Cutcliffe dismisses Douglas
Students joining Marriott protests A subcontractor has been protesting withheld wages off East Campus | Page 3
Redshirt sophomore T.J. Douglas was kicked off the football team after a DWI | Sports Page 7
The Chronicle T H E I N D E P E N D E N T D A I LY AT D U K E U N I V E R S I T Y
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2015
WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM
ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVENTH YEAR, ISSUE 24
‘The Coastal Division now runs through Durham’ Duke stings Yellow Jackets in 34-20 win
Khloe Kim and Darbi Griffith | The Chronicle Led by strike safety Jeremy Cash and linebacker Dwayne Norman, the Blue Devils held one of the most efficient rushing attacks in the nation to 2.7 yards per carry.
Nick Martin The Chronicle Playing under grey, rainy Durham skies, Duke found its footing early and upset Georgia Tech to capture back-to-back wins against the Yellow Jackets for the first time since 1988. The Blue Devils took down No. 20 Georgia Tech Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium 34-20. Thanks to numerous big plays from a pair of defensive studs and consistent gritty interior play, Duke held the Yellow Jackets to 173 yards on the ground and tacked on a pair of monster returns on special teams to secure its first conference victory of the season. “The line of scrimmage was vicious. It was no place for children out there,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. “Our defense was flying around. You can hear it. I don’t always hear it in a game, but you could hear the line of scrimmage.
|
|
Our guys did a great job of attacking that offense.” In a game of the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object, the immovable object won. The Blue Devil defense, namely its front seven, stole the show throughout the game. Georgia Tech (2-2, 0-1 in the ACC) entered the game as the top-ranked rushing offense in the nation, and Duke (3-1,1-0) entered with a defense that allowed just 2.7 yards per rush. Safety Jeremy Cash and linebacker Dwayne Norman led the way for the defense, as the duo consistently wrecked havoc in the Georgia Tech backfield and combined for 21 tackles—including 5.5 for loss. “We just wanted to play a complete game,” Cash said. “Last week, we saw that the defense stumbled a little bit toward the end of the game, so we came out with the mindset that we weren’t going to let that happen again.”
|
|
|
Norman came up big, most notably on third and fourth down throughout the game, as he stuffed Yellow Jacket running back Marcus Marshall and quarterback Justin Thomas many times by the time the final horn sounded. He also stopped an attempted reverse by Georgia Tech on second down in the third quarter, knocking the Yellow Jackets back 10 yards in the process. “About halfway, I was running back, and something looked a little funny—then the receiver popped up,” Norman said. “In my mind, I just knew reverse. I almost missed him, but thankfully, I got him.” And while the defense was out holding the No. 1 rushing offense in the nation to less than half of its season average, the offense—coming off a forgettable performance against Northwestern— did more than enough to both show improvement from a week ago and secure the Blue Devils’ third win of the season. After going 3-of-17 on third down
INSIDE — News 2 Sportswrap 5 Classified 9 Puzzles 9 Opinion 10 Serving the University since 1905
|
conversions against the Wildcats, Duke stepped up on the crucial downs Saturday, opening the game 3-of-3 on third down and finishing 6-of-16. Despite stumbling on the first drive of the game with a fumble that led to a Georgia Tech 52-yard field goal, Blue Devil quarterback Thomas Sirk bounced back quickly, tossing for 100 yards and a score to freshman wide receiver T.J. Rahming on 11-of-16 passing in the first half. One of the more welcome sights for the Duke fans that made the rainy trek to Wallace Wade came at the end of the first quarter, when Sirk roped a well-placed strike over the shoulder of senior receiver Max McCaffrey for a 32-yard gain. “We knew we had to be more successful on offense,” Sirk said. “We knew that we had to execute higher on third downs. We had to get the ball moving. We can’t go three-and-out, three-and-out. We have
@dukechronicle
|
See FOOTBALL on Page 9 © 2015 The Chronicle