For long stretches on Saturday, the ‘Cats defense was the only thing keeping Northwestern in the game. Can’t win like that. But after a 19-10 victory over the Blue Devils on Saturday afternoon, don’t expect anyone to look past the ‘Cats again this season.
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Northwestern forced three turnovers and opened a season with three victories for the first time since 2013 also the last time the Wildcats were ranked.
Duke had 152 yards of offense in the second half.
Unfortunately for Duke, that total is still stuck at one. That didn’t stop Sirk from leading Duke with 16 rushing attempts – not what Cutcliffe wants to see, which offers further evidence that the coach wants better decision-making from his quarterback.
“I think so”, said Northwestern defensive end Dean Lowery about wearing down Duke.
Sirk said following the game that he knew Lowry was there and just didn’t get the ball high enough. A win here by the Yellow Jackets would make them legitimate threats to not only win the ACC crown but potentially represent the ACC in the college playoffs this year.
The Duke defense dug in and forced another punt. Additionally, he has compiled 12 points this season on 5 goals and 2 assists to lead the Duke and the ACC in goals scored and total points. But Sirk indicated after the game that he was taking what he thought the defensive was giving him with the short passes.
As well they should. “It’s not time to do that, ,” Cutcliffe said after his 2-1 Blue Devils outgained Northwestern 327-271, but hurt itself with three turnovers, a 3 of 17 performance on third down and a special teams breakdown that allowed the Wildcats’ Solomon Vault to return the second half kickoff for a momentum-changing 98-yard touchdown. “Obviously, some guys were out of position”.
Less than five game-minutes had elapsed between first down at the 10 and a 7-0 lead and a 9-7 deficit. “It’s one of the best years I can remember them having”, Church said.
Duke’s passing game turned into a series of dump-offs to the running backs.
Was Sirk too quick to go to Plan B?
Duke’s offense couldn’t get it going against Northwestern.
Cutcliffe said he would have to look at the film but acknowledged that it was “not normal to have that many lay-offs”. “You have to make the right read based off of what the coverage is giving you”.
“They weren’t as aggressive as what we saw on film”. “Hopefully we can just shut her down and slow down their offense”.
That pick was one of two that Northwestern quarterback Clayton Thorson threw to go along with being sacked once and completing only 9-of-23 pass attempts for 70 yards. The gamble failed when Sirk scrambled for only two yards.
The score put the game out of reach for Duke’s anemic offense.
But Northwestern’s win over Stanford was accompanied by doubt that Cardinal must not be that good this year.
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.
Blue Devils vs. the Big EastThe Duke program is 36-29 historically against teams now in the BIG EAST Conference… Barnes in turn has one 15 yard catch as well. Keith Marshall chipped in with four carries for 19 yards and a score.
The final nail in the coffin came when Ryan Smith fumbled away punt with just under six minutes left. The Wildcats picked up 201 rushing yards but 128 of those came in the fourth quarter, 55 on one play. It’s easy to say Duke shot itself in the foot and there’s some truth in that. “They are a team that is really tempoed”.
“We played hard”, coach David Cutcliffe said.
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“They got better as the game went on”.
