Duke Falls To Georgia Tech, 56-33
A bad loss in a tough season
Duke and Gerogia Tech met for the 88th time on the gridiron Saturday night. Many of those earlier meetings were classics.
This one was not. The lights went out for a few minutes early in the game and as far as Duke was concerned, maybe it would have been best had they stayed off.
We shouldn’t forget the dynamics here. Duke has been off for three weeks, Georgia Tech for four. Both teams have hard-working, dedicated players and coaches who have slogged their way through a season of unprecedented peril.
But the time off showed up as sloppiness. David Cutcliffe said following the game that his team is so depleted they’ve shut down anything that involved contact in practice.
Duke’s 56-33 loss visited some familiar themes, turnovers (five), missed tackles, untimely penalties, drops, overthrown receivers.
And Tech matched Duke mistake for mistake for about 40 minutes. There’s a reason these two teams entered the game with a combined record of 4-11. We could see that as the two teams combined for eight turnovers and 19 penalties.
But after Chase Brice connected with Jarrett Garner for a 28-yard score that made it 35-33 Tech late in the third quarter the Yellow Jackets took over and turned a close game into a blow-out.
What happened?
“They just made plays when they needed to make them,” Cutcliffe said. “A good part of the third quarter took something out of our defense because we continued to turn the ball over and they didn’t. . . . Give them credit. They made the plays when they had to make them.”
A lot of those plays came on the ground. Tech gashed Duke early and often and late. Jahmyr Gibbs went 61 yards on the game’s fourth play to put Tech up 7-0. Jordan Mason set up their second TD with a 48-yard burst. Gibbs went 26 yards for Tech’s third touchdown.
And that was all before halftime.
Duke safety Michael Carter cited “tempo. They did a good job of using tempo. I think that really caught us off guard. We knew they had it but they used it against us the whole game.”
The explosives?
“We’ve definitely got to tackle . . . and just keep playing to the whistle. I think sometimes we probably gave up and stopped running to the ball.”
“Too much time on the field,” Cutcliffe added. “They got better at running it as it went along. We had a couple of misfit alignments and when you do that, they have a lot of speed in the backfield. . . . We have a lot to correct.”
It’s not like Duke didn’t have its chances. Tech gifted Duke a touchdown when Peje Harris tried to field a punt inside his five and fumbled it into the end zone, where Shaka Heyward fell on it for a touchdown. The ensuing PAT tied the game at 7-7 after Duke had opened with a pair of three-and-outs.
Mataeo Durant tied the game twice, at 14 and 21 with touchdowns. The latter score came on a spectacular one-handed grab in the end zone, a 30-yard touchdown.
“Chase gave me an opportunity to make a catch and the O-line did a great job of blocking,” Durant said. “I just homed in on the ball and it fell into the right space.”
In between Duke squandered a great opportunity.
Knotted at 14-14 Chase Brice hit Dennis Smith with a 44-yard strike. Brice went out with an injury for one fateful play. Duke had third and three at the Tech 27, well within Charlie Ham’s field-goal range at the very least. But third-string center Graham Barton and backup quarterback Gunnar Holmberg couldn’t connect on the snap and Tech recovered the loose ball at the Duke 42, a 31-yard loss.
Tech scored a touchdown five plays later.
That 21-21 tie was followed with a truly bizarre sequence, one worthy of this truly bizarre year. Tech’s Dontae Smith fielded the ensuing kickoff and stepped out of bounds at the Tech four. Duke tackled Jordan Mason in the end zone for a safety two plays later, taking a 23-21 lead, its only lead of the game.
It didn’t last long. Following the safety Tech had to kick from their 20, likely ensuring good field position for the Devils.
Instead Damond Philyaw-Johnson—remember he was a prep-season All-America kick returner-inexplicably let the ball go, apparently assuming it was going out of bounds or into the end zone. It was headed for neither. Philyaw-Johnson eventually picked up the ball at the Duke one. Two plays later Chase Brice was sacked and fumbled in the end zone. Tech recovered and Duke’s lead had lasted all of two plays from scrimmage.
Michael Carter picked off Jeff Sims right before halftime and gave Duke the ball at the Tech 17. Three incomplete passes-the last a dropped touchdown by Jarrett Garner-led to a field goal and Duke trailed 28-26 at the half.
Anybody’s game.
Cutcliffe came out of intermission telling the TV folks that Duke was going to have its best half of the season.
Instead, Duke turned it over its first two possessions of the second half.
Duke converted a fake punt on their first possession of the second half, tight end Noah Gray hitting backup defense tackle DeWayne Carter to the Tech 47.
Brice threw an interception on the next play.
Tech scored a touchdown one play later, another explosive, Jeff Sims to Jalen Camp for 24 yards.
A few plays later Duke ignored a backwards pass that fell incomplete and was recovered as a fumble. Duke’s defense got a stop.
Brice and Garner did connect on a 28-yard TD that made it 35-33 but it was all downhill after that as Tech ground down Duke’s defense. They ended the game with 377 rushing yards.
Florida State next. Maybe. COVID-19 has resulted in the cancellation of FSU’s last two scheduled games. A cynic might argue that a cancellation would be in Duke’s best interests. But the seniors want a chance to go out with a win while the non-seniors would like to find something to build on for 2021.
But right now Duke is a battered and bruised football team, 2-7 on the season, losers of 12 of their last 15 games since a big win over Tech last season that seems so long ago.
NOTES
- Chase Brice passed for 273 yards and two touchdowns. But he was only 19-of-40 and continued to be vexed by turnovers. In fairness a large number of those 21 incompletions were drops.
- Durant rushed for 50 yards and added 48 more on four receptions.
- Marquis Waters led Duke with nine tackles, two for losses
- Turnover troubles plague Duke football in bizarre loss to Georgia Tech
- Georgia Tech’s running game too much for Duke in 56-33 win
- Injury sidelines the rapid rise of Georgia Tech freshman Jahmyr Gibbs
- Georgia Tech rolls past Duke as Jahmyr Gibbs suffers injury
- Its season no longer on hold, Georgia Tech leaves Duke in the dust