Duke football continues embarrassing plummet in loss to Charlotte

The embarrassing plummet of the Duke football program continued on opening night. 

It was rock bottom after rock bottom last season for the Duke football program, but now the Blue Devils have hit a new low.

The Charlotte 49ers never defeated a Power-5 program until last night when a touchdown with 34 seconds left put Duke in a 31-28 hole en route to its first loss of the season.

The Blue Devils were quickly in a 10-0 hole before rallying to take a 14-10 lead minutes before halftime.

However, Charlotte would jump back in front on the first possession of the second half with an 11-play, 75-yard touchdown drive.

Mataeo Durant put the Blue Devils back in front with a 59-yard touchdown run to begin the fourth quarter as Duke led 21-17.

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The back-and-forth affair would continue as the 49ers retook the lead midway through the fourth quarter with an eight-play, 92-yard drive, but Duke looked like it was going to have the last laugh.

Durant would rattle off another 53-yard touchdown rush to give Duke its lead back with 1:44 left in the fourth quarter, but the Blue Devil defense would be unable to do its job and close the game out.

In only one minute and eleven seconds, Charlotte was able to drive 75 yards down the field to take a 31-28 lead, the score the 49ers would win by.

The Duke offense was not able to muster up one last miracle in the final 34 seconds of the game.

New starting quarterback Gunnar Holmberg was adequate, completing 20-of-29 passes for 228 yards and a touchdown while losing one fumble on the night.

Mataeo Durant was better than advertised with 255 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries.

Duke football has a chance to reach new rock bottom next week

The Blue Devils still have four non-conference games left on their schedule, starting with the home opener against North Carolina A&T next Thursday night.

After playing host to Northwestern on September 18, Duke will host the Kansas Jayhawks on September 25 in what could be a new low for the once-promising Blue Devils program.

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Kansas is arguably the worst Division I football team in the country and just beat FCS program South Dakota by three points, triggering the fans to rush the field.

This seems to be a new rock bottom for the Duke Blue Devils, but there are still plenty of games on the schedule for another rock bottom to loom for David Cutcliffe’s squad.