Too Little Too Late as Duke Beats Miami

It was the epitome of too little, too late. Duke quarterback Quentin Harris connected with Jalon Calhoun on a 49-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, putting the Blue Devils up 27-17. Amazingly, it was Duke’s first double-digit lead since October 12, 353 minutes of football earlier.

At almost exactly the same time, Michigan State ran out the clock to beat Maryland and wrap up its sixth win of the season. The Spartans became the 78 team to become bowl eligible, meaning that there would be no room for any five-win teams.

None of the players knew it yet, but Duke, at the top of the list of the five-win programs, had just minutes left in its season.

“People are asking about bowl games,” coach David Cutcliffe said afterward. “I don’t think that’s going to happen. The mathematics worked against us this year.”

At times in the second half of the season, it seemed like everything was working against the Blue Devils. The offense slumped. The defense wore down, and the team endured a prolonged losing streak which kept it from reaching the six-win plateau after a 4-2 start to the year.

Instead of preparing for the postseason and developing younger players with extra practice time, Duke will start the evaluation process, to see what went wrong and what changes need to be made.

“When you don’t play in a bowl game, it’s a miserable feeling,” Cutcliffe said. “Our staff, our players are going to assess how things went and we have a lot of work. Right now, I’m focused on how hard we’re willing to work.”

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