We didn’t make plays.
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Ross Martin kicked a 38-yard field goal for the Blue Devils, while Jack Mitchell had field goals of 37 and 44 yards for the Wildcats.
Overall the Cats’ disappointed in the first half, but the defense held to its reputation and NU remains well within striking distance.
Duke’s Shaun Wilson is tackled by Northwestern’s Dean Lowry (94)…
For a half of football Saturday afternoon, it appeared that Duke’s defensive unit was en route to passing its first true test of the season with flying colors.
“Coach Fitz came to me at halftime”, Vault, a running back and return specialist, said after the game.
Thomas Sirk had a 5-yard touchdown run for Duke (2-1), which trailed 12-10 early in the fourth quarter but forced Northwestern into a third-and-1 at its own 45. The ‘Cats are suddenly a legitimate threat to compete not just for a bowl appearance, but maybe even to make some noise in the Big Ten. “It’s something that we’ll obviously have to improve on”.
Georgia turned a comfortable win into a blowout in the third quarter, as Lambert hit Michel with two 11-yard touchdown passes, and Chubb added a seven-yard scoring dash with 4:13 to go in the third quarter.
Long took a handoff, burst untouched through the line and sprinted to the end zone to put the Wildcats up by nine with 12:31 remaining.
Duke was primed to take possession near midfield with just less than six minutes left, but a muffed punt recovered by Long resulted in the Wildcats keeping the ball and Duke with only one timeout left. “The way we were able to run the ball in the second half was a morale booster for our offensive line”. Running back Justin Jackson had another big day on the ground with 120 yards on 35 carries.
“We’ve been working hard to really teach our guys how to eliminate distractions”, he said. Cutcliffe said Duke was “a little stunned… but you better learn to play in that situation”. Northwestern’s Clay Thorson completed only 9 of 23 passes for 70 yards and threw two interceptions.
Duke’s offense couldn’t get it going against Northwestern.
“This is the best we’ve tackled”, Fitzgerald said. “And I’m pretty sure there will be a game where we need the offense to score a lot of points for us”.
“They definitely made some adjustments at halftime”, said linebacker Dwayne Norman, who finished with 12 tackles, two for loss. Ebobisse has been one of the top forwards in the conference so far this season and this will be his first ACC Player of the Week award. Edwards made a 24-yard return to the Wildcats’ 26.
Sirk finished 24 of 39 for 150 yards with an interception for Duke.
Despite Clayton Thorson tossing his second interception of the game into triple coverage with a wide open receiver sitting in the flat, a microcosm of the freshman quarterback’s struggles with both his decision-making and accuracy against Duke, Vault’s boost was all Northwestern needed to flip the game in their favor.
Sirk said following the game that he knew Lowry was there and just didn’t get the ball high enough.
The Wildcats were forced to punt, but on Duke’s next snap running back Shaun Wilson fumbled and so Northwestern had the ball at the Duke 40.
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It continued to be a defensive showcase for the remainder of the opening half until the Blue Devils conceded a field goal with 1:23 remaining. McDonald, who is a product of Raleigh, N.C., totaled her first two career assists on the night.
