Holliday: Luck of the Irish leads to brutal Duke defeat

By Bob Holliday, WRAL Sports contributor

I’ve been covering games at Duke since my student days in 1970. Never have I seen an environment that just exploded from the confines of Wallace Wade Stadium as it did against Notre Dame. Typically, when the Irish visit their fans fill about half the stadium. Saturday night saw at least 75% wearing Duke blue. And those Duke fans were loud!

Duke expected to beat Notre Dame, but the Blue Devils dug themselves a huge hole in the first half, almost entirely because of special teams.

Duke stopped Notre Dame’s first drive near midfield, and the Irish lined up to punt. Normally the Irish use two blockers to protect the punter. This time they just used one.

That alignment should have screamed “fake punt” to the Duke defenders, but they failed to diagnose the play. Jeremiyah Love, the only player between the offensive line and punter Bryce McFerson took the snap from center and ran 34 yards. The Irish scored two plays later.

Duke tried to answer, moving to the Notre Dame 20 in 10 plays. But Todd Pelino’s field goal missed to the right.

Late in the half Duke mounted another long drive, reaching the Notre Dame 6. Pelino this time missed from 25 yards, a veritable extra point distance.

Duke suffered two other special teams breakdowns, as normally-reliable Porter Wilson punted off the side of his foot and the ball traveled just 21 yards. Also, in the third quarter, Notre Dame’s Chris Tyree fumbled a Wilson punt and several Blue Devils had a chance to recover the football; but the Irish fell on the ball, and actually drove for a field goal. Had Duke recovered there would have been no field goal, and the Blue Devils would have had possession at the Notre Dame 30, a much needed short field.

Duke should have led 6-3 at halftime; Notre Dame’s only points other than the fake punt assisted touchdown, came on a field goal after Riley Leonard threw an interception deep in his own territory. But because of the kicking game woes, Notre Dame led at the half 10-0.

Playing without injured All-ACC tackle Graham Barton, Duke rushed for just 38 yards in the first half, most by quarterback Leonard on that final drive in the first half.

At intermission, Coach Mike Elko took steps to get more production from his running backs, challenging his team to fire out against Notre Dame’s stout defensive front.

The field goal made possible by Notre Dame’s recovery of Tyree’s fumbled punt put the Irish on top 13-0. But then the Blue Devils began to roll.

Jordan Waters ran for two yards, then seven. On third and one Waters willed his way to three more. That first down, on three determined runs by Waters, changed the game.

Duke navigated the remaining 63 yards almost exclusively on the ground, with 34 coming on one rush when Jacquez Moore got to the edge. Waters punched in the touchdown and the Blue Devils were in business.

What’s notable about that drive is that Leonard did not need to run – the backs picked up all the yardage. Also there was only one completed pass; a superb leaping effort by Sahmir Hagans on fourth and one at the Duke 20. Gutsy call there by Duke offensive coordinator Kevin Johns.

Duke marched 80 yards early in the fourth quarter, this time mixing the run with the pass. The key play came on third and six at the Duke 24 when Leonard found Jordan Moore for a 26 yard gain to midfield. The rattled Irish then allowed Leonard to scamper for 33 more yards. Four snaps later Leonard hit Moore in the end zone. Pelino made his second PAT. Duke led for the first time.

Crowd noise reached decibel levels previously unknown at Wallace Wade.

Meanwhile, the Duke defense continued to shut down the Notre Dame offense. Remember, just 3 of Notre Dame’s first 13 points came purely as a result of strong execution by the Irish. Also, that one unassisted field goal came on a drive that required 10 plays to move 44 yards.

Duke in the second half forced three straight Notre Dame punts on two” three-and-outs” plus a five-and-out.

The Blue Devils contained Notre Dame’s playmakers. Through three quarters powerful running back Audric Estime gained just 35 yards on 14 carries. The man went 80 yards on one play against NC State. Sam Hartman was limited to just 11 completions in 21 attempts. He was sacked twice in the first 45 minutes and pressured by Duke pass rushers on almost every throw.

Tight end Mitchell Evans accounted for nearly all of the small amount of damage the Irish inflicted, gaining 115 yards on receptions, 58 of those coming after the catch.

Midway through the fourth quarter Duke put together what could have been a game ending drive.

Waters ran for 13. Leonard took off for 10. The Blue Devils moved entirely on the ground to keep the clock moving. In a phase of the game that took nearly four minutes, the Blue Devils advanced from their own 32 to the Irish 31. There the Irish defense stiffened. Duke called on Waters, who had averaged 3.5 yards on 13 carries. But on third and two, Notre Dame tackled Waters for a two yard loss.

A 50-yard field goal was out of the question given Pelino’s track record on the night. Elko called for a quarterback pooch kick, which Leonard executed perfectly. Notre Dame took custody of the football at its own 5, with just one time out and 2:35 of clock time remaining.

You might say the Irish started that fateful final drive at the 3, because Tobias Merriweather false started – one of 12 infractions by Marcus Freeman’s bunch.

Duke got flagged for pass interference early in the drive. That was one of just two Blue Devil penalties.

Still, Hartman faced 3rd and 10 at his own 16 with just 1:49 to go.

Notre Dame had converted only 2 of 13 third downs at this juncture. However Mitchell Evans again came to Hartman’s rescue, making a tough catch for 19 yards. Hartman also connected with Rico Flores at the Duke 41.

After that it looked like for all the world like Notre Dame’s night would end right there. Merriweather was called for yet one more penalty and this was potentially critical – a 15-yard walk off for offensive pass interference. Notre Dame was looking at 1st and 25, 56 yards from pay dirt with just over a minute left.

The Irish got 9 yards back on a pass to Estime, but Duke defensive coordinator Tyler Santucci dialed up pressure on the next two plays. Hartman tried twice to hit Evans, but could not come close with Blue Devil pass rushers making contact as he threw. Freeman had already called his last time out, but the incomplete passes stopped the clock at 1:02. 4th and 16 for Notre Dame.

One more stop and Duke wins the game. I mean who converts a 4th and 16?

Santucci and everyone in the stadium knew Notre Dame had to pass right? So Duke dropped eight defenders into coverage and rushed just three. Hartman, understandably, could not find a receiver. He was never known as a great scrambler at Wake Forest-adequate but nothing more. But this time he made the scramble of his life. Duke’s front three lost contain. The other eight all followed receivers who ran deep routes, and not one picked up on Hartman. The grad transfer got the first down with a yard to spare.

That was the penultimate play right there. Notre Dame won 21-14.

The big story for me is that because Duke did not get the critical stop, Riley Leonard came back on the field to lead the offense which was looking for a miracle touchdown with 30 seconds left. Leonard was strip sacked and injured. He had to be helped off the field, unable to put weight on his injured lower right leg.

In a year when the ACC has made a strong start vs. Power 5 opponents, a win over Notre Dame, which has now won 30 in a row against ACC teams, is imperative. Notre Dame plays four more ACC opponents and must go to unbeaten Louisville and later Clemson, which now looks to have its mojo back after a 2-2 start. So there is still hope for the ACC.

Still, Duke had a phenomenal opportunity to beat the Irish, but couldn’t quite finish. And though the latest reports suggest Leonard’s injury is not as bad as first thought, it’s not at all clear that he’ll be ready for Duke’s next opponent NC State. And Duke is a very different team without Riley Leonard.