Duke football highs and lows from Notre Dame loss

DURHAM, N.C. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish exploded out of the gates to give themselves a 14-0 lead over the Duke Blue Devils after the first quarter. 

Duke cut the deficit to 21-7 at halftime, with the ball in their hands coming out of the halfway point. But, a scoreless second half by the Blue Devils and a monstrous day by Fighting Irish senior quarterback Ian Book – 181 yards passing, four touchdowns passing and 139 yards rushing – led to a 38-7 victory for Notre Dame (7-2) yesterday, Nov. 9, against Duke (4-5, ACC 2-3).

Despite the 31-point loss, Blue Devils head coach David Cutcliffe discussed the bright, and not so bright spots for his team.

“Our running backs ran the football with authority,” Cutcliffe said. “There’s a lot of things we had to offensively with only 10 first downs and seven points, but I’m pleased with that. … We’ve found a kickoff return man in Damond (Philyaw-Johnson). That can turn a game around at any point, and we’ve been missing that for a while. And our punter (Austin Parker) keeps giving us a chance – flipping field position. 

“The most problematic circumstances, defensively we hold our own and do a lot of great things, but possession downs and giving people second chances. Against a really, really good football team: can’t happen. And then, when you’re playing those kinds of athletes, you gotta do everything you can do prevent explosives, and they got a number of them in the run game.”

Notre Dame finished with 288 yards rushing compared to Duke’s 95-yard rushing performance.  Blue Devils junior safety Michael Carter II stated that missed tackles led to explosive plays.

“Everything just plays hand-in-hand,” Carter II said. “So just swarming the ball when those explosives happened. We didn’t have enough people at the ball, and that’s how those things broke loose. … We just have to improve on (tackling).”

What’s Next

Notre Dame hosts Navy in South Bend, Ind. next Saturday, Nov. 16, at 2:30 p.m.

Duke plays Syracuse next Saturday, Nov. 16, at 4 p.m. at Wallace Wade Stadium. They need to win two of their last three games to become bowl eligible.

“A study of what we’re doing right now is really important,” Cutcliffe said. “And no panic. That’s not how you come out. I’ve been doing this for a long time. If you panic and you’re digging you’re way out, you’re just gonna have all the dirt fall in on you. We got a system, and we have to believe in each other and believe that we can. That’s first and foremost. We have three big football games in front of us that we can go win.”