Uncharacteristic mistakes cost Duke last year in loss to UNC

When David Cutcliffe left Tennessee for Duke in 2007, he brought General Robert Neyland’s “game maxims” with him.

No. 1 on the list of Neyland’s seven rules: “The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win.”

The Blue Devils broke the first rule in last year’s 45-20 home loss to North Carolina. Duke fumbled on its first two possessions, which turned into two touchdowns for the Tar Heels, and turned the ball over four times.

There were other uncharacteristic mistakes – penalties, missed blocking assignments, dropped passes – that added up to the end of Duke’s two-game winning streak in the “Victory Bell” rivalry.

“We had a lot of mistakes,” senior linebacker Dwayne Norman said. “A lot of small things that ultimately created big plays.”

The Blue Devils will remember last year’s loss to Carolina for a few reasons:

1) It cost them a chance to repeat as Coastal Division champions.

2) It was their first Thursday night home game on ESPN and a chance to showcase the program’s incredible progress under Cutcliffe.

3) UNC’s post-game celebration went a little too far. As is custom, the UNC players quickly took back the Victory Bell sled and repainted it their shade of blue. But the celebration spilled over into the visiting locker room and Duke’s practice field with spray-paint damage. The final repair bill, which UNC paid, was more than $27,000.

“Definitely what happened during the game,” Duke senior center Matt Skura said, when asked what he remembered about last year’s loss. “What happened after the game with our locker room and our field. I think we’ve got to remind (our players) what actually happened to spark a little bit of a fire underneath them.”

Avoiding last year’s mistakes, and getting back to General Neyland’s first maxim, will be the first order of business for the Blue Devils on Saturday in Chapel Hill.

Duke didn’t look much like the efficient version of Duke that has won 14 of its past 18 ACC games under Cutcliffe. Duke’s first four drives went: fumble, fumble for a touchdown, touchdown, punt. The Tar Heels started: punt, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown.

The Blue Devils fumbled on their opening drive, after moving the ball down to UNC’s 21-yard line. After UNC turned the first fumble into seven points, Duke got the ball back and was called for a facemask penalty on first down.

The next play, quarterback Anthony Boone was sacked and fumbled. UNC’s Tim Scott returned it 10 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

Duke got its only scoring drive of the half but UNC responded with a 10-play touchdown drive, aided by a key third-down offsides penalty on Duke’s defense.

The Tar Heels led 21-7 at the end of the first quarter, 28-7 at the half and 38-7 in the third quarter.

Cutcliffe, who has a 2-5 record against UNC, said the final score was more of a result of what UNC did, than what Duke didn’t do.

“They took it to us, took us out of the game and did everything well,” Cutcliffe said.

“We’ve talked about our performance and where we were and where our minds were. We really tried to look at that, what did happen? Where did we go? I told the staff, I don’t know if it was as much as that as North Carolina played at an extremely high level. Hats off to them.”

After the game, UNC coach Larry Fedora did say it was his team’s most complete effort of the season. Duke also helped. The Blue Devils had the second-fewest giveaways in the ACC last season with 15, they had four in that game. Duke also had the second-fewest sacks allowed last season with 13, they gave up three in that game.

“Those are the things that are going to get you beat in a game,” Skura said.

That’s what happened last year against the Tar Heels. Duke is hoping to avoid a repeat.

This story was originally published November 4, 2015 at 1:59 PM with the headline "Uncharacteristic mistakes cost Duke last year in loss to UNC."