. Duke drove to the Notre Dame 20 before the drive stalled and Todd Pelino missed a 37-yard field goal.
So much for my theory that Duke could win on special teams.
But more worrying was Notre Dame’s dominance at the line of scrimmage. Riley Leonard completed three passes on the opening drive but was pressured on all of them, while Duke’s running game was stuffed early.
Duke played without star lineman Graham Barton, out with an injury; redshirt freshman Chris Parker got the start instead.
The Irish got the ball back and Hartman converted two first downs before forcing a punt--this time they punted--to the Duke 12.
But Leonard picked a bad time to throw his first interception of the season, Xavier Watts jumping the route and returning the pick to the Duke 13.
Duke’s defense kept Duke in it, with Ja’Mion Franklin sacking Hartman on third down as the first period ended.
Spencer Shrader kicked the 27-yard field goal as the second quarter began. A two score-deficit but still in contact.
But Leonard was sacked on third down as the Notre Dame defensive line continued to maul Duke’s offensive line.
Some punts, a missed field goal by Notre Dame’s Shrader, Leonard running for his life.
Duke ended the half the way it started it, finally getting some offense going, Leonard with his arm and legs. And Pelino missing another field goal, this time barely from extra-point distance, 25 yards for those of you scoring at home.
“We got ourselves in position to make it a one-score game at the end of the half,” Elko said “and we miss a chip shot and that makes it hard.”
Duke had a couple of chances early in the third. Notre Dame’s Chris Tyree fumbled a punt around the Notre Dame 40 but four or five Devils couldn’t fall on it.
Then Hartman converted a 4th and two with his legs, leading to Shrader hitting a 45-yard field goal.
13-0, with 9:45 left in the third.
Duke finally hit the jackpot. The Blue Devils offensive line started winning some battles, Jaquez Moore ripped off runs of 34 and 12 yards, Leonard and Sahmir Hagans connected on 4th and 1 and Jordan Waters pounded it in from a yard out.
Elko said there were some schematic changes at the half but mainly the goal was to “get back to playing our game. We had to get physical, for sure. I did not think we controlled the line of scrimmage at all. I thought we got beat up front pretty good in the first half and the second half, we did a lot better. At the end of the day, we just blocked a little bit better and were able to get the hands in our running back’s hands a little bit and that’s probably something we should have gotten to a littler bit sooner and that’s my fault.”
Offensive lineman Jacob Monk said establishing the running game was a point of emphasis in the second half.
“It looked it was just one second off from something popping and we knew we had to keep going, keep going, keep chopping at it. Doing your job.”
Pelino’s PAT made it 13-7, with 3:36 left in the third.
Duke got a sack by Aeneas Peebles on third down but couldn’t do anything on offense and punted it back. Notre Dame picked up one yard on first down but a costly personal foul on Terry Moore moved it to midfield as the third period expired.
Once more Duke’s defense got the stop and Duke got the ball back.
This could, maybe should have, have been a drive for the ages. Eight plays, 80 yards, 4:27 off the clock, a 33-yard run by Leonard the biggest play.
Leonard hit Jordan Moore from three yards out. Pelino’s PAT put Duke up 14-13, with 9:17 left.
The Irish went three and out and Duke took over at their 32 with a chance to salt it away.
Again, the theme of the night. Almost. Duke methodically moved down the field, chewing up clock. But a third and four handoff to Waters at the Notre Dame 31 lost two yards and led to Leonard’s kick and that disappointing final drive.
Elko noted that this was a non-conference loss, a painful one but still one that left open a lot of doors for Duke.
“We’ve got a lot of big goals in front of us, we’ve got a lot of big opportunities in front of us. Obviously, this team believes that they can still compete for a lot of our goals and opportunities the rest of the season and so none of that is lost. We haven’t lost any of that tonight. We lost a game against Notre Dame tonight and we didn’t make enough plays. But all of our goals for the season are still in play. We still have a strong locker room. It will hurt for awhile and then we’ll get back to work.”
It was pretty close to a perfect weekend until that Hartman scramble. Gameday, a loud, Duke crowd, national TV, as much of a Cameron-like atmosphere as I’ve ever seen in Wade.
So, yes, this will hurt for awhile.
This is gonna hurt for a while, and maybe longer depending on Leonard's health. But there are so many positives to build on, from the LT who stepped up to the DL that held an elite run game mostly in check to Leonard who made so many wise decisions when most QBs would have taken the bait ND's defense kept dangling. Most importantly, Duke's depth more than held up against a 4/5 star-studded roster that may end their season in the playoff. I'll bet ND makes a run at Feeley this winter.
Despite the heartbreaking finish, yesterday was one of the best days for Duke University as a whole in recent memory. What matters now is channeling that energy into a similar homefield edge vs. NCSU. Duke football finally has the leader our players deserve in Coach Elko, and like the spirit of the Duke student body fueled Coach K to GOAT status, we just have to hope they'll embrace the opportunity to do it again.
Next week’s open date coming at a good time. Priority #1 is recovering from injuries. Hopefully, Leonard’s is minor.
Any details available on Graham Barton?
Frustrating loss last night but we’re 4-1 and if you offered me that in August I would have jumped on it.