Two drives into the game Saturday afternoon, it appeared that Duke had located a weakness in the Georgia Tech defense.
Pushing the pace with their no-huddle offense, the Blue Devils had the Yellow Jackets in full retreat. Hurrying to the line, Duke ran off nine plays in just under three minutes and bolted 72 yards for a touchdown and a first-quarter 7-3 lead.
The rest of the game told a different story for defensive coordinator Ted Roof’s group. The Jackets clamped down, keeping Duke off the scoreboard until the game was well in hand, collecting three-and-outs like stadium cups. It rated as one of Tech’s better defensive efforts in coach Paul Johnson’s tenure.
“I felt the defense really controlled the tempo of the game,” nose tackle Adam Gotsis said.
Aside from Tech’s 33-13 win over Maryland last season — when the Terrapins played a converted linebacker at quarterback — the 14 points were the fewest allowed by Tech in an ACC game since its 49-10 win against Duke in 2009. Against lesser competition, the Blue Devils scored 73 points in their first two games.
“I thought defensively we played OK, except for a couple of drives,” coach Paul Johnson said. “But overall, I thought we did some good things.”
After Duke’s third series of the game — when the Blue Devils drove 58 yards but were stopped on a fourth-and-1 play on the Tech 20-yard line when linebacker Jabari Hunt-Days crumpled running back Jela Duncan in the backfield — the Jackets turned the water off.
To that point, Duke had gained 132 yards on 20 plays — a 6.6 yards-per-play average. After that, the Blue Devils were limited to 122 yards on the final 42 plays, 2.9 yards per play, as Tech gang tackled and stuffed run plays. Eight of the final nine possessions ended in punts, five of them three-and-outs.
Gotsis attributed it in part to plays coming in more quickly from the sideline. Duke quarterback Brandon Connette, starting in place of injured starter Anthony Boone, said that the Jackets began loading the box to stop the run after the Devils’ initial success. Johnson said it was a matter of simplifying the defense.
“Guys got lined up, and we played better,” Johnson said. “We gave them a chance to play.”
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