Duke failed when it mattered in losing to Georgia Tech. Can this be fixed?
This was a game Duke needed to win, and the Blue Devils found themselves in prime position to do just that.
That Georgia Tech walked out of Wallace Wade Stadium with a 31-27 win leaves Duke in a tough place once again.
Is it as bad as last season, when the Blue Devils were noncompetitive at times while going 2-9 overall and 1-9 in ACC play?
No. But that should be of little comfort.
The Blue Devils failed to win because of failures at the worst times — missed field goals, a late penalty that ruined a chance to run out the clock, a defense that allowed Georgia Tech’s late 88-yard touchdown drive to steal the game.
Secure in his job thanks to all his accomplishments elevating a downtrodden program on and off the field over the past 14 years, David Cutcliffe openly takes the blame for his team’s shortcomings.
“It’s a little bit of the same circumstance where we’re doing things to beat ourselves, which falls on the head coach,” Cutcliffe said, repeating similar comments from Duke’s earlier losses this season. “Critical situations failing. Penalties, explosive plays or missed assignments — all of that falls in my corner.”
Cutcliffe admitted he’s tired of saying these things, and he knows people are tired of hearing them.
Yet, here he and the Blue Devils are once again with the “same story,” he said.
It was so close to not being this way at all. In many of the ways that usually matter, Duke was the better team on the field Saturday.
Duke won the turnover battle, not turning the ball over itself until its final offensive play from scrimmage in a desperate attempt to rally in the final seconds.
Thanks to running back Mataeo Durant setting a school single-game record with 43 carries for 152 yards, the Blue Devils controlled the ball on offense.
The third-down conversions that had been a big problem for Duke’s defense weren’t as the Blue Devils stopped Georgia Tech 9 of 13 times.
That included a big stop late in the fourth quarter, causing Georgia Tech to punt the ball back to the Blue Devils with 3:33 to play.
With Durant in the game, the Blue Devils held a 27-24 lead and needed a couple of first downs to melt away the clock and grab the win.
Durant gained 8, 3 and 5 yards on his first three runs, and Georgia Tech burned the first of its three second-half timeouts with 2:07 left.
The next play changed everything. Durant gained 7 yards for another first down to the Georgia Tech 35. But Duke tight end Jake Marwede was called for holding.
The clock stopped. Instead of a first down, Duke moved back to its 48 and faced second-and-15.
Duke’s next two plays netted the loss of a yard. Georgia Tech used its final two timeouts. Duke punted the ball to the Yellow Jackets at their 12 with 1:42 to play.
Now Duke’s defense had a chance to win the game.
But cornerback Jeremiah Lewis, in the game because Leonard Johnson suffered a lower-body (likely leg) injury while returning a second-quarter interception, couldn’t keep Georgia Tech wide receiver Adonicas Sanders from catching the ball on a 37-yard play to the Duke 40 with 1:09 left.
On third-and-6 from the Duke 36, Sims and Sanders picked on Lewis again on a deep ball to the end zone. Lewis was called for pass interference, but Sanders made a diving catch anyway for a touchdown that put Georgia Tech up 31-27 with 51 seconds left.
Even though Georgia Tech had built a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, the game was in Duke’s grasp to win. But, once again, it didn’t happen.
“There’ll be things to build on,” Cutcliffe said, “but until you do the things of consequence that a coach has to get done, to where you’re not stopping yourself on offense and you’re giving up plays, then you’re saying the same thing every week, then I realize I’m not getting it done. Biggest thing, again, is penalties and failing in critical circumstances and then getting beat in the kicking game.”
Ah, yes, the kicking game.
Charlie Ham missed two field goals — one from 42 yards late in the first half and another from 31 yards in the third quarter. Those are kicks “you should feel pretty comfortable about” at the Power Five level, Cutcliffe said.
Instead, more critical failures.
“Your team cannot fail in the kicking game,” Cutcliffe said. “It cannot fail in critical circumstances.”
So, consecutive losses to start ACC play have Duke with a 3-3 record, fighting an uphill battle to the team’s goal of making its first bowl appearance since 2018.
Duke will and should be a decided underdog in the next three games — at Virginia, at Wake Forest and home with Pittsburgh.
The things the Blue Devils need to win games, like Saturday’s, aren’t happening. Consistency is lacking. Sharp play is something they hope for rather than delivering.
The situation left Cutcliffe looking in the mirror for answers after Duke fell short once again, admitting the team wasn’t coached well enough to get the job done.
“You know, no magic formula to this,” he said. “Getting what you want out of your team consistently falls on me. I do know what a well-coached football team looks like. And we have to do the things to arrive there.”
That was the case in the last two seasons and remains the case now. Duke has regressed a long way from the program that made six bowl appearances in seven seasons from 2012-2018.
Those teams made the plays Duke couldn’t on Saturday.
Will those days return? Only Cutcliffe knows the answer.
As he said, it’s on him to get it done.